{"id":536084,"date":"2026-06-15T09:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T09:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/536084\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T09:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T09:58:12","slug":"experts-in-a-dying-field-by-patrick-freyne-a-debut-novel-of-charm-melancholy-and-magic-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/536084\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts in a Dying Field by Patrick Freyne: A debut novel of charm, melancholy and magic \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts in a Dying Field<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Author:<\/strong> Patrick Freyne <\/p>\n

ISBN-13:<\/strong> 9781844886999<\/p>\n

Publisher:<\/strong> Sandycove<\/p>\n

Guideline Price:<\/strong> \u00a316.99<\/p>\n

Patrick Freyne<\/a>, a feature writer for this parish, has won a legion of fans for his offbeat, comedic journalism. His capacity for empathetic observations on the absurdity and profundity of the human condition found full voice in his essay collection, OK, Let\u2019s Do Your Stupid Idea<\/a> \u2013 a book that cemented Freyne\u2019s status as one of contemporary Ireland\u2019s funniest chroniclers. <\/p>\n

And so, it may surprise some readers that his debut novel, Experts in a Dying Field, is a more melancholy affair. Of course, there is Freyne\u2019s trademark wit, which is especially evident in his dialogue, but humour is not the dominant element. <\/p>\n

Drawing on Freyne\u2019s own extensive experience in the Irish music scene, the novel centres on the unintentional reunion of The Heathens: a band that considered themselves \u201cthe 1,000th best band of all time\u201d, until a tour van crash killed their singer, Josh, and scattered the remaining three members to battle alone with their individual PTSD demons. Twenty years later they are forced to confront the past, and each other. <\/p>\n

It follows form that Freyne\u2019s prose is most alive when immersed in the minutiae of both the band\u2019s creative inspiration and the logistical trials of making it as a broke independent artist lugging gear around. Josh, however, reads as an echo of the author\u2019s sensibilities when he suggests \u201cthere\u2019s a strange magic in all of that too\u201d. <\/p>\n

A chapter consisting of a journalist\u2019s acerbic review of the band\u2019s only album, The Heathens Greatest Hits, is particularly funny. Of their song Fox Shrieks he writes: \u201cThis is literally just a recording of a fox crying out at night. It\u2019s the best song on the record by far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freyne\u2019s ambition is admirable. In lieu of the stability of a limited point of view to narrate the novel from, he has elected a quasi-omniscience to offer us the story from multiple different perspectives. This ensemble cast consists of both minor characters on the margins of the band but also includes a fox, a ghost and the ultimate omniscient narrator of all, God. <\/p>\n

\n

Dublin is represented throughout the novel as humming with the vibrations of another dimension<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Rather than write each of these perspectives in their own distinct voice, however, they are all interpreted through the primary narrator\u2019s tone and lexicon. This does create a consistency across the narrative but feels like a missed creative opportunity that would maximise the literary potential that omniscience offers beyond the freedom to head-hop at will.<\/p>\n

Considered alone, some of these chapters could be cut with little impact. The cumulative power, however, enables the reader to experience a full kaleidoscopic account of the butterfly effect of human behaviour. It speaks to Freyne\u2019s compassion for others, and their myriad complexities, that he can engage in this telepathic reading of such a broad spectrum of minds, human and otherwise.<\/p>\n

Running throughout the novel is a thrum of mystery surrounding the circumstances of the fatal crash. This serves as a perfect metaphor for the soul-searching that these Gen X middle-aged creatives are undertaking to try to understand, in the bigger picture sense, how their lives have transpired. <\/p>\n

For one of the characters, The Heathens who \u201cwere, for a spell, godlike to her, came into focus as both the hopeful, dreamy young people they were and the sadder, haunted, middle-aged people they actually are\u201d. It is this quest for reconciliation of the dreams \u2013 and secrets \u2013 of the past with the reality of the present that is the novel\u2019s driving energy. <\/p>\n

The book\u2019s title, drawn from a song by The Beths, Expert in a Dying Field, perfectly encapsulates the ennui that comes with the discovery that the passions of youth \u2013 the obsessive knowledge or devotion \u2013 lose their currency in the middle years. The lyrics of the song crystallise Freyne\u2019s meditations: \u201cThousands of lines on the page\/All of my notes in a desolate pile\/I haven\u2019t touched in an age\/ And I can burn the evidence\/But I can\u2019t burn the pain\/And I can\u2019t forget it.\u201d In order to find peace, and move forward, The Heathens must face the truth.<\/p>\n

Dublin is represented throughout the novel as humming with the vibrations of another dimension; little moments of occasional magical realism that are accepted within the internal logic of the story. This tuning fork for mundane magic infuses the ordinariness of everyday struggles with the potential for greatness. If some of the more fantastical elements of the story stretch credulity, as such, they are within the spirit of the enterprise.<\/p>\n

Freyne is such a charming storyteller that he vanquishes cynicism. In essence this novel is a love song to music and all of its transformative magical powers, sung in Freyne\u2019s inimitable style. His debut has inherited the beloved DNA of his personal essays but created something entirely new. This is one for the dreamers. <\/p>\n

Helen Cullen is the author of The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually and the forthcoming Iseult<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Experts in a Dying Field Author: Patrick Freyne ISBN-13: 9781844886999 Publisher: Sandycove Guideline Price: \u00a316.99 Patrick Freyne, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[1879,18,117,19,17,12474],"class_list":["post-536084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-book-reviews","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-patrick-freyne"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116753538075537395","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}