AUDIOBOOK
About
A brutally honest and deeply affecting memoir about growing up in the countryside of rebel country in Northern Ireland
Colin Broderick was born in 1968 and spent his childhood in Tyrone County in Northern Ireland. It was the beginning of the period of heightened tension and violence known as the Troubles, and Colin's Catholic family lived in the heart of rebel country. The community was filled with Provisional IRA members, whose lives depended on the silence and complicity of their neighbors. At times, that made for a confusing childhood. We watch as he and his brothers play ball with the neighbor children over a fence for years but are never allowed to play together because it is forbidden. We see him struggle to understand why young men from his community often just disappear. We feel his confusion when he is held at gunpoint at various military checkpoints in the North. But even when Colin does ask his parents about these events, he never receives a clear explanation. Desperate to protect her children, Colin's mother tries to prevent exposure to or knowledge of the harm that surrounds them. Spoken with stern finality, "That's that" became the refrain of Colin's childhood.
The first book to paint a detailed depiction of Northern Ireland's Troubles, That's That is presented against a personal backdrop and told in the wry, memorable voice of a man who has finally come to terms with his past.
"Colin Broderick is in the front rank of Irish storytellers. In this
memoir he walks us through Irish history and mythology, explores
fallacies, tells us of savagery and humor, all in simple but colorful
language. I exhort you to read That's That and obviously that is that."
"Broderick writes with clarity and heart about a time of moral ambiguity, when war and repression were daily facts of life…The author expertly peels back the layers of his Irish Catholic upbringing during the time of the Troubles."
"Written with verve and raw honesty, the book is both a captivating saga of personal discovery and the eye-opening story of how one boy experienced this shocking chapter in Irish history."
"Broderick keeps the reader on the edge of laughter through many otherwise horrifying experiences and bad choices. He is a storyteller of great depth, sharing his life with the kind of brutal honesty and narrative skill rarely expected or found in a memoirist. Broderick is a writer's writer who has achieved a profound telling of his experience of Northern Ireland's Troubles."
"Broderick brings the reader deep into the experience of his community: the absolute segregation of Protestants and Catholics, the suspicion toward strangers, the way disputes are handled when the police are no longer trusted. Best of all, we hear the much-celebrated but still-miraculous wonders of Irish people talking. Broderick's voice is alternately funny, charming, and soulful as he struggles with his personal demons and the meaning of his identity as an Irishman during the Troubles."
"Narrator Gerard Doyle has a spare, sad Irish voice that carries this memoir along wonderfully. The author's story is at once harrowing and hopeful, with Broderick's mother's final words echoed in the title of the book. Doyle creates an atmosphere that demands our attention, using pauses and a lyrical sense of pacing to emotionally engage us. He has terrific diction, and although we've heard stories like this before, Doyle makes this one fresh, urgent, and immersive."
"A deeply moving story told by an unflinching and eloquent truth teller. Broderick is a writer of extraordinary talent."
Colin Broderick was born in 1968 and spent his childhood in Tyrone County in Northern Ireland. It was the beginning of the period of heightened tension and violence known as the Troubles, and Colin's Catholic family lived in the heart of rebel country. The community was filled with Provisional IRA members, whose lives depended on the silence and complicity of their neighbors. At times, that made for a confusing childhood. We watch as he and his brothers play ball with the neighbor children over a fence for years but are never allowed to play together because it is forbidden. We see him struggle to understand why young men from his community often just disappear. We feel his confusion when he is held at gunpoint at various military checkpoints in the North. But even when Colin does ask his parents about these events, he never receives a clear explanation. Desperate to protect her children, Colin's mother tries to prevent exposure to or knowledge of the harm that surrounds them. Spoken with stern finality, "That's that" became the refrain of Colin's childhood.
The first book to paint a detailed depiction of Northern Ireland's Troubles, That's That is presented against a personal backdrop and told in the wry, memorable voice of a man who has finally come to terms with his past.
"Colin Broderick is in the front rank of Irish storytellers. In this
memoir he walks us through Irish history and mythology, explores
fallacies, tells us of savagery and humor, all in simple but colorful
language. I exhort you to read That's That and obviously that is that."
"Broderick writes with clarity and heart about a time of moral ambiguity, when war and repression were daily facts of life…The author expertly peels back the layers of his Irish Catholic upbringing during the time of the Troubles."
"Written with verve and raw honesty, the book is both a captivating saga of personal discovery and the eye-opening story of how one boy experienced this shocking chapter in Irish history."
"Broderick keeps the reader on the edge of laughter through many otherwise horrifying experiences and bad choices. He is a storyteller of great depth, sharing his life with the kind of brutal honesty and narrative skill rarely expected or found in a memoirist. Broderick is a writer's writer who has achieved a profound telling of his experience of Northern Ireland's Troubles."
"Broderick brings the reader deep into the experience of his community: the absolute segregation of Protestants and Catholics, the suspicion toward strangers, the way disputes are handled when the police are no longer trusted. Best of all, we hear the much-celebrated but still-miraculous wonders of Irish people talking. Broderick's voice is alternately funny, charming, and soulful as he struggles with his personal demons and the meaning of his identity as an Irishman during the Troubles."
"Narrator Gerard Doyle has a spare, sad Irish voice that carries this memoir along wonderfully. The author's story is at once harrowing and hopeful, with Broderick's mother's final words echoed in the title of the book. Doyle creates an atmosphere that demands our attention, using pauses and a lyrical sense of pacing to emotionally engage us. He has terrific diction, and although we've heard stories like this before, Doyle makes this one fresh, urgent, and immersive."
"A deeply moving story told by an unflinching and eloquent truth teller. Broderick is a writer of extraordinary talent."