Irish-Canadian Author
Uses Personal Odyssey
As a Mirror for His Fictional Tale
BY THE HOB
By Kevin Dooley
Baico Books
ISBN 1897072-84-8
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
Irish-born and bred author Kevin Michael Dooley spent 11 years at sea and living in Great Britain, Australia and South Africa, before moving to Canada in 1977. Dooley worked as a machinist and marine engineer, including service in the coast guard, until a work injury ended that career.
He is a fluent Gaelic speaker and a gifted musician and, as is often the case, when one door closes it sometimes presents the opportunity to open another one. In Kevin Dooley's case, since he was unable to work because of a head injury, it opened the door to do something he had always wanted to do. That was to put pen to paper and write the stories and novels that would otherwise just have been unfulfilled dreams.
By The Hob is the fictional story of Patrick and Mary Reilly, who live most of their lives in terrible social conditions as they travel the sea-ports of the world. Both Patrick and Mary had deeply impoverished upbringings and yet, as with most of the Irish diaspora, there is the longing to return home to family and friends.
By The Hob reminded me an awful lot of Angela's Ashes even though that one was a memoire, and By The Hob is fictional account.
I recently spoke to Kevin Dooley and asked him about his book and if in fact some of his own travel experiences had influenced his writing of By The Hob.
"It is total fiction, it's not biographical, but it is reality based," said Kevin, "and yes, people who know me, including my family, have asked the same thing. But it is based on a reality that I know. I did live in South Africa, I saw Apartheid, and I worked on merchant ships. I was in the British Forces, and I spent time in active service, and I have traveled the world. I'm also an injured worker on a disability pension.
"What I tried to capture was that it doesn't matter how far flung the Irish were through the generations, we keep a core belief...a faith. I found myself falling back into the technique of using the traveler, which is a writer's technique, the odyssey, and then I found my own personal experiences mirrored what I was trying to say. So they mirror of each other, but the book is totally fictional.
"I do draw on my own background because, of course, I grew up in Ireland. South Africa was a reality for me, the Apartheid regime was very bad, it was very ugly.
"The same as the situation of a worker with limited education who gets injured on the job and suddenly doesn't fit in anywhere. And then the situation of a wife and mother trying to hang in there with someone who has fallen through the cracks, this is a common tale.
"So yes, I am writing a common tale based on my own experiences but By The Hob is fictional. I write about the underdog."
By The Hob is available in Vancouver at Co-op Bookstore on Commercial Drive, the Irish Heather Bistro in Gastown. Order online at: www.canadabooksonline.com.
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