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Say Nothing (book)

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Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Cover of first edition
AuthorPatrick Radden Keefe
Audio read byMatthew Blaney[1]
Cover artistStefano Archetti (photo)
LanguageEnglish
SubjectThe Troubles
PublisherWilliam Collins
Publication date
1 November 2018
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages513
Awards2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing
ISBN9780008159252
OCLC1063745342
941.670824092
LC ClassDA995.B5 K44 2018

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland is a 2018 book by writer and journalist Patrick Radden Keefe. It focuses on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It spent six weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list and received widespread critical acclaim. It was adapted into a 2024 limited series for FX and Disney+.

Summary

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Say Nothing's subject is The Troubles in Northern Ireland, with the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville as a central focus. The book describes the lives of Dolours Price, Brendan Hughes, Gerry Adams, and Jean McConville's children. Through these figures, it offers a history of the Troubles as a whole: the civil rights movement and the turn to violence at the end of the 1960s, the Provisional IRA's bombing campaign, the 1981 hunger strike, the peace process and the opposition it faced within the republican movement, and the post-conflict struggle to understand crimes like McConville's murder. The book also details the efforts of the Belfast Project to research and investigate the events of the conflict. Keefe began researching and writing the book after reading an obituary for Dolours Price in 2013.[2]

Title

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The book's title is taken from the poem "Whatever You Say, Say Nothing" by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney from his collection North (1975).[2]

Publication

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Say Nothing was first published by the William Collins imprint of HarperCollins on 1 November 2018. It was later published in the US by Doubleday on 26 February 2019.[3]

The book debuted at number five on The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction best-sellers list on 17 March 2019.[4] It spent six weeks on the list.[5] Say Nothing also debuted at number seven on The New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction best-sellers list on 17 March 2019,[6] and spent six weeks on the list.[7]

Reception

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According to Book Marks, the book received "rave" reviews based on twenty-two critic reviews, with 11 being "rave" and 11 being "positive".[8] In Books in the Media, a site that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received an average rating of 4.54 out of 5 from the site which was based on four critic reviews.[9] In the May/June 2019 issue of Bookmarks, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received an average rating of 4 out of 5 based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "All in all, Say Nothing is a "riveting account" (Minneapolis Star Tribune) sure to interest amateur historians".[10][11]

Jennifer Szalai of The New York Times wrote, "Keefe's narrative is an architectural feat, expertly constructed out of complex and contentious material, arranged and balanced just so."[12]

Maureen Corrigan of NPR enthusiastically wrote, "Keefe is a storyteller who captures the complexities of a historical moment by digging deep into the lives of people on all sides of the conflict."[13] Corrigan concludes, "At the end of his panoramic book, which gathers together history, politics and biography, Keefe tightens the focus back to the mystery of McConville's abduction and murder. And, as in the most ingenious crime stories, Keefe unveils a revelation — lying, so to speak, in plain sight — that only further complicates the moral dimensions of his tale."[13]

Devlin Barrett of The Washington Post described how Say Nothing is "a cautionary tale, [that] speaks volumes — about the zealotry of youth, the long-term consequences of violence and the politics of forgetting."[14]

The Economist noted, "The discerning skill with which Mr. Radden Keefe gets inside these characters' minds may unsettle some readers, but it is also his book's strength. He shows how people who in peacetime might just have been strong-willed or colourful types came to condone or perpetrate the unspeakable."[15]

Stephen Phillips of the Los Angeles Times praised the book saying, "'Say Nothing' powerfully documents a society benumbed by trauma attempting to reckon with the abyss that engulfed it."[16]

The book was named one of the top ten books of 2019 by both The New York Times Book Review[17] and The Washington Post.[18] It won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.[19] In 2024, the New York Times named Say Nothing the 19th best book of the 21st century.[20]

Criticism

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In May 2019, Irish journalist Ed Moloney, who was the director of the Belfast Project, published a piece in CounterPunch in which he alleged several inaccuracies in Keefe's book. He also criticised Keefe's citation style: "The writing thus flows uninterrupted, appearing to the untutored reader – or reviewer – as being the work of the author when it may not be. It takes hard work and determination to discover how much of this book is truly original reporting and how much is taken from other people's work. A 'more commercial narrative' indeed."[21]

Television adaptation

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Main article: Say Nothing (TV series)

In February 2024, FX announced that they would be adapting the book into a limited series.[22] The series premiered on 14 November 2024.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe". Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  2. ^ a b Kroll, Andy (26 February 2019). "Terrorism, Torture and 3,600 Lives Lost: Revisiting 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe". Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  4. ^ "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction – Best Sellers". The New York Times. 17 March 2019. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction – Best Sellers". The New York Times. 21 April 2019. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction Books – Best Sellers". The New York Times. 17 March 2019. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction Books – Best Sellers". The New York Times. 21 April 2019. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  8. ^ "Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland". Book Marks. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Say Nothing Reviews". Books in the Media. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Say Nothing" (PDF). Bookmarks. p. 27. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  11. ^ "Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  12. ^ Szalai, Jennifer (20 February 2019). "'Say Nothing' Unearths Buried Secrets in Northern Ireland". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  13. ^ a b "'Say Nothing': Murder, Memory And A Masterful History Of The Troubles". NPR. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  14. ^ Barrett, Devlin (8 May 2019). "Tale of a woman who died and a woman who killed in the Northern Ireland conflict". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  15. ^ "A searing reflection on the Troubles and their aftermath". The Economist. 12 January 2019. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  16. ^ Phillips, Stephen (6 March 2019). "Review: 'Say Nothing' reexamines a mother's murder in Northern Ireland's most violent years". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  17. ^ "The 10 Best Books of 2019". The New York Times. 22 November 2019. Archived from the original on 24 November 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  18. ^ "Best Books of 2019". The Washington Post. 21 November 2019. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  19. ^ Beth Parker (12 March 2020). "Announcing the 2019 Award Winners". bookcritics.org. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  20. ^ "The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century". The New York Times. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  21. ^ Moloney, Ed (2 May 2019). "An American Reporter in Belfast: How a New Yorker Writer Got So Much Wrong in His Bestselling Book On The Troubles". CounterPunch. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  22. ^ Kroll, Justin (1 February 2024). "Lola Petticrew, Hazel Doupe, Anthony Boyle, Josh Finan and Maxine Peake To Star In FX Limited Series 'Say Nothing'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  23. ^ Petski, Denise (22 August 2024). "FX Limited Series 'Say Nothing' Sets Premiere Date". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
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