Night Boat To Tangier by Kevin Barry.

I just finished reading Night Boat To Tangier by Kevin Barry this evening, so I thought I’d write a quick little review while it is still fresh in my mind. My copy is a very attractive signed hardback first edition that I bought in Topping & Company of Bath a few weeks ago. I hadn’t heard of the author Kevin Barry before, but when the book caught my eye, I saw that Roddy Doyle had described it as ‘brilliant’, and when I saw that Kevin was Irish, Born in Limerick and now living in County Sligo I decided to buy it. When I began reading the book I found it quite hard work at first because of the style. It seemed like Kevin was trying to reinvent novel writing. There were no inverted commas to denote speech, and the paragraphs were short and spaced. It looked like a script for a play or film. Once I got used to this format and got immersed in the story I enjoyed the book immensely.

Most of the story takes place in the Spanish port of Algeciras in October 2018 where two ageing Irish gangsters Charlie Redmond and Maurice Hearn are waiting for the Tangier ferry to either arrive or depart. They are searching for Maurice’s daughter Dilly aged 23 who they haven’t seen for three years. They believe she may be travelling with a gang of hippy types who they describe as ‘Crusties’. This struck a chord with me because I remember passing through that ferry port myself in 1974 on our way to Morocco, and I was quite crusty in those days 😊. And even crustier on the way home!. Maurice only has one eye and Charlie walks with a limp. I won’t ruin the story by telling you how they acquired these afflictions. I think it is quite deliberate of the author to invite comparisons to Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett. 

Large tracts of the book are conversations between the two main protagonists while they are waiting. They both know each other so well that they know what the other is thinking, so they might as well talk to themselves. In that respect the book is a testament to friendships forged in youth that can last a lifetime, even though the friends might do terrible things to each other. There is a huge amount of humour in the story and the author writes descriptively, lyrically, and poetically. Bob Dylan would be proud of some of the imagery that Kevin Barry conjures up. The humour is often punctuated by bursts of extreme violence, paranoia, and psychosis. Bad luck seems to follow the two of them and there are elements of Celtic mysticism and witchcraft. The lads make a fortune by importing tons of Moroccan hashish into Ireland. They try to legitimise the money by building housing projects, but are cursed by disturbing a fairy fort. 

In Spain Maurice meets the mysterious Karima who seems to have dark powers. I won’t tell you much more in case you want to read this book, but one of my favourite scenes takes place in a Shebeen called ‘The Judas Iscariot All Night Drinking Club’. The denizens of this place are like characters from medieval times and they are watching and listening to the two characters intently, knowing that something terrible is going to explode at any minute. Although the book is about two ruthless criminals, by the end of the story you can’t help sympathising with them. It isn’t really a gangster novel at all. It is a story about friendship and love and loss. All these emotions can leave people feeling bewildered, empty, and not knowing what to do with their lives. The relationship between Maurice and the love of his life Cynthia ends in tragedy, and is Dilly really Maurice’s daughter? I think I have said more than enough now, but I enjoyed this book very much indeed. Kevin Barry is a great Irish writer who I highly recommend.