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Dec 08, 2018diannehildebrand rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A mesmerizing novel, which has won many prizes, about an Irish family in Cape Breton. I skipped some places that were too sad or graphic for me, but some passages I read over several times because they are so beautifully written. The novel explores deeply what it means to be family, and the rhythm of the book comes back over and over to family stories and the communal songs that bring the MacDonalds together. A big chunk of the novel is taken up by the time the brothers are miners in Ontario, and I hate reading about mining (too claustrophobic) but this section is just searing and I read most of it. The narrator, an orthodontist, is beautifully woven into the story, a quiet person who mostly allows the other characters, and in particular the two grandfathers, to do the narrating for him.