Book Review: The Connellys of County Down

Family is fundamentally important to the way we define our lives.  We are born into them and are raised alongside them, experiencing the highest highs and the lowest lows alongside our fathers, our mothers and our siblings. Coming from a wide and extended family myself, I love reading novels which put an intricate focus on the paradoxical nature of families and how they can drive us crazy but in equal measure offer us intimate protection and unity. That’s why I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Tracey Lange’s 2^nd contemporary-fiction novel called The Connellys of County Down.

The narrative of The Connellys of County Down follows recent parolee Tara Connelly as she ends her eighteen-month sentence in a state prison on a drug possession charge and attempts to re-adjust back into her old life alongside her family.  This aspiration is anything but easy however, as the impact of Tara’s drug possession charge caused ripples for all of her family she was forced to leave behind.  Her older brother Eddie, is a single dad who struggles with continuous side effects of a brain injury he suffered years ago.  Her older sister Geraldine, is a worrier who struggles to let go of her incessant need to control things and maintain an ideal image of the family and its values.  When Tara comes back into her siblings’ lives, one is racked with guilt over her return and the other is racked with shame.  Together the Connelly family try to navigate the delicate relationships that have been fractured in the wake of recent events. Outside of the family dilemma, each of the Connelly’s face their own personal trials in their lives outside the family life. Tara faces difficulty finding work and escaping the shadow of her crimes.  Eddie comes to grips with a promising job opportunity he doesn’t feel worthy of and Geraldine struggles to keep on top of her work as an accountant without pushing things off.

The core quality of this novel is its devotion to reflecting the family dynamic in some genuinely realistic fashion.  Each of the Connelly siblings have an integral characteristic that defines their role in the family and gives them enough means to individualize themselves.  While the narrative puts a good level of devotion in to reflecting each of the siblings from an individual perspective, it also does an equally impressive feat in showing the unity they all share and the impact each of them has on the other’s lives in both positive and negative ways.  It’s a very grounded tale and I enjoyed how optimistic it is able to be in the wake of it’s complicated set up.  While I love the general structure and story that was presented, I can’t help but feel the final arc of the books feels rushed to a degree.  While I get the intent behind ending the story in the position that Lange choose to, I can’t help but feel giving the narrative a bit of time to see where these characters end up soon after the main events of the plot would have helped pace the final act out a bit better and give these characters much better closure.

The tone and pacing of the book are smartly balanced for the most part.  I like how this feels like a genuine reflection of a modern-day family with dysfunctional elements.  It doesn’t shy away from approaching legitimate adult concepts in a way that feels realistic yet it does it in a way with feels smartly woven into these characters personal lives.  I love how uplifting the story feels in respect of the tone too.  It’s a story interwoven with stakes and tension but there’s levity and hope incorporated into the story to give it some much appreciated balance.  Pacing wise the book handles the story well for the most part, but as I noted earlier, I feel the final arc of the book feels somewhat rushed in comparison to the prior two arcs. It’s not a deal breaker, but you feel Lange seems to be pushing the story at a faster pace to bring it to a necessary climax.

Despite some minor gripes with the way the final portion of the book was handled, I can’t take anything else away from The Connellys of County Down. It’s a story which reflects the importance of family and being there for one another no matter the difficulty.  It’s a book I whole heartedly reciprocated with and I imagine anyone else would find considerable enjoyment in too.