Changes

Overall, then, ''His Father’s Son'' suffers from its wobbly workings. It is difficult to have much faith in a novel when the lifelong feuds depicted can be forgotten in a jiffy, a character's debilitating illness can instantaneously disappear, and an intransigent old waster can repent and die on cue. In fact, it seems that once the characters have received their didactic lessons the world's woes quickly disappear and everything is tickety-boo. Although Marti's narrative goes some way to redeeming the book - his interactions with Ireland and its religious rituals showing the country anew - it cannot conceal its pervading corniness. The ending is too simplistic, too moralistic, and too gushingly sentimental to deliver any real power. There may be an attempt at tackling grim topics (depression, generational baggage, economic austerity), but they do not convince; if anything, they appear tired when contrasted with the sparkling Marti, the only element of light in this gloomy novel.

{{amazontext|amazon=1845026365}}