Martin Waring is the curator of the Ulster Museum in Belfast. He is married to Alison and they have two children Rachel and Tom. Rachel is the apple of her father's eye and he is overjoyed when he learns that his daughter has acquired 10 top grades, ten stars, and is destined to be accepted into one of the great institutions of learning....Oxford or Cambridge beckons. One night both Martin and his daughter make wrong decisions the outcome of which alters their lives, in a way that I as a reader did not see, and what follows is both harrowing and heart-wrenching in equal measures. It is difficult to actually discuss Swallowing the Sun without disclosing the plot and indeed the final outcome. We learn of a tough and abusive childhood with a vicious and drunken father and a mother too weak to protect the innocence of her sons; Martin and his brother Rob. In Belfast Martin has associations with loyalist gangs and sympathizers from the early hard days of his youth. As the story progresses he finds himself drawn back to his connections in an attempt to find answers as his life begins to unravel, spiraling out of control. The ending is a stroke of pure genius as the curator of the museum struggles to make sense of what has happened, creating a space that will forever act as a reminder of his loss and pain.

The characters in this story like all of us are flawed and the repercussions of decisions taken will always have a ripple effect on members of the family. Martin Waring openly displays his frailties yet as the novel progresses I began to develop an admiration for him as both he and his wife Alison learn to cope with a heartache that will forever remain. David Park has written a sublime novel, the open wounds of pain and regret on every page and every word and expression he uses adding to the feeling of hopelessness and sadness..."where the past is cared for and preserved, where nothing is allowed to decay or be destroyed"...."So why doesn't he come in now, sit on her bed and give her some advice? Tell her the things he knows. About how you find someone to love"....."He feels only the stirring of his doubt now, a loss of confidence, wonders if she will be able to read in his body the drive of his desperation, the depth of his need"....."where the past is cared for and preserved, where nothing is allowed to decay or be destroyed"....

If I were to choose one book that is both lyrical and thought provoking my choice would be this brilliant novel by David Park. Highly Recommended. ( )

Set in Belfast, after the Troubles, Swallowing the Sun tells the story of Martin Waring and his family. Martin grew up in an abusive home and is now trying to put his past behind him. Today, his main worries have to do with growing apart from his intellectually gifted daughter Rachel and watching his son Tom escape into a world of video games and overeating. Martin watches these developments, not knowing how to react, in part, perhaps, because as a boy he learned to respond to challenges with violence, and he knows that’s not the right thing to do. So he becomes an observer of his own life, just as he is an observer in his work as a museum guard. He’s a passive man, because passivity is the only way he knows to avoid hurting others.

Martin is the main focus of this family drama, but Park does allow us to peek into the minds of his wife and children as well. Using third-person narraction, Park manages these shifts from one mind to another very well. He takes their mundane thoughts and worries seriously, and rightly so, because these worries are not mundane at all to those who are experiencing them.

About one-third of the way into the book, however, an event occurs that knocks Martin and his family out of its mundane existence and into a world of pain that no one should ever have to experience.

This is the type of book that, in the hands of a lesser author, could easily become overly sentimental or melodramatic. But Park does not ramp up the emotion beyond what is warranted by the situation. He lets the characters’ thoughts and actions, irrational as they sometimes are, tell the story, without resorting to giving pat answers for what they do. It’s excellent writing.

See my complete review at my blog. ( )

Portrait of a working class Protestant family striving for better things for their family. One event shatters thier beliefs and stirs up old memories of family abuse and conflict.
Powerful feelings portrayed of how each family member deals with what has happened. ( )