The Music of What Happens by Greenleaf Book Group

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The Music of What Happens

Irish Americans in turbulent times In The Music of What Happens, author Charles Fanning relates what it felt like to be a member of an Irish working-class community in a dynamic, expanding American city in the late nineteenth century. Irish immigrants John and Eileen O’Malley Farrell live in the Chicago South-Side neighborhood of Bridgeport with their three children: Jimmy, twelve, Mary, ten, and Margaret, five. Their family experiences turmoil and tragedy and responds with unrelenting endurance. This is the coming-of-age story of young Irish Americans, the children of immigrants, who grow up in the 1880s in Chicago. The novel evokes and re-imagines 19th century neighborhood communities from the inside. It renders challenges to those communities from tragedies both internal (failure to protect the least among them from destitution) and external (casualties in the undeclared war against British rule in Ireland and murder of a factory girl). The saving grace of art (Irish traditional music in this case) helps to heal community members affected by the tragedies.

Reviews

Fanning tinges this evocative portrait of 19th century Irish immigrants in Chicago with dark strokes of a quickly expanding America that often neglects, brutalizes, and abandons its newly arrived citizens. In 1880, Jimmy Farrell is just one member of a large Irish family trying to make ends meet in a freezing Chicago flat. At 12 years old, he’s granted a foray into political activism with his father, John, a staunch advocate of non-violence, and his uncle Jim, who believes in resistance through violent means. Jimmy grows up attempting to reconcile this fundamental difference, further complicated by his uncle's death during one such revolt.

The complexities of Irish identity in America during this transformative period take center stage in Fanning’s fiction debut, and through the Farrell family, Fanning showcases the struggles and resilience of immigrant communities as they pursue a fixed identity in a new land. At work, Jimmy navigates the changing dynamics of his community as he transitions from a store clerk to a position on the police force, finding solace in his personal life through Mary Ann, his boss’s daughter. Despite her wealthy upbringing and different worldview, the pair discover inspiration in their shared passion for the arts as a way to navigate life's injustices and tragedies.

Jimmy's eternal love for music serves as his source of comfort throughout the narrative—and the means through which he expresses his identity within the Irish American community. Fanning’s storytelling is introspective and observant, allowing readers to experience firsthand the characters' struggles and triumphs as they navigate a harsh, unforgiving world: early on, John imparts responsibility to Jimmy with a reminder of the sacrifices made for their freedom, stating “ye must know something of the years—aye, and the generations—of pain that stretch out behind us.” This is a skillful and rich rendering of early Irish American life.

Takeaway: Rich narrative of 19th century Irish American life.

Comparable Titles: Kate Kerrigan’s Ellis Island, Kristina McMorris’s The Edge of Lost.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

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