An Evil Cradling

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Together they withstood the horrors that the Beirut militias unleashed on them, until their eventual release. Having spent the better half of a decade in a series of tiny and empty cells, Keenan has had a lot of time to think, to analyse the situation, to put himself under a microscope. This month, the first meeting after the Cyprus lockdown, the choice was Keenan’s autobiographical account of his captivity, ‘An Evil Cradling’. This is a personal piece of writing dealing with his personal experience, and it was written during a time of recovery from the incident itself.

A little like Primo Levi's 'If this is a Man' this book leaves you with a sense of awe, reverence even, for this 'beauty of the world, this paragon of animals', for what we are and what we are capable of. I first read this book shortly after it was published; it is an unforgettable account of brutality and the loss of freedom but also an uplifting account of hope, resilience and friendship. There may have been more important books than Brian Keenan's An Evil Cradling, but its thoughtfulness and delicacy of feeling are unforgettable. Keenan provides his own processed self-examination and reflection, keeping blunt details wrapped in an "extreme care and sensitivy," which ultimately keeps everything described at a remove.I am so glad I have read the book and have just a chink of understanding of what he and others went through. It was the 1991 winner of the Irish Times Literature Prize for Non-fiction and the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize.

Keenan shows little interest in the politics of his captors, but considerable insight into their minds.

Keenan is,of course,Irish,not English,as he reminded his kidnappers continously,not that they cared about the difference,but Keenan thinks that it gave him some unique understanding of his kidnappers,It allowed him to judge them as sexually repressed while referring to those do the same sorts of things in Ireland as being innocent,victims of the Brits. I think a reader could choose to go with him or not; either way, they will get something out of it, they will learn, they will know what it's like. The hills that Keenan was recruiting his friends to die on with him were simply not worth it, but thankfully he worked this out for himself.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This book is an inspiration; I so admired Brian for his determination and humanity throughout and I still do. He became headline news when he was kidnapped by fundamentalist Shi'ite militiamen and held in the suburbs of Beirut for the next four and a half years. This book stands up with the classics of prison literature, one of those books that makes you look at even the most mundane example of your daily life and see your freedom in new and appreciative light.

When I first started reading I was partially anticipating a harrowing tale of survival but this was not the case; instead this book details a tale of endurance overcoming mind-numbing monotony and tedium.

Afterwards he accepted a teaching position at the American University of Beirut, where he worked for about four months.

The first half of the book describes his time in solitary confinement, and it is a vivid, gripping account. Scriptural in its resonances and its broad artistry, while being as gripping as an airport thriller ― Observer --This text refers to the paperback edition.