Troubles by J.G. Farrell

I have just finished reading Troubles by J.G. Farrell.

The novel uses the decay and destruction of a once-great hotel as a metaphor for the ending of British rule in southern Ireland and the consequent ethnic cleansing of the Anglo-Irish population.

In style it is as if Ivy Compton-Burnett had written Gormenghast.  It is far too long, and the symbolism is laboured (although some of the symbolism is so obscure as to be mystifying).  There are no characters that are particularly attractive - even the Major is a fool and the motives for many of his actions are incomprehensible.

But within the meandering story there are many examples of good writing.

A party of left-wing students from Oxford stay at the hotel to study the Irish situation:

"...the undergraduates were delighted with Edward's outburst and were thinking: 'What a splendid old Tory! What a rare find!' The whole thing was priceless: the old ladies, the revolvers (what a shame they weren't loaded!), the decrepit palace around them - and brooding in the middle of it, John Bull! Never-say-die in person! The evening would make a rare saga when retold over beer mugs in the buttery next term. It might be entitled: 'How Maitland Put His Cherubic Head In The British Lion's Mouth... And Got It Bitten Off!' "