In the Country of the Young
by Lisa Carey
William Morrow

If you enjoyed Lisa Carey's first Irish-themed novel, the myth-infused "The Mermaids Singing," you've probably been anxiously awaiting her second work. Well, save your $24 and wait for her third, as "In the Country of the Young" fails to live up to the promise of Carey's debut.

While "In the Country of the Young" incorporates the same themes of family, love, life and death as "The Mermaids Singing," it falls flat in its characterization and dramatization. There's simply too much summary and not enough action.

The story begins when an Irish "coffin ship" carrying emigrants to Canada crashes off the shores of a Maine island. Most of the passengers, who are fleeing the Irish Potato Famine, die. But many go on to inhabit the island, and eventually rename it Tir na nOg, which is Irish for "The Country of the Young" and the name of the ship that carried them there.

One of the passengers on the ship, a beautiful and sprightly little girl named Aisling, dies while shouting out the name of her older brother. More than a century later, Aisling's ghost enters the island home of Oisin McDara, a reclusive artist who is haunted by the childhood death of his twin sister. He had the ability to see ghosts as a child, and he hopes that this ghost with wide golden eyes is his sister.

The novel follows Oisin and Aisling's relationship as Aisling rapidly grows into a young woman over the course of a year. Although Aisling is not Oisin's sister, clearly she is some sort of stand-in. Oisin translates his love and longing for his dead sister into a sexual desire for Aisling, a symbol of feminine beauty and eternal youth. In the end, it is Oisin's relationship with Aisling that gives him life and pulls him out of his reclusive funk.

One might think such a plot would prove fertile ground for character exploration, but Carey comes up short. The plot alternates between the present, Oisin's childhood and Aisling's childhood. But Carey renders these flashbacks mostly in summary, which detracts from the scenes' immediacy and leaves the characters and their experiences as general impressions, rather than concrete images infused with emotion.

It is not until the very end of the novel that we witness any real movement. Much of the rest is simply a telling of the characters' thoughts and experiences. While the telling is not uninteresting, it would be far more compelling if Carey chose to dramatize her characters' experiences and emotions, rather than report them.

This is not to say that Carey has written a book entirely in summary. Some of the scenes, particularly the pub scenes set in Ireland, are engaging page-turners. The premise is interesting, at least, and for those particularly interested in Irish myth, "In the Country of the Young" may be worthwhile. It's just too bad Carey could not figure out some way to enliven the plot with more immediacy. It would have made a largely flat story into one brimming with energy and surprise.

— Ben Welch (bwelch@english.umass.edu)