Tatty

By Christine Dwyer Hickey

Book Overview

Takes readers on a journey into the mind of a child. This work tells the story of her alcoholic family.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1904301517
• ISBN13: 9781904301516
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: New Island Books
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.6" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Through the eyes of a child

This is the description of a dysfunctional Irish family ruined by a number of difficult and emotional situations, seen through they eyes of one of their children, Tatty. Alcoholism plays a big part in this harrowing story and the seemingly detached tone with which Tatty describes her feelings and the events taking place, is quite heartbreaking. I also think that the absence of speech/quotation marks during dialogues didn't tarnish in any way the fluency of the narrative. A very nice book.

Wonderful Achievement

Christine Dwyer Hickey's "Tatty" is a stirring novel. There is a sort of non-action throughout the novel, which can be perplexing; however, Dwyer Hickey's novel is still an astounding achievement. Much like Joyce in "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," Dwyer Hickey is able to not only replicate the language, but the thought process of a child. This is the true power of the novel. The short work is completely believable and the voice never seems contrived, fake or insincere. Unlike "Angela's Ashes," this novel does not recount the events of a traumatic childhood in Ireland. The work, through Dwyer Hickey's masterful use of language and syntax, forces the reader to relive the events of a horrific childhood. The events themselves are unnerving enough, but the tone and the voice of the novel, at once innocent and broken, cuts like a razor through any sort of misguided conceptions of growing up in Ireland. This is not the Ireland of W.B. Yeats or "The Quiet Man," but is rather the Ireland of J.M. Synge and "Dubliners."

Wonderful story of childhood

I really liked this book. The writing was simple and straight-forward but wonderful. Dwyer Hickey makes Tatty, the character, come alive, and gives her a voice of her own. A voice that is childlike, but also one that hints at the damage beneath her youth. The book tells the story of Tatty's dysfunctional family, her indifferent and occasionally violent parents, both with drink problems. And that is what makes this a hard book to summarise and review. The narration is slightly strange, almost first person from Tatty's perspective, but not quite an "I" narrator. It almost reminded me of Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides, but that book left me cold and I didn't finish it, where as this one pulls you in to the story and into Tatty's life.