John Lennon lore carries story
Fact-fiction fusion sustains ‘unforgettable ride’ of a book
It takes some gall to fictionalize the likes of a John Lennon, but then Irish writer Kevin Barry is no ordinary author.
His latest book, Beatlebone, takes three very real facts — Lennon, his ownership of Dorinish island off the West Coast of Ireland, plus his penchant for Primal Scream Therapy — and fuses them into a fab, fictional tale. While the former Beatle provides the bones to the story, its muscle is pure, brilliant bravado on Barry’s part.
Beatlebone kicks off with the fictional John being driven around the West Coast of Ireland in a black Mercedes, the conceit being he’s en route to his island in 1978 with hopes of getting his mojo back.
His driver and chaperone is Cornelius O’Grady, a character who’s equal parts salt-of-the-earth and magical whimsy.
“Would you be a saddish kind of man, John?” Cornelius asks his charge who’s slumped over in the back seat pondering his “dark, glamorous mind.”
Cornelius counters John’s repeated demand of getting him to his island with colourful rebuttals that are at times profound — “We are all terrified John. There is not mystery to it” — and at others profane and laugh-out-loud funny.
Theirs is a journey that’s everything but straightforward as they dodge the press, and engage in memorable encounters and side trips with a cast of characters as richly defined as the best of those from Sean O’Casey, Hugh Leonard, Roddy Doyle and both Flann and Edna O’Brien, among others.
Beatlebone’s narrative runs on the exuberance of Barry’s unbridled imagination. Loaded with references, quotes and lyrics — from John mimicking Kate Bush’s vocals in her song “Wuthering Heights,” to sheep looking like “teddy boys bedraggled in the rain, dequiffed by mist,” Barry whips them into a vigorous narrative that’s intelligent and connected to his characters, time and place.
Divided into nine sections, Barry shapes his story by blending styles and genres.
At times the beauty and poetry of his language begs for repeated readings, while at others its sparse and play-like presentation somehow morphs from merely reading what’s on the page to listening to it.
Barry’s smarts as a storyteller, however, really shine as he nears the end and lays all his cards on the table — showing his hand for it’s worth — and reveals the real bones of his story.
It’s a trick so obvious, yet stunning, that it fuels his fact/fiction fusion and sustains Beatlebone to its finish: Magic.
You don’t have to be up on Lennon-lore to be hip to the fact Beatlebone is one unforgettable ride, and author Kevin Barry is the ticket.
Dig it! Elizabeth Mitchell is a Toronto writer.