The Glorious Heresies: Winner of the Baileys' Women's Prize for Fiction 2016

I didn’t expect to like this book, in fact in the first couple of chapters I wasn’t even sure I would be finishing this book but then the power of the writing took over and I was drawn in. So many compellingly drawn characters, a satisfying interweaving of people and plot and some beautifully written descriptive moments. I ended up being a fan of this book and am looking forward to seeing where the rest of this trilogy takes me.
I’m really glad our reading group managed to get copies of this book, as it was not one I think any of us would have picked out in a book shop but it turned out to be a book that made a lasting impression on us and gave us much to discuss at our meeting. Thank you,
Victoria Ryrie, Hunstanworth Village Hall Book Club

Thank you to John Murray Publishing and the The Reading Agency for providing copies for our reading group to discuss. Here is what our members thought about the book -
"A thought-provoking read, pretty grim and depressing throughout, but well-written overall. The author does have a way with words but we wouldn’t necessarily have described the book as “hilarious”, as the blurb would have us believe!"
"Relentlessly bleak"
"I didn’t find many of the characters relatable or sympathetic, although I could see why they made certain choices in certain situations."
"It seemed that so much of the story could be traced back to the lack of moral framework within the church and the generational effects this had on the characters."

I really couldn’t decide how many stars to give this book. The plot was interesting, based around the seedy side of Cork and its criminal underworld. There were many tangled and cleverly connected threads running through the book. There was a big theme of redemption, and many references to the role of the Catholic Church on the psyche of the nation and functionality of individual families. There was a great reference to the holy Trinity of the Church, the priest and the neighbours! In fact, the book had some impressive metaphors throughout. The central Cusack family was an example of the impact of a traumatic loss on those left behind, and the cycle of crime and poverty. The book begins with Ryan Cusack, a bright young lad with a model relationship with his girlfriend, but as he gets sucked into a world of drugs and trying to undo some of his fathers’ mistakes, the relationship unravels and so does his mind. The thing I struggled with was the language structure – I kept rereading sentences and sections and wondering what had actually happened, what had been said or meant. I didn’t mind this, it just felt odd, and obviously kept my attention. I would recommend this to certain people but not universally.

Of the group members who had read this novel, more had enjoyed it than those who hadn’t, although receiving an average score of 5.7 out of 10, it wasn’t one of our very favourite reads.

Readers reported it to be ‘hard going’ with the strong language used and themes of violence, prostitution, abuse, drug dealing. However, quite a number enjoyed the dark humour and grittiness of the tale, with its fabulous characters - all flawed and with their own demons - and the use of colloquial and region-specific language. It was excellent at showing how people can end up in very difficult situations.

Those less keen on the novel called it a ‘poor relation’ of Shuggie Bain and found they lost patience with Ryan as the story unfolded. It became very dark towards the end and they found it was not an enjoyable read, although they agreed it would make a brilliant TV series.

A dark and depressing, disturbingly realistic story of life on the margins, set in Cork City in the aftermath of economic collapse 2008.

Not without a seam of black Irish humour to make the reading experience more bearable than its grim subject matter suggests, the novel seems ripe for TV adaptation, and is first in a trilogy.

I really warmed to the characters who might not always be good people, and oh boy do they keep making the wrong choices, even if, sometimes, for the right reasons and the absence of options, but we are shown why that might be.

This is a book with heart, clearly written to shine a light on the origins of problems that blight our society- poverty, low expectations, cycles of abuse, drugs and alcohol, prostitution, teenage pregnancy, moral and religious judgementalism, and crime. Told in multiple perspectives and weaving storylines that eventually come together satisfyingly, it's gritty, colourful, complicated, often heartbreaking, occasionally shocking and surprisingly life affirming. The writing is admirably accomplished.

The Irish setting is central to the story, with good dialogue and strong individual 'voices' for its many characters. I can't wait to read the next book, to see what happens next.

The first few chapters of the book were a bit of a shock - swearing, violence, drugs, prostitution, abuse and more! Why am I reading this? Fleetingly, I considered giving up on the book, but the more I read, the more I was drawn into the story by the talented author. Initially, I kept getting the characters mixed up and I forgot who was who, as there were so many but soon I knew them and LIKED them - especially Ryan and Karine but also Maureen (what a woman!) and even Tara Duane. I found them believable and their stories compelling. The book was very dark but I couldn't tear myself away. A snapshot of what life must sadly be like for some. Glad that things were all properly explained by the end of the book (what Tara did to Ryan; what Ryan did to Georgie). I was quite shocked at the ending and had to go back and re-read it as I wasn't quite expecting that. A glimmer of hope at the end. I really enjoyed the Ryan-Karine love story and would recommend the book to others...with caution, due to the subject matter covered.

I struggled with this book and had to give myself a severe talking to in order to make it to the end. And all in all I am glad that I did. I ended up giving it 3 stars (just) which wouldn't have seemed possible during the first half of the book. The main problem was that it was a million miles from my experience of life and I couldn't really relate to the characters. Having said that, it was memorable and I won't forget it in a hurry.

This a gritty novel about Cork's underworld. Sex, drugs and violence are the order of the day but there are tender moments and even some amusing interludes. I wouldn't expect it to be everybody's cup of tea, in fact I am quite surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did but it grew on me as the book progressed. By the time I reached the end I was quite disappointed to have finished it. Apparently it is the first in a trilogy and I will be looking out for the next two.

Set in Cork, this novel examines the complexities of modern Irish life by following the lives of a few individuals who inhabit the fringes of society. Jimmy is “Cork’s most feared”, a gangster who takes no prisoners. Maureen, his somewhat eccentric mother from whom he has been estranged since birth, reappears in fairly dramatic fashion when she “accidentally” kills somebody. This “somebody” is the boyfriend of Georgie, a prostitute who starts asking questions about her boyfriend’s whereabouts. Tony is an alcoholic, trying to bring up a large family on his own after the death of his wife. He is easily led and has become involved with Jimmy, a liaison he is likely to regret. Ryan is Tony’s son, a 15 year old drug dealer who has just fallen head over heels in love with Karine.

I think I read somewhere that this book is the first in a trilogy, loosely based around sex, drugs and rock‘n’roll. Assuming each book tackles one of these issues, this book must either be sex or drugs as there’s no obvious rock‘n’roll but plenty of the other two. I guess it’s “sex” as it’s the first in the trilogy.

By the time I reached the end of this book, I was really enjoying it. Despite the dark nature of the content, there is some light relief in the shape of Maureen who really is a wonderful character – completely bonkers yet very endearing. The other characters are well developed too, although it took me quite a while to get to know them well enough to feel comfortable with them and ultimately, care what happened to them (most of them anyway). The author did a very good job of depicting the despair and helplessness felt by many of the characters who, often through no fault of their own, had been thrown into a hostile and frightening environment which demanded more than many of them had to give. I’m pretty sure I am not the target audience for this book as the characters live in a world dominated by prostitution, drugs and violence, a million miles away from the world I inhabit. It is therefore to the author’s credit that she grabbed my interest enough for me to keep reading and then dragged me on board until I was really quite captivated.

There were some downsides too. Initially I did really struggle. I couldn’t relate to any of the people, or the situations they were in. Also, whilst it wasn’t exactly written in the vernacular, there was a lot of vocabulary which I didn’t know, largely because of the many words and phrases which were peculiar to Ireland. I can’t honestly say that I understood every word that I read but I mostly got the gist of what was meant.

I’m not sure if I would recommend this book generally as it is quite hard going. However, I concede that it is probably a modern Irish classic and is therefore worth persevering.

I somehow missed this book the first time round, and I was really pleased to be introduced to this author and the book (I believe this book is now part of a trilogy) through my book club. Although the topics explored are gritty, such as drugs, prostitution, violence, murder etc, once I got into the rhythm of the book, I was very engaged in the characters and wanted to know what was happening in their chaotic lives. I am a fan of Irish fiction in general, and this is definitely portraying the underworld or Ireland that unfortunately does exist. I will be searching out for the other two books to find out what's in store for Ryan, especially as the ending of this book is rather intriguing for his character.

This is a gritty and dark read. The cover describes it as “hilarious” however I did not find it at all funny. The story is very raw and at times hard to read involving drugs and prostitution. However it was a compelling read with a well constructed story. I enjoyed the fact that all the characters were linked together

I wanted to like this book. McInerney is a talented wordsmith, with a gift for creating multifaceted characters. I lost count of the times I thought, "that was the absolutely perfect description," and I was impressed by how characters (notably Tony, Ryan's father) felt dramatically different depending on who they were interacting with.

All that to say, I'm impressed by McInerney's writing, but I just couldn't get into the novel. While the back-cover blurb promises a level of mystery and intrigue, the actual story has very little plot to grab my interest. I was hardly expecting twists and turns, of course, but what we've got instead are a lot of pretty hopeless people treating each other terribly and irreparably messing up their lives. I wanted to like the characters, particularly Ryan, but over and over they just kept disappointing me. I'm expect that's probably realistic, but it doesn't make for an enjoyable read.

All in all, I'd happily pick up another novel by McInerney, but I found this one took me ages to get through.

You have to work hard to fathom this story which follows the lives of characters separated by generations but linked by cultural, religious, social and hereditary bonds. Lives and loves are sacrificed on an altar dominated by lies, subterfuge and obfuscation. The interaction between the characters tugs at the heart strings, I wanted to intervene in the narrative to bring about the "happy ending" which I knew wasn't possible.

Dark, savage and violent, this is an incredibly moving story of poverty and addiction. It made for a very intense and often depressing read. I finished the book feeling completely wrung out. Skilful and powerful writing.

Teasers on the book cover say it is "Hilarious" (The Times) and "Darkly funny" (Metro). I found this book anything but funny. In my opinion it is a dark tale of the cycle of poverty, alcoholism, drug addiction, abuse and prostitution and the utter lack of salvation in breaking the cycle.
Ryan Cusack loses his mother as a very young boy. His father tries to raise him and his siblings as best he can but his depression and alcoholism make him a very poor parent indeed. He comes under the influence of a small time gangster who controls their neighborhood and everyone in it. Eventually Ryan finds himself under this gangster's influence as well.
There are multiple story lines intertwining all the characters in this self-perpetuating spiral of dispair and helplessness.
Lisa Mcinerney, the author, has a very good way with words and is quite capable of drawing a picture of the culture in which her characters live. At times the lyrical metaphoric dialogue between the characters almost makes the reader hear the words being spoken rather than read them. For me this was not enough to save this depressing tale. It bgan to feel as if this book was written with the idea of it would make a good movie.

Helen from Issie's Book Group writes:
What a rollicking rollercoaster ride through some of the darkest places in Cork! This book made me laugh, wince and cry. The writing was lyrical and somehow fast-paced too. The characters jumped off the page right away, from the dour murderess Maureen to the gorgeous lost soul Ryan and everyone in between. Georgie's story in particular was haunting; Lisa McInerney hides nothing in her descriptions of the squalor, shame and danger of prostitution and drug addiction, and yet still manages to deliver humanity and dignity to her characters. You want them to succeed, or at the very least escape. A frightening portrayal of modern Cork and yet narrated with such humour and care that you find yourself believing, against all odds, that things will improve.

I loved it - couldn't put it down - and it is not a book I necessarily would have chosen
We always give our books marks out of 20 and sum them up with one word so my mark is 16 and my word is Riotous

Wow - what a great and powerful novel! An unflinching look at the grubby underbelly of Ireland, featuring a cast of characters you will both pity, blame and cheer for. Unforgiving and unapologetic, visceral, funny, and deeply sad at times, a great read.