Laird dazzles eye and ear with his kinetic prose . . . with a mere flick of description, [he] summons vast stretches of politics and history . . . the dynamism Laird has conjured in New Ulster keeps us reading, and the tragic climax resonates powerfully with the Northern Ireland sections of the novel.” –Jennifer Egan, The New York Times Book Review — Vanity Fair–The Wall Street Journal – The Sunday Times (U.K.) – The Guardian (U.K.) —The New Yorker –The Philadelphia Inquirer – The Christian Science Monitor —Martin Amis, bestselling author of The Zone of Interest Modern Gods , Nick Laird takes two experiences poles apart and unites them in gorgeous language, with the same fierce tenderness as he employs in his poetry. It’s about families, tribes, peoples – and if you’re a member of any of those you’ll find a home both strange and familiar in this story." — Dave Eggers, author of Heroes of the Frontier and A Hologram for the King Modern Gods has realer-than-real characters, unexpected turns of plot into unknown corners of the world, and language that finds its way through the darkest moments and states of mind to shine its clear bright light, revelatory and unforgiving. And it encompasses deep—the deepest, thorniest—questions of faith and redemption, fate and forgiveness.”—Michael Chabon, bestselling author of Moonglow Modern Gods is a big, tightly-packed book that lives up amply to its high ambitions." – John Banville, Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea —Matthew Thomas, bestselling author of We Are Not Ourselves —Interview Magazine Modern Gods has the enduring echoes of a classic.” –BBC.com – Huffington Post – Publishers Weekly – ALA Booklist
"Tender" is not the first word you think of when you think of either Northern Ireland or Papua New Guinea, each place green in its own way but also harsh in its own way. Yet Nick Laird's novel, set in both places, is above all tender. Which, in this case, does not mean sappy. The violent prologue to Modern Gods makes that clear. "A surge of bodies away from the door now, pushing across the lounge bar and much screaming . . . There was a loud dull pop-pop-pop-pop, and a little puff of redness erupted from the side of the head of an old man." Two masked gunmen kill five people ("four Catholics, a Protestant") in a Northern Ireland roadhouse in 1993, in the past that Laird goes on to show is never past.
"Now it's a shame." The pub door bangs open and death enters.Modern Gods is at heart just that — shuttling back and forth between Ballyglass and Papua New Guinea is a risky maneuver. But Laird is an agile writer who effortlessly switches location and point of view without sacrificing the empathy we feel for each character. Even on alien terrain where "in the all-day permanent gloaming, beasts crawled on their stomachs, crept on all fours, stalked and pounced, rutted and died and rotted," the mood remains intimate and often lyrical. But Laird is at his best on his home turf. A poet as well as a novelist, he has a well-tuned ear for the speech of his native place and a keen eye for Northern Ireland's shifting light and brooding sky. Here's Kenneth, for example, surveying a morning: "The sky hanging over the black hills was heavy with rain about to get falling. Sidney, his older brother, would be heading up to the cattle in an hour or so." And here is Judith, awakened by terror, contemplating her attenuated life: "She'd wanted a nice home with nice things. On the farm there was never enough of anything. Except for work. There was enough of that . . . She wanted to sift her life through her fingers, to weigh the thing and not to find it wanting. To find that everything was worth it in the end." Laird wisely leaves that question open.Anna Mundow, a longtime contributor to The Irish Times and The Boston Globe, has written for The Guardian, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, among other publications. Reviewer: Anna Mundow
The Barnes & Noble Review
The characters in Modern Gods traverse oceans, time zones and political situations as part of Laird's project to pry apart the very structures of worship and locate the systems they have in common, among them storytelling and ritual cruelty…Laird, the author of two previous novels and several acclaimed collections of poetry, dazzles ear and eye with his kinetic prose, animating city, countryside and…tropical jungle…With a mere flick of description, Laird summons vast stretches of politics and history.
The New York Times Book Review - Jennifer Egan
04/24/2017
06/15/2017
In Laird's audiobook, two sisters from Northern Ireland experience life-changing upheaval simultaneously—on opposite ends of the globe. One is in Ulster, and the other in Papua New Guinea. Narrator Sarah-Jane Drummey adopts a slow, deliberate pace, and her Irish accent is pleasant to listen to as she describes Liz's venture to a Papua New Guinean island to explore a new religion led by a charismatic leader. At the same time, her sister, Alison, struggles in Ulster, where she discovers the truth about her new husband's past. Drummey also uses an accent for the Papua New Guinean characters, most strikingly for Belef, the religious leader whose deep and clearly enunciated words reinforce the gravity of her convictions. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
SEPTEMBER 2017 - AudioFile
In Laird's audiobook, two sisters from Northern Ireland experience life-changing upheaval simultaneously—on opposite ends of the globe. One is in Ulster, and the other in Papua New Guinea. Narrator Sarah-Jane Drummey adopts a slow, deliberate pace, and her Irish accent is pleasant to listen to as she describes Liz's venture to a Papua New Guinean island to explore a new religion led by a charismatic leader. At the same time, her sister, Alison, struggles in Ulster, where she discovers the truth about her new husband's past. Drummey also uses an accent for the Papua New Guinean characters, most strikingly for Belef, the religious leader whose deep and clearly enunciated words reinforce the gravity of her convictions. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
SEPTEMBER 2017 - AudioFile
2017-04-04
