Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland – Patrick Radden Keefe
In the author’s note, Patrick Radden Keefe admits that documenting “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, which actively spanned nearly 30 years and continue to cause conflict amongst friends and neighbors today, is utterly complex and difficult to convey to outsiders.
While he gave it his best effort, “Say Nothing” came up short for me — and that’s more on me than it is on Keefe. He did the work, distilling thousands of interviews, analyzing watershed events and piecing together elements of an intricate puzzle while battling cagey subjects and still fresh wounds on both sides.
Most of my tepidness towards the novel is because I thought it was focused solely on “The Disappeared,” the 18 individuals abducted by loyalists and republicans during the Northern Ireland conflict.
While the story starts with the kidnapping of Jean McConville, her story — and that of the 10 children she left behind — becomes secondary to the narrative until the last several chapters.
Instead, it’s the key players in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) that become the primary focus as Keefe takes us through their actions — many well-known and some lesser known — that shaped the conflict.
Of course, without this background, it’s difficult to understand scope. I lived through the last two decades of active conflict, and it was shocking to me just how much of it seeped into world consciousness for a small swath of island with two million people.
From guerilla tactics, like car bombs, to hunger strikes, paramilitary actions in neighborhoods, kidnappings and jail breaks, it reads more like the events of a developing nation versus a Commonwealth country whose capital (Belfast) is less than 100 miles from Dublin, one of the financial centers of Europe.
Whether due to the audiobook format or density of information, it was difficult to follow along with all the key events and people. The Price sisters — Dolours and Marian — arguably get the most page time, and through them we get a first-hand view of what it was like as a high-ranking IRA volunteer.
Well-known figures during the height of the conflict — both sisters led a car bomb attack in London, which led to a 208-day hunger strike in jail — Dolours later married actor Stephen Rea and, near the end of her life, started divulging information about the disappearance of McConville, which helped her family recover the body in 2003.
One of the more fascinating elements was the drama with the Boston College Oral History Project, which intended to capture first-person accounts of The Troubles, including criminal activities, that were only to be released upon the interviewee’s death. The implications of this proved devastating to continued peace and closure.
It was one of many interesting turns that Keefe introduces, always framed around people, which is the strongest part of his storytelling. So often historical narratives focus on the what and the why, but we lose the who and what the situation meant to them.
Without this personal touch, I likely would’ve abandoned “Say Nothing.” Not because it’s a terrible book, but because I simply wasn’t as interested in the minutiae of the conflict — most of the story presented — versus the non-political people behind it.
Throughout, Keefe dances around the question of, “who do you become after?” — an incredibly fascinating discussion — but it’s a small fraction of the overall story and not explored to the depths I would’ve liked (although I understand there are implications for people to be forthcoming with details still).
Matthew Blaney does a decent job bringing the material to life. His narration is rather one-note, although his Irish accent was honeyed and pleasant, however, there’s only so much you can do when recounting fact.
Finally, to my uneducated ears, he stays neutral on his feeling about The Troubles, not veering towards a positive or negative perception of either side. If you’re interested in The Troubles, this is a great place to start. If you’re looking for a true crime story, you’ll find several here, but just not the one I was expecting.
Rating (story): 3.5/5 stars
Rating (narration): 3/5 stars
Formats: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: July 5 – July 11, 2022
Multi-tasking: Good to go, but even avid listeners will have a difficult time keeping all the players and places straight.
