 | |
| Author | Neil Mackay |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Social science fiction |
| Published | 2013 |
| Publisher | Freight Books |
| Publication place | UK |
| ISBN | 978-1908754288 |
All the Little Guns Went Bang Bang is Neil Mackay's debut 2013 novel about two children who grow up in Northern Ireland. [1] [2] [3]
Brought up surrounded by sectarian violence, the actions of both children replicate their environment. The book is described as "shocking", "visceral", and a "critique of a society that has lost its soul".
Set in Antrim during The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, the book tells the take of two eleven year old children, May-Belle Mulholland and Pearse Furlong. [1] [2] [4] Pearce is the son of a bullying Royal Ulster Constabulary officer, and May-Belle's father is regularly arrested and jailed, leaving her under the care of her violent mother. [1]
The children, portrayed as victims rather than villains, begin to torment and torture insects, graduating to small animals, influenced by the selfish acts of their parents. [1] May-Belle is drugged and pimped by her mother. [3]
Their misbehavior destructively escalates in a city scarred by sectarian violence. [2]
Towards the end of the book Pearse Furlong's mother and grandmother are killed by a car bomb that was planted to target his father. [2]
The book uses dark comedy throughout. [4]
James Smart writing in The Guardian describes the book as a "passionate critique of a society that has lost its soul." [1]
Writing for The Irish Times, Freya McClements notes the moral lesson that "violence begets violence" and describes the book as shocking, visceral and uncomfortable reading. [2]
Paul Cockburn writing for The Skinny describes Mackay's writing as skillful and the story as difficult to forget. [4]
Brian Morton writing in the Scottish Review of Books described the writing as grand and compared it favorably to To Kill A Mockingbird , The Catcher in the Rye , and The Member of the Wedding . [3]