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ramblingsthebookblog · 5 years

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Book Review: The Fire Starters by Jan Carson

“In this city we have a great love of the talking. The talking can be practised on buses, park benches, from pulpits and frequently on gable walls. it swells in the presence of an audience, though a second party is not strictly required.”

Along with ‘Multitudes’ this the second book I’ve read this year that features my home turf: East Belfast. I read this in July while the air burned hot and the humid air clung to my hair. When the bonfires were lit, I had Carson’s book in my hand.

Firestarters is set in 2018 in Belfast. And the city is burning. Tall fires are going up all over the city, large bonfires that destroy buildings, department stores and houses alike. Nobody knows who’s doing it. The only thing the police do know is that a mysterious online entity is orchestrating the whole thing. Masked and dressed in black, the mysterious person is riling up the masses and egging his followers on.

One man, an East Belfast man named Sammy, thinks he knows who the mysterious online figure is: his son.

On the same side of town, Dr Johnathan Murray has been taken in by a siren. (Yes, you read that right. An actual siren.) While doing the rounds on a night shift, Johnathan is lured to an apartment and drawn into bed with the mysterious creature. It binds him for months, falls pregnant and disappears. Johnathan is left with the child.

Sammy and Jonathan’s stories are strong and distinct, so much so that this feels like two books meshed into one. Both plots exist together because both men are grappling with the same thing: they are afraid of their own child. Sammy, an ex loyalist paramilitary thug, is scared of his son Mark. He fears that the behaviour of his past has tainted his son and touched him like curse. Jonathan fears that his daughter will grow up to have a hold over him. He worries that she will manipulate people and control others. He ponders, in his darkest moments, cutting out her little tongue.

This book is full of magical realism. Through his daughter, Jonathan discovers the “unfortunate children of Belfast.” Children born with strange, bizarre abilities. There’s the girl with wings, the girl who can turn into a boat and a boy who can see the future in every liquid.

Sammy and Jonathan have the same fear but they live in different worlds. Sammy is working class. Jonathan, middle class. They live five minutes away from one another in the same part of the city. Firestarters brilliantly illustrates the class divide in East Belfast and the invisible line that runs between the Upper and Lower Newtownards Road. Jonathan is completely ignorant of his working class neighbours and the hidden world of the unfortunate children.

“And why did I never hear about any of this before Sophie?”

“Cos-no harm intended-Doctor, you’re too posh to have known what was going on at the other end of the road.”

I think there’s a reason why Carson sets her story in post Good Friday Agreement Belfast. Firestarters is about the legacy we leave to our children. It’s about a younger generation that looks back at the past and sees glory instead of pain.

“They talk of the loud violence their parents knew, as if it is a kind of birthright denied to them.”

Are the Firestarters the young arsonists or the generation that engaged in the violence of the Troubles? That, more than anything, is at the heart of this book.

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thefivedemands · 5 years

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Conferenza stampa del sovraintendente investigativo della PSNI, Jason Murphy. Ian Ogle è stato ucciso da 11 pugnalate e una frattura al cranio. Confermata pista di indagine dell’UVF

Durante la conferenza stampa di giovedì, 31 gennaio, Jason Murphy ha confermato che una delle linee di indagine sull’omicidio di Ian Ogle, porta ai membri dell’UVF di East Belfast.

Ogle è stato pugnalato 11 volte alla schiena, poco prima delle 21.30 di domenica 26 gennaio, da un gruppo di almeno cinque uomini.

Il suo cranio presente una frattura.

Murphy ritiene che all’origine dell’attacco, possa esserci un alterco avvenuto al di fuori di un fast food in Beersbridge Road alle 20.45 di domenica.

“Le indigini sulle circostanze esatte di quell’incidente sono ancora in via di sviluppo, ma credo che Ian fosse lì”.

Stando a quanto riferito dal sovraintendente investigativo della PSNI, gli assassini avevano parcheggiato una Seat Leon nera, targata JGZ 7406, in Langtry Court, appena fuori da Templemore Avenue, per poi raggiungere Cluan Place.

“Dopo l’attacco, sono tornati in Templemore Avenue – alcuni degli assassini sono saliti sull’auto ed altri hanno fatto perdere le loro tracce a piedi, attraverso le case in Langtry Court”.

“L’auto ha percoso il tragitto lungo Templemore Avenue, Major Street e Lower Newtownards Road, prima di essere lasciata in Pitt Place”, ha dichiarato Murphy.

Gli investigatori stanno prendendo in considerazione la pista dell’UVF.

“Voglio essere chiaro – non c’è alcuna giustificazione per l’omicidio di Ian Ogle”, ha ribadito Murphy.

“Posso confermare che una linea di indagine, è quella secondo cui Ian sia stato ucciso da membri dell’UVF di East Belfast”.

“L’UVF ha rilasciato dichiarazioni in relazione all’omicidio di Ian, ma è troppo presto per stabilirne la verdicità.”

Murphy ha detto di voler appellarsi a “coloro che hanno influenza” affinchè collaborino con la polizia, per aiutarli a localizzare i responsabili e consegnarli alla giustizia.

“Riconosco che l’omicidio di Ian non sia stato solo un attacco a Ian – è stato un attacco al tessuto della comunità: gli assassini di Ian hanno unito l’intera comunità nella condanna”.

“Se c’è qualcosa di positivo che può scaturire dall’omicidio di Ian, sarà che la paura e le intimidazioni, utilizzate da alcune persone per esercitare influenza, sono state ora brutalmente esposte alla comunità e condannate da ogni angolo”.

Fonte Qradio

Ian Ogle Vigil – Fotografie tratte da Twitter e Belfast Telegraph