Book Review: Through the Waters and the Wild

 

Through the Waters and the Wild by Greg Fields, ©2020, Köehlerbooks

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand

For the world's more full of

Weeping than you can understand

~ William Butler Yeats

Through the Waters and the Wild

Somehow life has gotten away from Conor Finnegan. He's in an unhappy marriage, has a job below his capabilities, and no apparent substance to his days. High time to do something about it. So he walks away from it all and doesn't look back.

The only problem is, life doesn't get much better. 

Why is that? Like so many, Conor is stuck in the past. As a young man, he had opportunities, friends, the love of his life, and idealism by the bagful. After a knock to his ego and the loss of his first great love, it feels like everything is pointless. But he can't help going back to his grandfather, his life in Ireland during the Irish Civil War, and the lessons he gleaned along the way. There must be a way for Conor to emulate his late great kin. If Liam could escape and find a new path, why not himself too?

A journey to self-discovery is never easy though. Self reflection comes with a cost, which Greg Fields illustrates by delving into Liam's life story in Ireland and his subsequent reinvention on American soil. Fields jumps between Conor's and Liam's lives, uncovering love lost, relationships broken, and idealism smashed in both lands. While he paints youth in its precious throes, he also lays stark the insights that life inevitably lays upon one's door. Is love worth everything? Can right beget enough might to make the world a better place? And what sacrifices are you willing to make along the way?

Perhaps the trick is to listen, learn, and be open to what comes. A lesson many of us seek in our own paths in this world. Most importantly though, never forget to dream. For that is where the magic lies. That is when life begins anew. 

Spoiler alert; both Liam and Conor eventually find a way through...

~~~

If you are seeking clarity, or just want a trip away, a dip into 'Through the Waters and the Wild' by Greg Fields might be just the thing to sail into the spring with. It just might make you pause and contemplate what direction your own life is taking and whether that direction is truly what you want. Kind of timely, as we all re-evaluate life during the midst of a global pandemic.