Note: I posted this same review on Amazon.com right after reading the book.As It Is In Heaven is my favorite Niall Williams book. Part of the reason it is my favorite is the fact that it takes place in Ireland and in Venice...two of my favorite places in the world. And Ireland and Venice are perfect locales for this story with its distinctly fairy tale quality. There is magic in "As It Is In Heaven" and it is definitely Irish magic.The characters in this book are all emotionally and spiritually damaged, but then who isn't? Still, Philip, Stephen and Gabriella seem to be a little more damaged and vulnerable to pain than are most and they really come to life in this book. Williams does a superb job of baring their souls and letting us share in their emotions.Philip Griffin is a man who blames himself for the death of his wife and young daughter many years ago (although he is blameless). Stephen, his son, now thirty-two, was raised and loved by his father, but it is clear that the loss of his mother has affected him deeply. He is a man who knows "the fine skills of walking in empty rooms and being aware of the ghosts." Although the story isn't predictable, its theme is clear: this is a story about the redemptive power of love, the power of love to heal, to make whole.Stephen feels his life begin to heal when he meets the beautiful Venetian violinist, Gabriella Castoldi. Gabriella is a women who is fighting ghosts of her own. An "expectancy of grief" hovers over her at all times; it is so powerful it even affects those with whom she interacts.This is a story that could so easily have fallen into the very maudlin. And sometimes Williams does give in to the temptation to write a little over-the-top. Love doesn't heal all wounds; it's no magic panacea of beauty and poetry and it can sometimes cause more problems than it solves. This is something Williams seems to want to forget.Williams rescues (and balances) his story, however, with insight into the human soul that is housebreakingly accurate, achingly perceptive and beautifully wise. And, sometimes these insights come from unexpected sources, making them all the more believable and welcome.The fey, fairy tale quality of this book will no doubt draw some readers in while causing others to discard it as "too romantic." I think I fall somewhere in between. Love doesn't solve all problems, love can't endure against all odds, yet love is the force that drives the universe and gives meaning to our lives. I found I was able to forgive Williams' ventures into the overly-lyrical and enjoy "As It Is In Heaven" for the beautiful love story it is.Williams' prose is very lyrical, very poetic and very romantic, but this book is still exceptionally well-written. And sometimes, a very romantic story is just what I'm looking for. Although I don't believe love can conquer all, I certainly believe in its healing and redemptive powers.I don't think there's an author alive who writes of the pain and beauty of love with quite the magic of Niall Williams. If you're in the mood for an old-fashioned love story, one that will make you laugh and cry and sigh, then you really can't do better than As It Is In Heaven. Leave reality behind when you enter this magic world; just savor the book and let it become a part of you.
This is my 5th books of Niall Williams. His first four had to do with the "Making a go of it" on the west coast of Ireland. This is his first work of fiction that I have read. He is an extraordinary wordsmith; his words have a lightness that almost float off the page to evoke a feeling of atmosphere - the sounds and smells and the look of a place are all captured through the essence of light. The story itself is a beautifully and artfully told tale of love - the love of a man for his dead wife; the love of a father for his son; the love of a man for a woman. Somehow, this story is told through nuances that waft like the mist and catch the air and shoot like raw energy. It's an interesting and captivating thing that Mr. Williams does. What it means for the reader is that you need to be patient. You need to allow the story to seep in to your skin too, which it will if you give it a chance. Having read Mr. Williams' autobiographical accounts, I recognized some of themes that he and his wife, Christine Breen, struggled with and there was a character that made me think of one of the Williams' neighbors who was a key player in the autobiographies. He draws heavily on the landscape of Clare and Kerry so that it becomes a character in the book that does as much of the story telling as the human interplay, and helps to ground the story too. Finally, my copy of this book is heavily marked. It's quote worthy, especially on his thoughts of the complicated manner in which love finds a way to heal all sorts of wounded relationships and people and is often imbued with a heavy dose of what can only be described as magic. And we all know that magic has a star role in matters of love! It's a wonderful book and has made me feel happy!
Do You like book As It Is In Heaven (1999)?
Some of my favorite parts/lines..."When somethin of great size moves into the heart it dislodges all else, in just the same way that the forward movemen of the queen reshapes the (chess) board.""But neither did he hear the voice that whispers insistently beneath the surface of al lour happiness, that urges us to gather each moment like a small stone and store it in the deep pockets of your soul, that knows what lies ahead and offers only the wisdom of living fully and cherishing like the briefest dream this season of loving, for these are the instants of passion which will later become those diamonds of memory that will cry out: Here, there, look, in these moments I lived and knew a boundless joy, I loved." "He had aleady realized without shock that when you give yourself completely to someone else you see the world through their eyes, and so easliy imagined her own delight...""... the puzzle of love was that the pieces did not seem to fit, but lay in the palm of your hand like some insoluble cipher until at last you let them go and saw them fall, gradually, into place.""... we cannot remake the past nor build a new life on the ruins of the old.""It was the kind of healing that is made of....short naps and long dreams, and of the deeply comfortable silences that grow between a man and a woman who come to know each other's breath and do not need many words."" Shtephen Griffen knew something of the puzzles of the world and understood that all love did not perish and could survive beyond pain and hardship and loneliness; and in that innocent vision with which he was gifted that morning he saw that the world fitted together, each piece in its proper place, like the pieces on a chessboard, and that though the patterns that emerged were complex and difficult and grew more so all the time, there was a design nonetheless, for though we live in the impotency of our dreams to make better the world, the earth and its stars spin through the heavens at the rate of our loving and is made meaningful only in the way in which we give ourselves to each other."
—Crystal
Yes, it is beautifully written but, like the Irish weather it often describes, it is wall-to-wall melancholy. And Steven is more than a little bit creepy in his pursuit of Gabriella, the fickle and infuriating violinist. I agree with Meredith that the fruit shop owner is the warmest character. The last fifty or so pages are truly inspiring, although you just can't shake the feeling, at every turn of the page, that everything is going to come crashing down for Steven again. And it doesn't make up for the preceding turgid 200 pages, sadly.
—Karen
This is the first Niall Williams book I have read, and I look forward to reading others. This novel requires commitment, make no mistake. If you choose to stick it out, you will be rewarded with an amazing experience. Williams has a gift for crafting beautiful sentences that swell into captivating paragraphs that can transport a reader anywhere he wants to take them. This is no action-packed thriller; Williams wants you to spend time with each page, each scene, appreciating the details he spotlights so well. This book is like a warm spring, bubbling up from below the green earth. Jump in and stay awhile, it beckons you.
—Shelley
