John McGahern
By the Lake by John McGahern is a character-driven novel that is simply beautiful and beautiful in its simplicity.
It focuses on Joe and Kate Ruttledge living on a small lakeside farm in Ireland. They are surrounded by a motley crew of villagers who casually drop by for a drink and a chat. All are welcomed and all are offered refreshments. Most prominent among them are their closest friends, the village gossip, Jamesie; and his lovely wife, Mary. There is the elderly Bill Evans, traumatized by the abuse he suffered as a child. Bill no sooner enters their home than he is offered a drink and a couple of cigarettes. Patrick Ryan is building a shed for them, which, somehow, never gets finished. Jamesie’s brother, Johnny, comes home to visit every summer. John Quinn is the local womanizer, always on the lookout for another propertied widow to marry and exploit. And Joe’s wealthy uncle, nicknamed “the Shah,” has a generosity of spirit hidden beneath a no-nonsense exterior.
Nothing very much happens in the novel. The opening chapters are a little chaotic. The reader feels like an outsider listening in on conversations between people who know each other well and who have stories to share with one another. Gradually, the picture solidifies. Each character emerges with a distinct personality and an authentic voice. They casually drift in and out of one another’s conversations and one another’s lives. We come to know them, know their banter, their foibles, their camaraderie, and their predilections. But what emerges above anything else is their unequivocal support for one another. All are tolerated with grace and kindness. And all are awash with love.
McGahern situates the novel in lyrical descriptions of the natural world. The rural setting is seen through the lens of its seasonal changes. The flora and fauna are evoked in such vivid sensory detail that the rural setting assumes the same degree of prominence as a character in the novel. The villagers’ lives are inextricably intertwined with their natural environment and with the rhythmic cycles of nature.
Although nothing much happens in the novel, in a sense, what does happen is all that matters. McGahern captures a time when life was simpler, when neighbor helped neighbor, when a person’s word was tantamount to an iron-clad commitment, when people worked in harmony with nature, and when peace and serenity are captured in the sight of a heron gracefully gliding over a pristine lake.
Highly recommended.