Thin Places

This extraordinary book manages to offer so many things simultaneously: it is a story of trauma and healing, of moments and lifetimes, of time and space. The words are both written about and embedded in thin places.

Kerri Ní Dochartaigh is a wonderfully fluid writer, and this book tells her story of her life, beginning through the Troubles in Northern Ireland, caught in between places, with parents from either side of a bitter divide. These divides continue to haunt her life – moments of joy in the natural world counter-balanced with mental health issues in her city life, but it is in the thin places between that she finds solace. These places are borrowed from Irish mythology, and are moments that are liminal and often otherworldly. The pages ooze with honest, considered pain but also with a sunrise of hope constantly creeping over the horizon. I read the last 50 pages at a snail's pace, chewing every sentence before moving on. Wonderful.

This is one of those books where it is hard to do a review that does justice, there is no way I can put together enough coherent words to show you just how powerful this book is….but I’m gonna do it anyways. As a person who has led a safe and sheltered life it really does blow my mind how some people are able to take so many hits in life, be witness to so much trauma and still be standing on their own two feet at the end of it. Kerri was born to a Protestant parent and the other parent was a Catholic, in the time and place she was born this was not a safe combination. Humanity’s ability to be so cruel always amazes me, neighbours can so easily turn on each other with (to me) no logical reason. Growing up in and around Derry, Kerri was witness to a huge amount of violence and hatred and once there was peace in Ireland, the world managed to find new ways to traumatise her.

I think Kerri has been very brave in writing this book, being at a stable time of her life this must have brought up so much darkness and pain and to then put it out there in the world where any Tom, Dick and Harry (all 3 are well known trolls) can read it and then potentially deal with abuse over it’s content shows you just how strong this Lady is. I can’t say I’ve “enjoyed” this book, I was mesmerised by it, the honesty almost sweeps you away and you forget this is someone’s memoirs. The writing is poetic, at times it even feels like a chant, I know that sounds weird but when Kerri stops for a moment and directly addresses the reader, a chant is exactly how it felt to me. My favourite part was the bits about nature, when Kerri is at her darkest moment, when her grip on life is at it’s weakest nature steps in and pulls her back from the edge, it is only fleeting but enough for Kerri to know she has been seen, it’s only at these times you realise you’ve been holding your breath for the last 5 pages. It was great to see that she still has so much for the island even though she has faced so much there.

This is a book everybody needs to have a read of, maybe it will give you some hope, Kerri has faced so much and is still here. I loved the little dedication to M in the acknowledgments, some fine words there.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2021/10/05/thin-places-by-kerri-ni-dochartaigh/