Book Review: "Dublin Palms" by Hugo Hamilton

As of now, it is the middle of May 2025 and I can honestly say that I have been diving into some pretty good books lately. I got this one from the library again, their stand for these books was called 'I can't remember what it was called but the cover was blue'. Dublin Palms is a great tale of language and identity written in an almost stream-of-consciousness way. It contains some beautiful language about...well, language. And it has various meditations on culture which, as the story gets underway, become more and more important. If you're in a reading slump at all and want to appreciate some really beautiful writing, then I would definitely recommend picking up this relatively short, but wonderful book.

Sean is our narrator and he has returned to Dublin after spending a few years living in Berlin. He has his partner, Helen and their two children with him as well. Despite having grown up in Ireland and experiencing it a lot as a child, there is a weird unease of dislocation that is coursing through the veins of our main character. Unable to come to terms with it, we see his thoughts and emotions unfold in this symbolic and reflective narrative where details and flashbacks are drip-fed to the reader, often accompanied by the newly engaging (but somewhat vigilance) of the sensory experience of being back 'home'.

There's a beautiful part about language from the first few pages in which Sean talks about his heritage, his parents and language. As he has a German mother and an Irish father, he talks of his mother wanting to learn English from his father, but his father not wanting the children to speak English at home. At home, Sean would therefore speak German and then, he describes, being out in the world and constantly looking about him to see which of the three languages he could feel comfortable in. It really is a wonderful analysis of the experience of being multilingual, more than often people can feel like even though they speak many languages fluently, they have a dislocation about each of them - as if they don't belong in any.

Much of the book is set against the backdrop of the Troubles and has this symbol of palm trees which illustrates how the world of Ireland has changed over the course of them. Obviously, we have got the Troubles which were dark times for the country but we also have the palm trees which are not at all native to Ireland. The dislocation of the character often permeates through both of these things, explained not only through flashbacks but through lamentations on the present. The writer makes great work of the destabilisation of life reckoned by the horrifying landscape of national politics.

Sean and Helen try to open a café for wellness to gather some purpose from being back in a country we see our main character hardly recognises. Unfortunately, it doesn't really go according to plan and eventually fails to do well in its returns. So what we now have is two characters, dislocated, suffering the consequences of a failed endeavour and now possibly dealing with economic uncertainty. Believe it or not, setting up this kind of thing is extremely expensive. We can only imagine how uncertain the future is now.

There is definitely this interplay between the old and the new which deals with the question of cultural preservation. We really do have to think of it in our own times as well, it is quite important to notice the ridicule placed somewhat unfairly upon figures from history who were either products of their time or have been entirely misunderstood by the declining intellect of the present day university class. I personally go back and think upon Shakespeare and how much of his work has really come to shape my identity as a student of literature. But in our modern day, he is being attacked as 'racist' - which is a totally implausible, and not to mention wrong, take on the bard.

All in all, I thought this book was did a great job of telling us a story rarely told before about how going home may not always be a brilliant and welcoming experience and how it can be frought with confusion, dislocation and uncertainty.