Jenny McCartney

‘’We called our situation the Troubles, and the longer it had dragged on the more fitting that genteel euphemism became. The murdering was sporadic but fully expected, like some recurrent, rumbling agony in your unmentionables. The populace soldiered on through it, mainly keeping their heads down and quietly hoping that splashes of terror didn’t land on or near them. In between shootings and bombs, there were businesses to be run and children to be raised. Things didn’t fall apart, quite. They kept on, but more painfully.’’

Belfast during the 1990s. The Troubles have left a deep scar on both communities. Despite the ceasefire, violence is still contaminating the air of the city. It has acquired new forms, its tentacles are still strong. Thugs invade houses to beat youngsters to death, to frighten and threaten women. The butchers on both sides turn against their ‘’own kind’’ to satisfy their lust for blood. A young man, who has lost his parents, witnesses the unrest without taking part or choosing sides. But he refuses to retreat and lower his head when his friend is attacked by a prominent Protestant gang.

Sometimes you may think you are in the eye of the hurricane but chaos will always find its way to your doorstep…

‘’A woman is walking towards the bus after shopping in the city centre, when she suddenly remembers that her niece jas just given birth to a baby boy. Should she get a present for the baby tomorrow? Och no, sure she might as well get it today. She nips into a department store, and in that very instant a bomb explodes just inside the shop door and the woman is lucky, they tell her later, because the people right beside her die but she only loses her legs.’’

A beautiful, haunting story that doesn’t shy away from the terrors of the conflict but refuses to resort to cheap melodrama and graphic violence for the sake of it. Instead, Jenny McCartney writes a tale of hope, love and survival. A story that urges the reader to stand our ground and not let others - no matter how ‘’strong’’ they may seem - invade our lives and desecrate everything we hold dear. Narrated by a wonderful protagonist, written with elegance, and acute Irish humour, this novel is a fine example of perfectly - drawn interactions, vivid descriptions of Belfast in all its bleak, enticing beauty, and a deep understanding of the human soul that struggles to remain unnoticed, yet rises and fights for what is right when faced with unimaginable threats.

Without a doubt, one of the finest novels about Northern Ireland and the Troubles.… (mehr)

This debut novel begins in Belfast in 1995, at which time armed gangs in Northern Ireland had been fighting for years over the fate of the six counties. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) wanted a united Ireland, and the Loyalist Protestants wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom. As the author reports, when the two groups weren’t occupied murdering each other, they vented their frustration by deploying their well-honed violent techniques on their own. 1995, the author writes, was worse generally for “young Catholics who annoyed the IRA and young Prods who irritated the Loyalists.”

The mayhem impacts the life of the narrator, Jacky, after his best friend Titch was severely beaten by Rocky McGee, leader of the local gang of Loyalist paramilitaries. Titch was mentally a bit slow, and had a compulsion to steal sweets from the local stores. Usually Titch’s mom settled up with sympathetic local shop owners behind Titch’s back, so there would be no trouble. But then Titch stole from McGee’s father’s store, and worse yet pushed the father down when confronted. Titch was dragged out of his house by McGee and his boys armed with baseball bats, and ended up in the hospital from the vicious beating he received. Titch was always afraid after that, not even able to feel safe at home, and Jacky was incensed. When Jacky, working his shift as a bartender, heard McGee in the bar bragging about what he did to Titch, Jacky punched him. Needless to say, Jacky was next, ending up in the hospital as well, with scars inside and out that never left him. Warned to leave Belfast, Jacky left for London.

The second part of the book takes place in London, where Jacky also gets a job as barman, and there meets Eve, a girl he falls for. But the scars from the encounters with McGee have changed him. Physically, they made him stand out. As Jacky explains:

“People see your damage and aren’t sure how you got it, whether for being a bully or a victim. Either way, it makes them a little uneasy. Their eyes climb aboard the scars and travel down the tram lines.”

Psychologically, Jacky is also scared, eaten up by the way he had lied and begged for his life when he was frightened by the bullies. He remarked, “I hadn’t yet realised that one of violence’s slyest tricks is to make you feel dirty for having been on the wrong end of it.” [This is an emotion with which women who have been sexually abused often identify as well.]

Jacky begins a relationship with Eve, but the risk of love scares him as much as the gangs, albeit differently. On your own, he mused, you have nothing to lose: “You can hang on to the bare fact of nothing and feel a kind of security. Once you have something, you’re always in bloody freefall.”

He also can't move forward because his experiences in Belfast continue to obsess him. When he hears of more bad news from home, he decides it is time to put a stop to McGee and his reign of terror.

Discussion: The title refers to Belfast, which, like other cities torn by violence, becomes a factory for tit-for-tat revenge over the ghosts of the dead, consuming its inhabitants. Though Jacky has a chance to start a new life in London, he must first let go of his old life, if he only can. He gets assistance from a couple of dei ex machina at the end, making the story a bit less tragic. But one can’t help but wonder how it would have turned out without those lucky and not-at-all assured developments.

Evaluation: Books set in war-torn places with their tragic repercussions for those inheriting the fight, such as in Northern Ireland or in Israel, can be terribly depressing to read. But the author has a flair for writing, and she tells a good story. I can’t say I “enjoyed” reading this book, but I appreciated it.… (mehr)

There is a lot of interest and talk around Irish literature at the moment, enhanced by last years Booker prize winner Milkman by Anna Burns ( a book that found little merit with me) As an expat from the green and damp bogs of Northern Ireland I am always keen to sample the delights, insights and opinions that a new book can reveal by a previously unknown author: Jenny McCartney. I need not have been concerned The Ghost Factory is a delight to read.

The novel is set post the troubles of the 1970's but Belfast is a city still scarred by its unenviable past, still lacking real investment, an economy mortally wounded. When our narrator Jacky witnesses an act of savagery upon his friend Mitch, and later is himself the recipient of a brutal beating, he is forced to flee and seek sanctuary in London. However the love of his birthland and a burning need for revenge acts as an open wound encouraging him to return to right the ways of his past.

What I loved about the author's style was her ability to bring to life the mindset of the battle weary Irish populace, the clipped hard "Ulster" speak and the dark brooding Irish humour. Highly Recommended… (mehr)