Brendan McNamee

A man who has lost his voice befriends the dogs of the city of Barcelona. One of which helps him mend his broken heart and find his soul once more. Summary Kindle Edition

A novella in 21 “scenes”, MUT does not surrender its story easily. After 4 readings, heavy inferencing and lastly some online research, I feel confident tentatively describing MUT as a dramatic composition that zigzags the reader through one man’s near-death experience,his loss of love and self—or should it be love/self— to resurrection via the intercession of (talking) dogs. Talking dogs don’t qualify MUT as magical realism. That part, at least, was clear to me on first reading; voiceless and selfless, Mut, Catalan for “mute”, registers as little more than the ubiquitous stray dogs in the eyes of Barcelona residents. Although Mut is physically alive he feels, is, soulless; he has yet to come back to life, a choice one dog in particular helps him to make.

In an interview he tweeted, McNamee says he was inspired by 20th century writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Cormac McCarthy. For me, in the passages about loving, MUT has a Hemingway feel. This is a manly man reporting—pared, muscular, occasionally elliptic prose. And the unnamed owner of the dog, Barbara, whose own tragic arc enables her to become Mut’s voice, could be a literary descendant of Martha Gellhorn. I wish there had been more to her story.

Clearly, the author loves words, expertly hacks them like kindling from a huge chunk of log. Yet I found this distracted my attention from what was actually happening in the story—paint strokes detracting from the portrait, to mix metaphors. The telling seems to get in the reader’s way. The content, however, pulls the reader in.

Earlier, I referred to chapters as “scenes” and the novel as a dramatic composition. MUT reads like a screenplay for a short, intense film. No confusion here—the viewer would easily become engrossed in Mut’s story when places and people could be identified without the need for names (with the one exception of the beloved Ana/Anna) and leaps in time and geography would be visually cued. Voiced by a skilled reader, MUT would also make a compelling audiobook. For audiobook or film version, I propose Reece Shearsmith as “Mut” (see ITV’s Chasing Shadows) and Jessica Hynes (see Family of Blood Part II in BBC’s Doctor Who) as “the redhead”.

Finally, can I say that I liked MUT? Certainly I’ve never worked so hard to like a book! Would I have persevered if it hadn’t been recommended by a trusted friend? Probably not. But in the end, I am glad I read MUT. The story is harsh and real and ultimately inspiring. Mut’s story needed to be told for him to become human again. He is a man I would like to know more about.

7 out of 10 Highly recommended to readers of contemporary literary fiction.… (meer)