A Goat's Song

St Just Thursday Evening Reading Group 6th November 2025.

A Goat’s Song. Dermot Healy.

The reading group knew that this book is a significant work of Irish fiction which has achieved considerable acclaim, but unfortunately none of us were able to get on very well with it, and most members did not finish reading it. ‘Heavy going’ and ‘ponderous’ were some of the comments; also ‘self-absorption’ was mentioned.

Positive remarks were that the middle section of the book, which concerns Jonathan Adams, was more accessible, and Jonathan Adams’ career as first a preacher and then a policeman, came across well; that the narrative captured an Irish atmosphere very successfully; and that we saw the broad tragedy of Irish sectarianism and the smaller one reflected in the relationship of Jack and Catherine, a Catholic and a Protestant, who could live successfully neither in the North nor the South, who fought and argued when they were together and were miserable when they were apart.

We thought the book contained a great deal, and we spent some time discussing the various issues arising out of it.