Sci-Fi: City of Bohane by Kevin Barry

Publisher: Graywolf Press (U.S.)
Date: May 2011
Format: hardback
Source: WLT giveaway shelf
Read: for cleaning out Mt. TBR
Pages: 277
Reading time: five days

From GoodReads: Forty years in the future. The once-great city of Bohane on the west coast of Ireland is on its knees, infested by vice and split along tribal lines. There are the posh parts of town, but it is in the slums and backstreets of Smoketown, the tower blocks of the Northside Rises and the eerie bogs of Big Nothin' that the city really lives. For years, the city has been in the cool grip of Logan Hartnett, the dapper godfather of the Hartnett Fancy gang. But there's trouble in the air. They say his old nemesis is back in town; his trusted henchmen are getting ambitious; and his missus wants him to give it all up and go straight... And then there's his mother.

My review: This is a case of "it's not you, it's me." For one thing, I found it difficult to become accustomed to the dialect used by the author throughout the novel. At the beginning, there were some points where I really just didn't know what was going on. While my understanding of the dialect increased, it never became easy to read. Also, it seemed like there was no central plot, and I felt like I missed whatever the point of the book was. On the other hand, I did appreciate how different City of Bohane is from other sci-fi novels. The language and style are certainly unique, and there were some moments that seemed very Bladerunner or Gravity's Rainbow-esque (in positive ways). Even if you're like me and won't truly enjoy reading this book for the fun of it, it's definitely interesting enough to pick up anyway.