Our Fathers: A Novel by the Author of the Missing

The beauty of the language and the young man's feelings for his father and his grandfather, and the astonishing resolution tucked in a few lines like one beautiful pebble on a great shoreline. He writes of the heart. I could not put it down and missed it awfully when it was over.

With "Our Fathers," rookie novelist Andrew O'Hagan announces his entry into the foray of 21st-century writers with great promise. His first novel is as much a test as it is a book.O'Hagan hasn't written the greatest first novel ever written, in "Our Fathers." He has, however, written a sublimely adequate novel that should leave readers wondering what the author has in store. For a first novel, "Our Fathers," is, perhaps, technically unsurpassed. It's structure, language, and plot are all expertly presented and well recieved. O'Hagan's fault is in his commitment to his characters, all of whom seem superficially created. His is a great story, well told, with characters in whom we never really trust or believe.Interestingly, the same could be said of early James Joyce, or even Ernest Hemingway. I would place O'Hagan's potential somewhere between the two of those giants; not quite as intelectually distancing as Joyce, not quite as forceful as Hemingway. O'Hagan is, no doubt, a gifted writer. This book is fun to read, if only to imagine what it might precede in this genuinely talented writer's career.Here's hoping he continues...

i spent tweleve hours reading this book...though in the beginning, i wouldn't really say this was a page turner...some parts of this book really disturbed me: jamie's encounter with the priest; his father,robert, the vicious savage that he is, and just the overall tone of the book, which is extremely bleak( i can handle grim, but this was extremely grim for my tastes)... i once lived with a scottish woman, and she never liked to talked about her family, or about her life back in scotland, but when she spoke of it, it was always with reverence; and unlike the character hugh, she hated the irish... what liked most about book, was although, o'hagan showed his family's dysfunctions, he also showed the love that existed between them,that gives the book its soul...

"Our Fathers", by Mr. Andrew O'Hagan is a piece about a Grandfather, a Father, and one Son who has gone to great lengths to prevent becoming the third Parent in the generational series. Readers can judge his reluctance, or possibly fear, to become a Father, however if he were to approach his predecessors in conduct, the world has more Fathers from this type as is. Granted this is a novel, but as they often do, this story is and has been played out forever.Scotland is the locale and three generations are the subject. This story is well written; it is also brutal physically as well as emotionally. If you are offended if an institution you may cherish is portrayed in very poor light, even in a work of fiction, this book may not be for you.The issues dealt with in this book are unfortunately not unusual, however the number of books written portraying domestic brutality, and conduct bordering on heinous, seem to abound. It is the exception that we read of a Family that is not the victim of many or all of what this book contains. I do not doubt these situations exist; I do question the need for bookshelves upon bookshelves documenting them.As a comparison, for those who have read, "Angela's Ashes", you will possibly find that memoir lighter by several degrees than this novel. There is misery and suffering everywhere in the world; it is not exclusive to the Northern areas of Great Britain. However if one were to read much of the newer works about Ireland, and in this case Scotland, you would have to wonder if there is a happy, contented Family in either Country. There are of course many such Families, perhaps they just choose not to write, or publishers not to publish.Many of the books I refer to and have commented upon have used humor however dark to break the misery of the lives of their characters, real or imagined. Mr. O'Hagan has written a very good book deserving of great praise, however be prepared for unbroken emotion that is uniformly negative, and conduct that at times is repugnant.

Being not a Scot myself, I eschew to contradict the previous reviewer from Scotland in a question of author's seriousness and profundity in depiction of Scottish problems. I'll only try to evaluate the novel from impartial point of view of a man who was born in other country. In his first novel Andrew O'Hagan raises a serious problem of conflict and misunderstanding of generations. Hugh Bawn, a grandfather of Jamie Bawn who is a protagonist of the novel, in postwar era made his best to eliminate Glaswegian terrible slums and give every citizen a clean and decent flat in tower blocks. He used cheap materials in construction in order to build more houses, not so comfortable but undoubtedly affordable. But the new times come, and today people, whose parents were glad to live in Hugh's houses, tear down the old structures to make way for the new and cast a slur upon Bawn. For those who live on the land of the former Soviet Union the depicted situation is a kind of allegory of our modern life, a portrait of "those fogetters of past necessities, those rectifiers of big mistakes" who discern in the history of our country in the 20th century only Stalin but never arduous labor of hundreds of our grandfathers, the Soviet Hughs, in their attempts to make life of millions better. The principle formulated by Jamie Bawn announces a motto of a conscious part of the new generation: "I wanted my own day, but not at the expense of every day that preceded".The novel describes alienation between the members of three generations of the Bawn family. Hugh (first generation) is a passionate builder but he has no time for his son Robert (second generation), whom he despises for his inabilities. Robert, being unable to change his father's opinion, hates him instead and becomes a drunkard in fruitless efforts to find his place in the world. He abuses his wife and hates his son Jamie (third generation) who hates him in return and escapes to his grandfather. Jamie is an ardent listener of Hugh's knowledge, but in adulthood he uses this knowledge in demolition of the buildings previously constructed by his grandfather. The train of hatred seems insurmountable, but Hugh's incurable illness gives Jamie possibility to escape an ordinary life rote and time to recall and understand. He, who decided to stop his family probles and sins simply by refusing to marry and have children, commences a hard process of foregiveness of inveterate deep offences...The language of the novel is poetically terse with a lot of beautiful images and oxymorons, sometimes it is necessary to read a sentence at least twice to understand its true meaning. It is a very good novel justly shortlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize. It resembles Seamus Deane's masterpiece "Reading in the Dark" which I personally prefer.