SO interesting! I admittedly unfortunately knew absolutely zero about the Troubles in Ireland, and did not know much about the IRA aside from the most basic general overview. "Say Nothing" was a great read for me, first of all in teaching me so much about this period of history and how truly tumultuous political life can be all over the globe. It's so easy to be insulated within the politics and problems of one's own country, but it really brings fresh perspective to learn about the trying times of other nations and their people.

At times I had to remind myself that this book was non-fiction and not, in fact, a novel, as it read and was paced exactly like a political thriller. The characters were so well-drawn, vivid, and at times unbelievable, and they really made the book and the story what it was. Keefe positioned the characters and their stories very effectively so that through them, I felt I got a very robust understanding of the mindset behind the Provos (Provisional IRA) and their actions as a group.

But what I appreciated most about this book was all the different themes it addressed and tied together. Here's what I took to be the central question of the book: How does morality overlap with political violence if you believe that the ends justify the means, and does violence actually help in making progress? But there are SO MANY relevant questions that offshoot this central theme, and every moment in the book plays into some larger theme or question so that the entire thing really becomes a study in political violence and the lengths people will go to achieve their goals. Some of the most compelling questions I was faced with: What does political violence accomplish? What's the most effective way to send a message with a murder (a question posed by a number of the characters)? If violence isn't the answer, what is? How can young people get swept up in paramilitary violence, and what do they do when they come out of it? In what ways does corruption influence politics, policing, and daily life? Why do religious differences align with different political ideologies? I COULD GO ON FOREVER. There was so much offered for our examination in this book, and many of its central questions were posed by the characters themselves. The most haunting question, in my view, was posed by both Dolours Price and Brendan Hughes: was killing worth it?

It's chilling to read about Gerry Adams and his apparent sociopathic tendency to dissociate from the violence he is accused of ordering and sanctioning. How could someone deny involvement so obvious and so heinous? And moreover, how could people support such a person? But in the context of today's world, Gerry Adams makes some perverted sense to me—and for that reason becomes even more frightening, a retrospective harbinger of all the ways politicians can manipulate the truth to retain power. I end with one more frightening question brought on by this book: How can you ever know who to trust?