Book of the Week

Book of the Week The Eskimo in the Net by Gerard Beirne
By Eoghan Ferrie

Jim Gallagher is back living on the Inishowen peninsula after spending a number of years working in the canneries in Alaska. Out one day working as a fisherman on his friend Knucky's boat, he hauls in the body of an Eskimo. When the authorities show little interest in understanding the whys and wherefores of the Eskimo's appearance in his net, Jim is driven to get to the bottom of the mystery. Concurrently, he is coming to realise that his relationship with his two best friends since childhood, Frances and Knucky, is changing for the worse and possibly coming to an end. 'The Eskimo in the Net' is the story of his efforts to understand both the Eskimo's origins and the current state of his life.
Gerard Beirne's enthralling debut explores the themes of friendship, self-exploration, love and death among others in a thoughtful and occasionally humourous way. We follow Jim as he struggles with alcoholism and loneliness, and attempts to create for himself a life with which he can be content.
The protagonist is living in a sort of limbo. He left Donegal to escape but he doesn't know from what. His friends considered him brave for setting out on his own while they took the safe option but he saw it as running away and wondered if they weren't braver for staying behind and making the most of the hand they were dealt. He's unsure of his reasons for returning and doesn't know what kind of life he was expecting to find for himself. He has a vague notion that in solving the puzzle of the dead Eskimo he will also answer some questions regarding his own future.

This is a book that will strike a chord with the majority of readers as it examines the struggles individuals face in coping with ever-changing circumstance and the realisation that the only certain thing in life is that there is no certainty. Gerard Beirne marries these observations with a good story and the result is well worth a read.

(Marion Boyars Publishers, ISBN 0-7145-3093-X, pp331, €14.30)
About the author
Gerard Beirne is an Irish writer living in Canada. He was awarded the Sunday Tribune/Hennessy Best Emerging Fiction Writer and New Irish Writer awards in 1996. His work has been published in numerous journals, including Stet, Irish national literary magazine, the Sunday Tribune newspaper, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. His story, Sightings of Bono, was adapted into a short film, featuring U2's Bono, by Parallel Productions, Ireland.