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Our Fathers by Andrew O'Hagan
Published by McClelland & Stewart, 1999
Reviewed by Roger Gordon
This book was a Booker Prize finalist and it’s not difficult to see why. There are many adjectives that could be used to describe it: poetic, lyrical, elegant, profound, moving, at times humorous, all apply. The storyline involves the passing along of resentments, son to father, along three generations. The meditations around this theme are intense and perceptive.
The principal characters are Hugh Bawn and his grandson, Jamie. Hugh, “Mr. Housing” as he was nicknamed, was an urban planner in the Glasgow region of Scotland. He was driven by a mission to provide affordable housing, in short supply after WW2, for the working class. He built high-rise blocks of flats. He was a man with an interesting character: fiercely nationalistic, politically socialistic, deeply iconoclastic. Hugh’s father, Tam, was a man of limited talents. His premature death on the battlefields of WW1 prevented him from falling into the subsequent trap of the family’s male line, in which fathers treated their sons badly and consequently, sons hated their fathers. In the early part of the book, Jamie’s father (Hugh’s son), Robert, Is portrayed as a hateful drunkard of a man, with no redeeming qualities. Abusive to his wife, Alice, hateful to his son Jamie, cruel to creatures of the four-legged variety, that was Robert. His life seemed a total waste. Hugh wanted nothing to do with his son Robert and the feeling was mutual. As the torch is passed along, Robert and Jamie despised one another. Skipping a generation, Jamie and Hugh did get along as they both shared an interest in housing and Hugh was Jamie’s role model.
The setting for the main part of the book is the home of Hugh and his wife, Margaret, in Ayreshire, Scotland. Jamie arrives to spend time with his grandfather who is dying. Then begins a journey of profound meditation, as Hugh pours out his soul to Jamie slowly and painstakingly. All of his frustrations and anger at the world around him, whose views he tended not to share, come pouring out. It does not make for pleasant listening, but Jamie makes a good sponge. As Hugh’s life closes, Jamie then embarks on a journey to re-establish relations with his parents, long since separated from one another. The account of Jamie and his father coming to terms with one another so that they can both move forwards is especially moving. Demons from the past, hurts and grudges, can be exorcised, but just as in the spiritual connotation of that exercise, it is a painful process to all concerned.
All of this is written in a poetic style. Virtually every sentence is laden with insight, so this is not a book that lends itself to a quick scan. The reader is left marvelling at the sheer elegance of the script. The profane but realistic language of Hugh and Robert, to a lesser degree Jamie, acts as a counterpoint to the main text. Deep, sombre and contemplative, it is not without humor, as Hugh rails at facets of society that don’t fit into his own rigid frame. This is a fine piece of literature that will appeal to those who want to read something with meaning, beyond what can be found among the popular best sellers.
For more information on Our Fathers, please visit the publisher's website.
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