Only Wounded: Stories of the Irish Troubles by Patrick TaylorMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Will this book resonate with the reader? It depends on how wounded -- emotionally, physically, spiritually--the persons living through the Irish Troubles for over 30 years are and how much it matters what the wounding is. There is sadness to fill more books than this little book of short stories but these are sad enough. It matters not, whether the lives are Catholic or Protestant that are damaged. The greatest sadness is the cruelty of the soldiers on both sides. The anger and hatred that the English choke hold brought to the surface of the Catholic Irish hearts and retaliation against that hold are overwhelming, So many innocents --children and women, primarily whose men took sides and waged bloody attacks randomly, sparing no one, including those of their own persuasion in a blinding war that no one would win. The heart grows heavy with each tale, the eyes weep for each wound and the head sometimes rages at the mindless inhumanity. In case the story itself did not make an impact, Taylor ends each with several incidents that occurred in the year and a running tally of the deaths for the year and the total for the span of the 30 years just covered. By the end of 1994 there were 3268 dead--who knows how many only wounded.
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