The Boys Don’t Cry book review: Family in crisis makes for an astonishing debut

Boys Don’t Cry
Fíona Scarlett
Faber & Faber
€14.99

Two brothers, Finn and Joe, whose father is involved in organised crime, must navigate life in the inner city. Stock image

Justine Carbery

April 18 2021 02:30 AM

Heart-breaking may be an over-used word in book reviews but Fíona Scarlett’s debut Boys Don’t Cry truly deserves this moniker.

A slimmer, Dublin version of Booker Prize winner Shuggie Bain, everything about this fearless novel is devastating from the claustrophobic snare of poverty to the cruelty of childhood illness, from the relentless burden of survival in an urban jungle to the Sisyphean attempts to escape it.

And yet there is great heart and humour and even a note of hope in this gritty tale.

A dual narrative, set in working-class Dublin, Boys Don’t Cry centres around two brothers, Finn, who is 12, and Joe (17), as they navigate life in a run-down tower block fondly known as “The Jax”. It is a difficult environment to grow up in, especially when their Da is the muscle man for the notorious gang leader and drug dealer Dessie “The Badger” Murphy, and Ma is beside herself with grief.

The brothers, on the cusp of adolescence and adulthood, try to figure out what it means to be male when they have never “seen Da cry. He tells us that crying is a sign of weakness. That boys don’t cry. That boys should never cry”.

Joe, a brilliant artist and caring older brother, is determined not to go down the same road as his career-criminal father but circumstances conspire to make that choice a difficult one.

A scholarship kid in an affluent secondary school, he flits between both worlds until a family crisis and the lure of a quick fix jeopardises everything.

He strives to show Finn, his adored younger brother, a better life but when Finn falls ill Joe finds it hard to stick to his principles and to avoid the logical trajectory of his existence.

One of the saddest lines for this reader was when a policeman remarked: “We had bets on, you know…wondering when you’d make an appearance.”

The story builds with inexorable inevitability but the reader is gripped by the nuanced portrait of the struggling family, rooting for Finn and Joe, hoping beyond hope that everything will turn out fine.

Avoiding stereotypes, Scarlett plays with notions of prejudice and preconceived ideas on both sides of the class divide, and examines the impact of positive role models, demonstrating how one good person can make a difference.

This beautiful coming-of-age novel is an unblinkered study of a family in crisis, raw but tender, heart-wrenching but funny.

The dialogue crackles with Dublin wit, the bonds of family and friendship rendered with warmth and affection, and the setting depicted with rich authentic detail. An absolute triumph.