Book Review: “Prophet Song” by Paul Lynch
Fight for your life, not your rights
Title: Prophet Song. Date of Publication: 2023. Genre: Dystopian Fiction/Political Fiction. Publisher: Oneworld Publications Ltd. Pages: 320.
Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song won the Booker Prize at the end of last year. Since this Irish writer published his first book ten years ago, he has been collecting awards and praise from critics and readers. So, it is only logical that some day he was destined to win something as big as Booker. Interestingly enough, the Prize in 2023 was given to a novel that paints a dreadful picture of a country going through political and social changes marked by the creation of secret police, putting young people in the national army without their consent, and dividing the population into two combating camps.
The novel starts with a knock on the door. Eilish, a loving wife and mother of four, opens the door. At the same time, she opens the door to the rest of her life. She is facing two officers of a secret police force who want to talk to her husband, a teacher and trade unionist. He is about to join a march that is the right of every citizen. Or rather, it was a right.
Soon enough, every “is” is turned into a “was,” and every “have” is now a “had.” Eilish used to fall asleep near her husband; now he is nowhere to be found. Maybe he is lost; maybe he is taken by the secret police to the secret prison; maybe he is not alive anymore. Eilish does not know, but she quickly realizes that everything has changed.
Some people around her still raise their voices, mention the constitution, and hope that the international community will notice what is happening to a country that used to be “normal.” They see all these changes around them; they watch them on the news; they feel them on their skin. One by one, these people are taken away. Some try to cross the border; they cannot do it legally any longer, but there is also a way if you have enough money and determination. Eilish’s family is also thinning out. The clouds are gathering and darkening. The rioters are lifting their heads.
This is how Lynch describes the dystopian future of his homeland, Ireland, but everyone who is following world news will recognize this story as a story of the present in some parts of the world. It seems that the novel is only a cover for the author to put reality in his own words, to splash out his concerns on the paper, and to warn those who naively believe that something cannot be taken away from them.
The chapters are long, the paragraphs are spread over pages and pages, and the atmosphere is dark and hopeless. The heart-grabbing horror is masked by the everyday routine of the characters, and this routine becomes more difficult and dangerous with every loop of that downward spiral. Lynch does not make the life of the main character simple; she is not a heroine in the classic sense; she makes mistakes and suffers the consequences. She is doing her best, but who knows what is best in these new circumstances that also change with every new dawn?
Last year’s Booker winner, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, was set in the real Civil War; this year’s winner describes an imaginary one. There is obviously a message that the Booker Prize Committee is trying to send to the reading community. Let’s hope it gets it.
