The Thing About December

Brought to you by Penguin.

‘He heard Daddy one time saying he was a grand quiet boy to Mother when he thought Johnsey couldn’t hear them talking. Mother must have been giving out about him being a gom and Daddy was defending him. He heard the fondness in Daddy’s voice. But you’d have fondness for an auld eejit of a crossbred pup that should have been drowned at birth.’

While the Celtic Tiger rages, and greed becomes the norm, Johnsey Cunliffe desperately tries to hold on to the familiar, even as he loses those who all his life have protected him from a harsh world. Village bullies and scheming land-grabbers stand in his way, no matter where he turns.
Set over the course of one year of Johnsey’s life, The Thing About December breathes with his grief, bewilderment, humour and agonizing self-doubt. This is a heart-twisting tale of a lonely man struggling to make sense of a world moving faster than he is.
Donal Ryan’s award-winning debut, The Spinning Heart, garnered unprecedented acclaim, and The Thing About December confirms his status as one of the best writers of his generation.

© Donal Ryan 2013 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Reseñas de la Crítica

A force of nature ... a life-enhancing talent (Sebastian Barry)

His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show, and he writes with a social accuracy that is devastating (Anne Enright)

Compelling and heartbreaking . . beautiful, yet simple and utterly convincing

Cements Ryan as the sharpest chronicler of modern Irish life

Painfully moving ... Ryan’s work has set a benchmark to which other writers will aspire. (John Boyne)

Clear-eyed and moving. (Belinda McKeon)

A powerful and touching meditation on loneliness and isolation . . . Ryan continues to establish himself as an important voice in recording contemporary Ireland.

Powerful . . . Ryan is clearly committed to his subject and possesses the insight and empathy to illuminate the heart of the matter. (Claire Kilroy)

Ryan is a remarkably good chronicler of contemporary Irish life

Ryan holds you to the page by the sheer force of his language ... If you’re interested in the state of Irish fiction now, pick up a copy of this book. (Nadine O'Regan)

Heart-breaking and funny

It was such a great pleasure to listen to Donal Ryan read his novel. His beautiful accent brought alive the language of Johnsey's world. An extraordinary rendering of a difficult life. Johnsey is a character that will stay with me for some time.

There should be a starred review for the quality of the recording. There is a lot of skipping in chapter 7.