Madam, – In reference to Eileen Battersby’s review of Dermot Healy’s Long Time, No See (Weekend Review, March 26th), Eugene McCabe (March 29th) suggests that he and Ms Battersby must have been “reading different novels”. Frankly, I think Mr McCabe and this observer must have been reading different reviews.
Mr McCabe seems to suggests that Ms Battersby is responsible for a glorified hatchet job – going so far as to “disembowel” Mr Healy in the process of critiquing his work (quite an accusation). Mr McCabe not only conveniently overlooks the fact that Ms Battersby praises Mr Healy for creating a vivid sense of place in the novel but also writes positively about his memoir The Bend for Home and earlier novel A Goat’s Song. In her review, Ms Battersby, rather sensibly in this reader’s opinion, deigns to question the merits of a 400-page-plus novel with a plot that lacks any sense of urgency and which is rife with inconsequential dialogue. Having read the novel, I agree with her analysis and shared the same reservations.
Mr McCabe goes on to lambast Ms Battersby for her own creative writing prowess – or lack thereof in his opinion – as evidenced in what he describes as a recently published short story (it was actually a piece of reportage). Are we to infer from his comments that in his view the only book reviews worth reading are those from the pen of literary novelists? Surely, book criticism in Ireland would be in a sorry state were it to consist solely of peer reviews. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Loyalty between writers is a wondrous thing and no doubt a necessary quality in a financially precarious profession on this small island (see Eugene McCabe’s letter on March 29th). However, I am sick and tired of seeing them puff each other up in laudatory and uncritical reviews that ultimately deceive the reading public. And how many times do you buy a book adorned with celebratory names on the back cover and end up disappointed?
I have always found Eileen Battersby to be a rigorous and fair-minded critic and I welcome her honesty. She certainly doesn’t deserve Eugene McCabe’s cheap and churlish assault. – Yours, etc,