Featured Reading Guide
Christine Dwyer Hickey
Hailed by the critics as a masterpiece, Tatty is a devastating, yet hilarious, depiction of a troubled Dublin family told through the lively, charismatic voice of a little girl. With brutal honesty, Tatty tells the story of her life with her beloved, feckless Dad, her tormented Mam, her five siblings and the booze that brings them down. This not just an entertaining tale, but also a heartbreaking account of a disturbed childhood that makes for compulsive reading.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
FacebookAbout Christine Dwyer Hickey
Christine Dwyer Hickey is an award-winning novelist and short-story writer. Twice winner of the Listowel Writers’ Week Short Story Competition, she was also a prize winner in the prestigious Observer /Penguin Short-Story Competition. Her trilogy, The Dancer , The Gambler and The Gatemaker, has received wide critical acclaim, and The Dancer was shortlisted for the Listowel Writers’ Week Book of the Year. Christine has also written a screenplay, adapted from her own short story, for the film No Better Man , starring Niall Toibin. She lives in Palmerstown with her family.
topAbout the Book
Hailed by the critics as a masterpiece, Tatty is a devastating, yet hilarious, depiction of a troubled Dublin family told through the lively, charismatic voice of a little girl. With brutal honesty, Tatty tells the story of her life with her beloved, feckless Dad, her tormented Mam, her five siblings and the booze that brings them down. This not just an entertaining tale, but also a heartbreaking account of a disturbed childhood that makes for compulsive reading.
topChristine Dwyer Hickey interview/review
Taken from bibliofemme March, 2004
- Was it difficult to write Tatty?
Yes and no. No because it was really just a question of getting into child’s head and staying there, and yes because the subject matter was difficult to handle.
- How much of yourself and your own experiences are in Tatty?
Quite a bit, to be honest. The locations are my childhood locations – schools etc, house and so forth – and I certainly know what it’s like to live within that family environment. For the sake of the novel a lot was added and subtracted and some of the experiences were borrowed from friends or simply made up.
- Would you say that writing this book was a cathartic experience?
It was. Eventually. I understand more now about the long-term effects of alcoholism and how it leaks down through the generations and understanding that has helped to make me feel slightly liberated.
- Do you think Tatty represents a bygone Ireland or is it just as relevant to today’s society?
As long as drink remains a problem, then Tatty’s story is relevant.
- Which writers have influenced you and which ones do you admire the most?
I love writers that are visual, books you see as you read: Peter Carey, Neil Jordan, Graham Swift, William Trevor. Carey is probably my favourite because he always tries something different, creating an entirely new world each time.
For use of language you can’t beat Joyce and I greatly admire Virginia Woolf for the same reason. Sharp observers and deft prose-handlers attract me too, like Martin Amis or Evelyn Waugh. Sometimes a writer will give you one perfect book – Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient – others like Carey are consistently good. Novels about India, novels about China, the list is endless but these are the ones that immediately spring to mind.
topStarting Points for Discussion
- Think about how Tatty gets her nickname and the relationship between truth and lies explored in the book.
- Discuss the various family relationships in the book. How do Tatty’s feelings about her mother and father, and Jeannie and Deirdre differ and why? What would you say Tatty’s principal motivations are in her interactions with people?
- Think about the form Tatty is written in. Would you call Tatty a straightforward first person narrative account?
- ‘Tatty tries to think what homesick means and why it makes you cry. When Mam goes mental she might start shouting, I’m sick of this bloody house! I’m sick of it! Sick of it! But she knows that can’t be the same thing.’ How does Tatty’s family life influence her relationships with other people?
- Did you find parts of Tatty’s story comical? How do you the think the author manages to make us laugh despite the bleakness of Tatty’s situation?
- What do you think about the ending of Tatty? Why do you think the author chose to end the book where she did?
Suggested Further Reading
- Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha ~ Roddy Doyle
- Angela’s Ashes ~ Frank McCourt
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time ~ Mark Haddon
- The Woman Who Walked into Doors ~ Roddy Doyle
- I Capture the Castle ~ Dodie Smiths