Volume 33, Number 8 · May 8, 1986
Blood on the Border
By Conor Cruise O'Brien
Nothing Happens in Carmincross
by Benedict Kiely
Godine, 279 pp., $16.95
This is a funny book, always skirting the edge of horror, and finally going over the edge, but still mainly a funny book. Indeed what I find most impressive about Mr. Kiely is his capacity somehow to put horror in its place: that place remains terrifying, but it isn't allowed to take over everything. It was important for Tolstoy that, even in the presence of death, two and two still make four. It is important for Mr. Kiely that, even when terrorists are in the neighborhood, a person should still be able to laugh.
Review, 1899 words
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