New Customer Review - Bog Child

Bog Child
by Sibhan Dowd [j Dowd]

Bog Child. Dowd's exceptional young adult novel is also about family, religion, sacrifice, and Ireland's Troubles in 1981. In other words, it's far more complex than I expected. If you don't know anything about bog bodies, Dowd's novel is a great place to start. In it, eighteen-year-old Fergus and his Uncle Tally find a female body buried in the bog while they're out shoveling peat. Turns out, the body has not been in the bog for weeks or months but for years. What makes Bog Child such an engaging and informative read is that Fergus starts having dreams about the buried woman, whom he names Mel, and the nature of her death. These dreams are intertwined with his muddled feelings about his brother, who is on a hunger strike. You see, besides learning about bog bodies, I also received many chapters-worth of education about a period known as Ireland's Troubles. In Bog Child, there are numerous references to soldiers, border checkpoints, bomb-makers, Semtrax, courier recruitment, hunger strikes, and violence. On a more personal level, Fergus (and his family) struggles to make sense of his brother's decision to join other protesting prisoners in a hunger strike. Yet Bog Child isn't a pro-war book. One of the most-touching friendships is between Fergus and an enemy soldier Owain, whom Fergus discovers is just another regular guy like him. None of the drawbacks to the book should deter you from reading Bog Child. It is full of happiness and sadness, joys and tragedies, and is one of the most original stories about growing-up that I've read. -- review submitted by Allison H.-F. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

Allison also submitted reviews of two youth non-fiction titles related to bogs and bog bodies -- also viewable on the Customer Reviews page, linked below...

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