Dooneen
This dreamlike work unfolds in mists of obscurity. Mr. Ridgway combines an exact sense of setting—one could take a walking tour of the streets he names—with the spare, unreal atmosphere of an allegory ... While his narration is filled with rather precious declarations of love and lament, it sheds no light on his thoughts about the protests, or the reasons the activists want him around. His naiveté begins to feel contrived, a way to preserve a hazy aura of romance and menace. Dooneen calls up the strange horizons of J.G. Ballard, but without the edge.
Compelling ... Ridgway captures the chaotic intimacy of family life, the joshing, the sudden concern and the long tail of remembered slights ... Visceral and unvarnished ... Powerfully imagined.
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The first half of the novel does something quite wonderful, using Port’s disorientation to create a Kafkaesque atmosphere ... Ridgway is highly adept at conveying the lived realities of being human, like how our fearful minds boomerang back to the people and memories that make us feel safest ... A very timely exploration of what it means to be a citizen of this world–whether your eyes are open, closed, or blurred by an ignorance you’ve either willingly adopted or had foisted upon you by those in power.
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