He’s the one who holds the narrative together and makes it such a compelling read because you feel for him - and fear for him. In fact, Joe, a complex character, is the heart of this story. While it soon becomes clear that the family in Boys Don’t Cry is not your usual working-class family - Da runs a drug operation for the local kingpin, Dessie Murphy, but is now locked up in Mountjoy prison for shooting a policeman, who nearly died - it takes a while to figure out why everyone is wracked with grief and why Joe hates his father so much. I have no memory of buying it and don’t know why I did so, other than it must have received a good review somewhere or I thought the subject matter appealed at the time. When I began reading this book, I literally had no idea what it was about.

What makes the story so compelling is the way in which it is told, for each brother’s version of events is told in a different time period - Joe’s is AFTER Finn’s - but they are interleaved so that one loosely informs the other to make a more powerful read. Is he being physically abused at home, or is something else going on? But when he develops unexplained bruising on his arms and legs and begins suffering from bad nose bleeds, a question mark is raised over his health. He looks up to his big brother and adores his Ma and Da.

He’s often bullied and expected to behave in a stereotypical way, purely because of his background.įinn is 12 and a happy-go-lucky boy who loves playing sport and having fun with friends.

He’s been lucky enough to secure a place in a prestigious private school, but he is constantly aware that he is from a different social class and doesn’t quite fit in. Set in working-class Dublin, the story unfolds through the eyes of two brothers, who tell their version of events in alternate chapters. This novella about sibling love, divided loyalties, illness, grief and toxic masculinity is a heartrending - and heartwarming - read. If you took a big cooking pot and threw in Irish authors Roddy Doyle and Kit de Waal, then added the scriptwriters for the Irish gangster TV series Love/Hate and gave it a good stir, the end result might be Fiona Scarlett’s Boys Don’t Cry. Unless we’re in private, when nobody sees. He tells us that crying is a sign of weakness. Fiction – Kindle edition Faber & Faber 178 pages 2021.

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