How We Mortals Blame the Gods

By: Máirín Mc Sweeney

Narrated by: Aidan Kelly, Aoife McMahon

On the verge of a marital breakup after the death of their stillborn son, a journalist, Omar Wilde, who is covering the Centenary Bloomsday celebrations of James Joyce’s Ulysses in Dublin, Ireland, is desperately looking for "the story" that will prove his worth to his disillusioned wife, Flora. While wandering around the Bloomsday celebrations, he and a young actor, Kiarán Lynch (Kinch), who, unbeknownst to Omar, is involved with his wife, find themselves embroiled in a potential terrorist attack. Faced with this life-threatening situation, Omar must finally conquer his fears and sense of failure before hundreds of people, including many dignitaries, are murdered horribly.

This audiobook is a shadowing of James Joyce’s Ulysses, set 100 years to the day, June 16, 2004, after Joyce’s masterpiece. It takes a contemporary look at similar issues such as religion, gender equality, and identity in modern Ireland and attempts to answer the question: If the characters of Joyce’s Ulysses were alive in modern Dublin, who might they be?

©2022 Mairin Mc Sweeney (P)2023 Mairin Mc Sweeney

A 21st century Ulysses, masterfully told.

Mc Sweeney paints an intensely accurate portrait of Dublin at the beginning of the 21st century, with all of its beauty, humour, musicality, contradictions, and intense energy. Shadowing Joyce's Ulysses narrative, she provides a masterful account of a city in flux, embracing its past but striving to incorporate its future, its newfound diversity, grappling with religiosity, battling modernity. This is an immensely enjoyable read, very accessible, and it is important to point out that you do not have to have done battle with Ulysses to fully embrace this wonderful book. I should add that the narration by Aidan Kelly and Aoife McMahon adds immensely to one's appreciation of the atmosphere of Dublin at this time - exceptional performances.