A review of Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams essays

A review of Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams essays William Coughlin a grey and boring civil servant , with his wife Bette and son Nicholas, lives a mundane predictable existence in a boring city suburb. . "My father in a grey suit coming in the front door from the office in the fog of a November evenings, the brief case flopping by the telephone table, the creak in the stairs and across the ceiling above the kitchen as he changes into a cardigan and comes down for his tea". His only difference was that he painted and Nicholas was proud of the WC that was his mark in the corner of the pictures. Bette's life was centred on the household. But out of the blue William shatters the security and pattern of this existence by announcing to his family that God wanted him to paint full time. The family are thrown into turmoil - "God had moved in overnight". William abandoned his family and his secure life and took to the wilds of Ireland to paint. Meanwhile life for Nicholas and Bette became empty and poor. "An Elephant came into our house". On a remote island off Galway, Muiris Gore , the island teacher lives with his wife Margaret and their children Isobel and Sean. The "powers" helps Muiris to get through each day. Margaret is in the valley of the squinting windows always keeping an eye on the neighbour. His children Isobel, an intelligent sensitive girl and Sean, a gifted musician, are their parents pride and joy. On the edge of the cliffs Isobel and Sean become alive and free and express their energy in dancing and singing. Then one day God touches their lives. Sean has an attack that leaves him without speech or movement. Isobel feels guilty about her brothers illness and blames herself. Tragedy and misfortune strike both families. Nicholas' mother dies of sadness and depression. Nicholas and William soldier on together but sadly William too has a tragic end. Nicholas looses his interest in his job and his life and is driven by a quest to find a paining of his fathers that ...