{"id":2329,"date":"2012-12-19T06:34:13","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T06:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=2329"},"modified":"2012-12-19T10:43:31","modified_gmt":"2012-12-19T10:43:31","slug":"the-weight-of-a-human-heart-by-ryan-oneill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=2329","title":{"rendered":"The Weight of a Human Heart by Ryan O\u2019Neill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Published by Old Street 10 July 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

240 pages, paperback original, \u00a39.99<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Deborah Brooks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ryan O\u2019Neill is an Australian, though born in Glasgow, and The Weight of a Human Heart<\/em> is his second collection of short stories. These facts constituted the entirety of my knowledge about the author before I began reading. It\u2019s a relief, sometimes, to come to a book unencumbered with expectation or a desire to like or dislike based on the hype or the writer\u2019s previous works.<\/p>\n

The first story, \u2018Collected Stories\u2019, tells of a daughter orphaned by her mother\u2019s commitment to writing. It\u2019s a strong beginning that gives us the title of the book and also sets the tone for what is to come \u2013 playful with both form and voice. O\u2019Neill has much of weight to impart and this story increases the sum of my O\u2019Neill knowledge with the fact that he is a gifted writer and one deserving of hype.<\/p>\n

A strong opening allows the reader to relax into the collection and O\u2019Neill\u2019s proceeds by moving between Africa, Australia, Asia and Europe, introducing an array of characters many of whom are writers or teachers. There is a deep interest in language and its uses and abuses running throughout \u2013 in particular a consideration of what can be lost and found in translation between cultures and individuals. The most striking thing for me however is the creative way in which the stories are told \u2013 \u2018Figures In A Marriage\u2019 is told entirely through graphs and diagrams (and yet still manages to be absorbing and moving), \u2018The Eunuch In The Harem\u2019 is hilariously imparted through book reviews, and the standout story for me, \u2018Four Letter Words\u2019, is a story in which each section is entitled with a four-letter swear word given meaning by the touching story that unfolds beneath the crudity<\/p>\n

Playful feels too light a word for the skill that underwrites all of this and yet this is how I experienced the book. I suppose this is the literary equivalent of an audience watching rhythmic gymnastics and enjoying the spectacle whilst being aware too of the hard work that has gone into the performance. Any writer or aspiring writer of short stories would do well to read this collection merely as an example of what is possible.<\/p>\n

After reading a few stories I found myself thinking of one of my favourite Philip Larkin poems \u2013 \u2018For Sidney Bechet\u2019 \u2013 in which the poet says of Bechet: \u2018On me your voice falls as they say love should\/Like an enormous yes.\u2019 Although O\u2019Neill\u2019s book is not perfect and indeed some stories fall flat or are too studied, there are moments in which, had I been a more demonstrative person, I might have punched the air in pure joy and equally moments when I was moved to tears in recognition. I imagine this is what Larkin\u2019s \u2018enormous yes\u2019 might feel like in literary form. I look forward to reading whatever O\u2019Neill writes next, confident that it will both surprise and satisfying.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Deborah Brooks<\/p>\n

There is a deep interest in language and its uses and abuses running throughout \u2013 in particular a consideration of what can be lost and found in translation between cultures and individuals. The most striking thing for me however is the creative way in which the stories are told \u2013 \u2018Figures In A Marriage\u2019 is told entirely through graphs and diagrams (and yet still manages to be absorbing and moving), \u2018The Eunuch In The Harem\u2019 is hilariously imparted through book reviews, and the standout story for me, \u2018Four Letter Words\u2019, is a story in which each section is entitled with a four-letter swear word given meaning by the touching story that unfolds beneath the crudity.
\n[…] in Reviews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-fiction-and-non-fiction","category-notable-books","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2329"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2335,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329\/revisions\/2335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}