City of Bohane
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 First edition | |
| Author | Kevin Barry |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 31 March 2011 |
| Publication place | Ireland |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 288 |
| ISBN | 9780099549154 |
| OCLC | 846787264 |
| 823.92 | |
City of Bohane /boʊˈhæn/ is the debut novel by Ireland's Kevin Barry.[1] The book is set in the year 2053, in a world with minimal technology. It received largely positive reviews and won the 2013 International Dublin Literary Award.
City of Bohane is set in west Ireland in 2053. It features a world with minimal laws and technology where feuding gangs compete for control of the city of Bohane.[2] There is public transit in the form of trams, but no cars. Characters write letters rather than phone and music is broadcast on wind up radios.[1] Characters dress in flamboyant clothes and talk in an invented dialect. Barry describes it as a "demented malevolent" world inspired by what "homicidal teenage hipsters" might sound like in 40 years.[3] "It's written in Technicolor," he explains. "It's intended to be a big, visceral entertainment as well as a serious language experiment."[3]
The book is influenced by American television, featuring short chapters and "an awful lot" of dialogue. "There's no question that the best long-form fiction being written now is probably in American television," explains Barry. "Maybe it's time novels started stealing something back [from television]."[2] The geography of the fictional Bohane is based on Porto, Portugal where Barry was holidaying when he got the idea for the novel.[2]
City of Bohane tracks the lives of the Hartnett Fancy gang which controls most of Bohane. Logan Hartnett runs the family, but is heavily influenced by his 90-year-old mother.[2] A feud between the Hartnett family and the Cusack family begins when a Cusack gets "reefed" (stabbed). Reinforcements arrive and the feud turns into an all out battle for control of the city.[1]
