A Time to Burn

Rating:
Summary: A real tear-jerker for 'men of a certain age'.
Review: A short book. It seems that Ireland really prefers the novella to the full-scale novel. This doesn't, however, prevent him from delving deeply into the reader's psyche, tickling into life the images that had been long forgotten. This book deals mainly with the subject of getting old. The narrator's first blow is the sudden departure of his long-term partner, and a simultaneous burglary. As anyone who's experienced these events can tell you, they're unsettling. Both at the same time could lead you to feel paranoid. Instead, our narrator leads us back through a life of mixed foretunes, from his initial fumbling attempts to make a gay relationship, to his realisation that he is now, at 40, no longer the pretty, young, slim boy he once was. The 'hero' examines relationships with his parents, his past lovers, and views, rather bleakly, what his future may hold. As a man of similar age myself, and having gone through similar experiences (including the death of my father to whom I could not talk of myself), I wallowd tearfully in the ambience that Ireland creates. I tingled at the resonances the book stirred. And I cried. Deep, deep sobs of pain; but also tears of resolution as the text helped to [ut to rest some of my own demons. Highly recommended reading, but NOT for the suicidal.