Say Nothing

A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

De: Patrick Radden Keefe

Narrado por: Matthew Blaney

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • From the author of Empire of Pain—a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions.

One of The New York Times’s 20 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century • A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of the Last 30 Years

"Masked intruders dragged Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widow and mother of 10, from her Belfast home in 1972. In this meticulously reported book—as finely paced as a novel—Keefe uses McConville's murder as a prism to tell the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Interviewing people on both sides of the conflict, he transforms the tragic damage and waste of the era into a searing, utterly gripping saga." —New York Times Book Review

"Reads like a novel. . . . Keefe is . . . a master of narrative nonfiction. . . . An incredible story."—Rolling Stone

A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, NPR, and more!

Jean McConville's abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.

Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders.

From radical and impetuous I.R.A. terrorists such as Dolours Price, who, when she was barely out of her teens, was already planting bombs in London and targeting informers for execution, to the ferocious I.R.A. mastermind known as The Dark, to the spy games and dirty schemes of the British Army, to Gerry Adams, who negotiated the peace but betrayed his hardcore comrades by denying his I.R.A. past--Say Nothing conjures a world of passion, betrayal, vengeance, and anguish.

An excellent and compelling listen

Although at times appearing as an apologia of Republican terrorism, this is an excellent, compelling yet ultimately very depressing book.

What struck me the most were the intense feelings of betrayal that former IRA terrorists felt towards the political leadership of Sinn Fein. Following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, many of the IRA’s fighters ended up asking themselves whether the murder, torture and terrorism the were participants in, had even been worth it. Many of these former terrorists suffered from PTSD, and continue to do so today.
Finally, the book debunks Gerry Adams’ claims to have never been a member of the IRA. In fact, the book argues, he was its leader.
This

Perfect Title ....Say Nothin'

I grew up in Belfast in the 1960's-80's and this accounting by Mr Radden Keefe is so well documented and researched it's hard to believe it only took him 4 yrs. What I remember mostly was the vitriolic mud slinging that was a daily occurrence on the radio and evening news between the opposing paramilitary groups, the Tit for Tat murders, called sectarian, a word I never knew the meaning of back then. This was the stuff, you had no option but to listen because your parents were glued to it all, in fear pretending it was the norm.
My first recollection of the so called troubles was when, my father's pub was burnt down one night in August of 1971, We watched it all unfold on TV. The next, was when i went to primary school one day and a classmate was called out to the principals office to go home. I later found out her father had tried to carry a bomb in a box out of his pub, Lavery's bar on the Lisburn Rd that had just been planted on the counter, only to find out too late that it was new kind of device, known as a mercury tilt, it detonated and blew him and the surrounding area to smithereens, she was only 11.
When I started working at 16 I met a girl and after a few months, learned she had a brother who had disappeared. Brian McKinney. I asked her, what do you think happened to him ?, she said "The Provo's took him after warning him a couple of times not to commit any robberies in their housing estate". They lived in Andersonstown. Her mother never recovered. People were knee-capped or tarred & feathered daily as a warning for misbehaving or a deterrent of some kind. You never knew who you were talking to in my job as a hairdresser, Hence , Say Nothing, i was lucky enough to deal with the well heeled and wealthy wives that wanted their hair done and one Saturday morning in 1983, two men in balaclavas walked into our little salon in downtown Belfast and told everyone to empty their handbags, take off their jewelry and hand it over. They had a sawn-off shot gun.
One summer I escaped to NYC for a few months in 1981 and when i realized there was another world outside of NI i was smitten. I spent the next few yrs working hard, earning money to save up to get back to the USA. The final straw for me..... I was living on the Antrim Rd with my brother and sister it was the summer of 1986, we could hear gunfire, sirens and a commotion down the street at a popular spot called the Chichester Hotel it was considered quite swanky with a nightclub and a chinese takeaway. A taxi driver had been ambushed , shot, left for dead but he'd crawled out of his car and down the street about 500 yds to get help, then died in their car park. The next morning a Sunday, we went out to buy bagels at a deli down the Rd and all down the sidewalk was his blood in a long smear as it had not yet rained. For me, i thought i hate this place and all the cronies that spout hatred in the name of patriotism. It was so provincial and to have people directing your whole life in a small little 6 county area when the whole world was waiting, i thought let me outta here. Gerry Adams is just like the Lance Armstrong's, Bill Clinton's, Donald Trump's and Prince Andrew's, of the world who think everyone around him is as asinine as he is.
My only complaint about the book is the narration, Mr Blaney should have researched his pronunciation of lots of words as i found those mispronounced to to be quite irritating and distracting, there was a least one per chapter otherwise he would've gotten 5 stars as well. Thank you PRK i loved this book

Fascinating and riveting look at history

This is an incredibly interesting book that is wonderfully rendered by the narrator. The "story" uses the murder of Jean McConville as a framework for a broader history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, going through the decades connecting major players and events in a gripping manner. Though there's an element of true crime in the framing murder, this is not a mystery book or one of those stories where the writer is playing detective; this is a well-researched work of narrative nonfiction that includes the context and effects surrounding a period of violence. More so than that, the book is a fascinating look at who records history and at the role of academia/research in preserving stories of politics, violence, and personal trauma. One minor note: the end acknowledgements indicate that there are lots of footnotes and sourcing information that are excluded from the audiobook version, so if you want those features you should get the print version.

Best Book of 2019

Mid way through listening to this book I recommended it to 4 people. It quite simply is the best non fiction book I’ve listened to in a very long time.

Couldn’t stop listening

I’m not a historian nor a non-fiction devotee, but this story captured my interest immediately. The narrator is captivating, and the story intriguing. I could not stop listening. I will continue with a second listen and may read as well. I highly recommend this book.