Prophet song (by Paul Lynch)

(Amazon UK link)

I had no idea what to expect when I started to read ‘Prophet song’ by Paul Lynch. It was the book allocated for this month’s local reading group, and I had downloaded it on my Kindle back in May when it was on special offer for just 99 pence. I vaguely knew that it was a dystopian novel, which is not my favourite genre. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by other dystopian books such as ‘The stranding’, which I read a few months ago. 

‘Prophet song’ won the Booker prize in 2023, and the Kindle edition starts with a lot of very positive reviews. It takes several pages before the actual book begins. It opens with a woman called Eilish looking out into the dark, then finding two policemen on her doorstep, demanding to interview her husband. 

I found it very confusing because there is minimal punctuation, strange uses of words, and no paragraph endings. I wondered if this was an error in the first chapter, or perhaps a Kindle formatting problem. Apparently it was deliberate; it’s a style that continues through the whole book. It makes it all very difficult to read, particularly the total lack of quotation marks, or new lines for different speakers. Any time there was dialogue, I gave up trying to work out who was talking, and found that it didn’t seem to matter much.

It’s the kind of book I could easily have abandoned after the first chapter or two. Wading through rather pretentious prose with no punctuation is not an easy task. There are, as others in the group pointed out, some nice uses of metaphor or unusual and visual ways of expressing things. But they are hard to spot or appreciate with such a bizarre style of writing. There are other unusual uses of language that felt as if the author was talking down, refusing to use normal words. 

As for the story: I think the idea behind it was an excellent one. The author has set the characters in a dystopian, totalitarian Ireland, with situations all too similar to those experienced by many in developing countries around the world. Having heard accounts from asylum seekers and refugees from a variety of Asian and African countries, I can see that the events are entirely believable. Setting them in a European country (albeit one which has had its share of horrendous political situations in the past) is a good way of making the situations feel more realistic and personal to people living comfortable lives in the western world. 

At least, it would be a good way if the book were easier to read, and if the characters were more developed. Eilish remains the viewpoint character for most of the book, but we never really learn much about her. She has four children: Mark who is 17, Molly who is a year or two younger, Bailey who is 12, and baby Ben. Her husband Larry is a teacher, and also a keen union representative. And that’s where the tension starts: the country has been taken over by a harsh, authoritarian regime who don’t want any dissenters. 

There’s no background explaining why this government has taken over, and that didn’t matter to me, although others in the group were mildly curious. Given the writing style, it would have been hard to give any kind of flashback or back story. Everything happens in the present, with little elaboration. 

Life gets harder and harder for Eilish. Her son Mark is in danger of being conscripted into the army, so she tries to get him over the border to a new school. Mark wants to enlist as a rebel. He moves away, and we never really find out what happens to him. Eilish’s sister lives in Canada, and wants them to get out, but Eilish is determined to stay. She doesn’t believe the problems can go on forever, and she is responsible for her elderly father, who is suffering the beginnings of dementia. She is also convinced that her husband and son will return one day, and hates the thought of them finding an empty house…

Things get worse and worse. It’s a grim story, with tragedies unfolding around them. These events reflect what is happening currently in other countries, but make extremely unpleasant reading. The ending of the book is depressing, too, with a sort of desperate hope, but no real conclusion. 

Six of us met to discuss the book. One person in our reading group thought it was an excellent and moving novel. One person thought it was brilliantly written, but that some of it was horrific and disturbing. Two of us thought it was turgid and affected, and only finished it because of the potential discussion. We found skimming was easier than trying to figure out what was actually said. Two people didn’t get beyond the first couple of chapters as the writing style was so awkward, and the story too depressing.

I wouldn’t, personally, recommend it at all. But evidently I’m in the minority when I look at reviews elsewhere, and the Booker prize judges evidently thought it extremely worthwhile. So don’t take my word for it, necessarily. If you can get beyond the bizarre style, and don’t mind a book that gets increasingly more miserable, then it’s probably a worthy, if depressing read. 

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