The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley (SPOILERS)

[giorgiads88]

Hello,

Last night I finished The Loney and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

I really would love if someone would chat to me about the end of the novel because it's haunting me. Not in a good way, in a 'I'm frustratingly confused' kind of way. I need closure because its getting in the way of me concentrating on The Shining. I'm on page 50 now and I think I need to start again, I just keep on thinking about the bloody Loney!

So, to recapitulate:
The boys arrive at the house where Leonard, Parkinsons, Clement and Collier are doing their weird 'witchy' things. Fine. The brothers get taken in by these guys and it seems like they are in deep trouble...but then the local satanists (or whatever they are) end up giving Hanny, the mute brother, his health (after, he can speak and his wounded leg is fixed) in exchange for Else's baby who is left shrivelled up like a prune on the floor. Fine. The men then ask Hanny to shoot the shrivelled up child but Clement (this dude that lives in the area) gets all brave and shoots the child himself to spare the soul of the boy who is confused and all juiced up on the dark magic. In the next chapter the narrator, Hanny's brother who witnessed all of this, makes it understood that it was Hanny who actually shot the kid.He wrote about Clement's intervention so as to keep his brother out of trouble for when he then reveals the whole manuscript to the police. fine.

Where I get confused:
The end is all set up like the boys just stepped into big trouble. The satanists (if that is what they are) did not expect to see them. But then they don't get into trouble, they give Hanny his health back. Why?

Also, there's all this mystery around this baby who we encounter still in the mum's belly throughout the book. Its birth is important, I'm assuming important for this group of weirdos that need it for their rituals and stuff. But then they exchange its life for Hanny. Why Hanny? why don't they use its juice for their benefit? Also, throughout the book you see people getting better, we assume because they too have been part of the ol' switcheroo. But with what babies? Overall my confusion comes primarily from WHY DO THEY HELP HANNY.

Also, there's this talisman in the house where the boys and their insanely religious family are staying at. It breaks and Clement, who had come over for dinner, gets all nervous because 'now the witches can come to get you'. But nothing of the sort happens. Well, the witches do come into the house but they just act out a weird Easter play and then leave. Nothing bad happens.

Lets say, for arguments sake, that the witches need lives to exchange. When you do get your health back, aside paying with the life of a baby, you also give your soul to the devil.And they are the Devil's servants. That would explain some of the things that confuse me...but then why, throughout the novel, the message is that the boys and their crew are unwelcome at the Loney? They want them out of there, they don't want their soul. That, to me, had been made clear.

After Hanny is healed the family leaves and its all over. If Hanny and his brother had not stumbled upon the group of satanists at the end of the novel the family would have left and nothing would have changed. All of the build up for danger was for nothing?

..please help me understand what happened!

Although it gets amazing reviews across the board, I didn't particularly like it. I appreciate that the prose is impeccably written, I also enjoyed the characters and the story. Upon reflection, there is little about the book which is 'bad'. I guess that gothic literature doesn't do it for me. Endless pages describing a Lancashire stretch of coast bored me. That's okay though, I think it deserved the COSTA first novel award because it was nothing like i'd ever read before.

Thank you in advance to anyone that will take the time to read this and get back to me.

lots of love,

Giorgia x

[tat]

Dear Giorgia; I finished this last night with a 'tsk' - so was pleased to find your post and points. I was stuck on wondering, crossly, why the narrator didn't tell Father Bernard about the lamb being killed by Collier's dog - it would have been the truest thing to do. Anyway, absolutely, the ending was confusing - not just deliberately obscure to create an atmopshere. It seems pretty obvious that we were meant to think Collier et al were Satanists (the desecrated church, the mock Jesus figure in the woods; in fact, why does no one connect this before?) who were running some kind of 'sacrifice a child and get well' scheme but, as you say, Hanny's part in it made no sense: they shoot him (why?) they heal him (why?) and he shoots the baby (why?). Perhaps we're meant to think that once healed he appears to become a fully-fledged Christian but -hah!- the devil's big joke is that he is actually demonically driven. Rather like Catholicism itself is shown to be through most of the main characters. But even so. And, whatever, you're quite right, there just aren't enough babies to go round. Also, even before the anti-witch bottle breaks Clement warns Father Bernard that the 'others' will just turn up if invited. I think the writer needed a better editor! I quite like gothic literature generally, but modern gothic tends to be either self-conscious or ducks out of the full-throttle approach of earlier years - and this one is mainly haunting because of the general plot incoherence, I think, and because most of the characters are just dropped at the end, rather as the plot is.

-- 14 Feb 2016, 16:38 --

Sorry, don't mean to be too harsh; the writing was admirable and the ideas behind it too. And other people didn't find the plot too worrying!

[Twinkle+54321]

Re : The Loney.
This was chosen as the book to read at my local book club this month. I've just finished it and I googled the ending to see if other people had commented or could make sense of it. I was completely puzzled by this book. I am so glad that I found the 2 posts above. I'm really none the wiser for reading them but at least I feel like I am not the only one who finds it all a bit mystifying. I'm not sure how the book club discussions will go! A prize winner too! I wanted to write to the author and have all of my questions answered.

[hayleys]

Have just finished this book and just posting quickly! I thought it was so good but frustrating and v unpleasant. Nobody writes about families who are seriously christian much so that was a different setting. I assumed the single baby had taken everybody's ailments, hence its various disfigurements ie cataracts? Going to read the book again to see if this fits. Wasn't it vile how the girl was so young and had done it before. Assume Leonard - a satanist - went to out of the way places to earn money. Didn't think Parker and co were satanists themselves, think they wanted the visitors to leave. If hanny benefitted from the evil then he and tonto would never tell anyone.what they had seen. Leonard was going to let them go but the locals wanted to be sure.

[WeeReidy]

So I have just finished this book, and overall, I really enjoyed it. What I think is:

The baby healed a lot of the peoples ailments. It was yellow because it healed the liver disease of the alcoholic, it had a claw for a hand as it healed collier, it had grey eyes as it healed Clements mother.

Else had clearly had children for Leonard (or the satanists) before, as when she is in labour she tells Hanny it's less painful each time (or something along these lines).

I think they shot Hanny as then Tonto had to accept their offer to cure him. When they previously offered to help, Tonto wasn't interested but now that Hanny would die, Tonto had to say yes. By healing and helping them, the boys were then implicated and they were hoping that would be enough to stop them ever going to the police. This was probably their best bet rather than killing the 2 boys, who would be reported missing and Thessaly (where the baby would also be) would most likely be the first area to be searched.

I also believe Hanny did kill the baby, but Tonto has stated in his diary it was Clement in case the baby is ever found and he is to hand his diary into the police.

I also think maybe Colliard etc, were perhaps just trying to intimidate Tonto and everyone into leaving as they didn't want to be discovered on Thessaly (or what they were doing) rather than actually harm them?

Let me know what you guys also thought of the book, and if you disagree with my points

[hayleys]

Totally agree WeeReidy, you summed up the saliant points perfectly. It was such an original book withs its unfashionable setting and its focus on dank and drear. It made me laugh several times. But the humour only made the ending so much worse - poor baby, and poor Tonto. I will certainly be reading his next book, hope it isnt too long.

[Robben]

Finished this last night and, like others, was left disappointed... I read the last 40 or so pages eagerly, expecting all of the blocks to fall into place and the unfinished stories and sub-stories to all tie in and make sense!

Instead I got to the end and wondered if had missed something and went to sleep questioning myself.

I enjoyed the book, but the lack of satisfaction upon reaching the end has really perturbed me.

[Lupin1]

I agree with all the above posts, I finished this book today and feel somewhat bemused and frustrated with the ending and other threads which were either left or didn't seem to tie up. I thought the descriptions were written beautifully (for instance the scene where Father Wilfred's body was being washed and prepared for his funeral) but there were parts where I was tempted to skip a paragraph or two. I can't help but wonder who was inseminating the young girl (Leonard?) and how that arrangement came to be. I found the book compelling and unsettling. I am glad to find I was not the only one who struggled with how the story ended.

[Postmistress]

I totally agree that this book is an enigma but it is hard to decipher whether the inconsistencies result from the unreliable1st person account or just poor editing.... It left me so frustrated. Many readers have heaped praise on Hurley's characterisation but I felt that this was the books biggest weakness and the main reason why the plot felt peppered with irrelevance.

[berty2001]

I totally agree that this book is an enigma but it is hard to decipher whether the inconsistencies result from the unreliable1st person account or just poor editing.... It left me so frustrated. Many readers have heaped praise on Hurley's characterisation but I felt that this was the books biggest weakness and the main reason why the plot felt peppered with irrelevance.

Yes, agree with the unreliable narrator angle. Though not sure whether some of this was intentional or just poor writing. Reassembly enjoyed the book but just didn't conclude well. For example, the whole bit about the old priest finding the body - we only know this through Tonto finding the diary but the descriptions are more involved than that, discussing feelings etc. There's no way he would have known all this.

Overall though, great book and worth a read. Think most of the plot threads left dangling are well explained here. Though felt it could have done with another 100 pages going into what happened at the end and more on the rleationship with the brothers.

Also, don't read the back of the book. On mine it says about the rough story than finishes the description with stuff about how when the baby's body is found and Hanny returns to his brother, nothing's the same - I mean, that's literally the last few pages. Talk about a spoiler.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Wow, so glad I found this forum! I had the EXACT same questions that Giorgia did (thank you for articulating them so well!) and I appreciate WeeReidy's response--I think you nailed it! I had completely missed the description of the baby portraying the symptoms of all of the people it had unwittingly "healed." I feel more confident about understanding the story now.

I still have some lingering doubts/questions/problems, however. When Father Wilfred finds the homeless guy's body, I didn't really buy that scene as motivation for him losing his faith. I expected the cause to be something much more extreme. And the situation of Father Wilfred with his "secretary" Miss Bunce--just when it seemed there was going to be a big revelation there as to their relationship it's immediately dispelled. Not sure if I missed something. And when Tonto tries to pass off the diary to Father Bernard, he emphasizes its importance at being able to help Father Bernard understand how Father Wilfred lost his faith and/or to explain whether or not he'd committed suicide. So that build-up had really led me to think there would be something earth-shattering (or at least reputation-shattering) revealed in the diary, but it was nothing more than him finding the dead vagrant from the beginning of the story washed up on the beach. Meh. How does that make one lose one's faith? He'd even told himself that the tramp "was from the Other world and got what he deserved." That rationalization perfectly fits with his portrayed personality. I was expecting his faith to have been lost due to either: 1) something involving him and Miss Bunce together, or 2) something involving him discovering the "witchcraft" at work on the Loney.

Also, I was a bit confused as to the nature and to what degree Tonto had been "stalking" Hanny in the years (decades) that followed. Clearly Tonto had been prescribed therapy and it seemed he and Hanny were no longer on speaking terms until the very end of the story, after the baby's body has been found and the subsequent "awakening" of memories in Hanny. But during the "stalking" periods (standing outside the window, whatever) what exactly was Tonto trying to do? What was he hoping to achieve? Was he trying to get Hanny to regain his memory of the events? That doesn't sound like something he'd do, making Hanny relive something that horrible. Was he just compelled to be a "protective presence" around Hanny since he'd failed him during their time at the Loney? But it sounds like this went on for decades--forty years, in fact!

Anyway, even with the bits of confusion I still loved this book. And now that I understand it a bit more, it gives me that much more appreciation for it. The setting and the characters were marvelously portrayed and the innocence ("light") of the two boys kept me going through the darkness. I would read another of Hurley's books (but would hope the next one doesn't have as much religious overtones; this one bordered on the overwhelming).

[Stuarty]

I just finished reading The Loney yestetday and am not quite sure what to make of it. In terms of characterisation I loved it. Having lived in the Irish Republic for 10 years and seen the superstitious Catholicism that surrounds the many shrines, I almost feel I have met those characters. As I read of Collier, Parkinson, Clement etc I actually found myself thinking of the film "Straw Dogs." Like others I began the last couple of chapters expecting all questions to be answered like an Agatha Christie ending. But then, as in life, we don't always get answers and surely the sign of a good book is whete the readeris left still thinking and wondering about it afterwards

[Barman92]

All - great discussion, thanks for the insights.
I thought that the baby seemed to have acquired the ailments that had been cured - not sure what it got from Hanny though?
Also, what was the significance of Else curing the injured seagull? Does that mean that she has some power or quality that makes her babies suitable for this sort of grim use?

[Barman92]

Sorry I meant to add that I also wondered whether in fact Else was not young, but that the baby had (whilst still in utero) 'cured' her of her old age, hence (1) the baby having a shrivelled face and (2) Else apparently having had one or more babies prior to this one?

[Leannederthal]

With Halloween coming up, I just re-read The Loney in order to host my real world book club and have enjoyed all of your comments. Granted, said comments are a couple of years old, but maybe the dark magic of Thesaly will make them new again. Ha!

Here's my guess. The trio out at the old house were part of a timeless, dark nativity scene. The 13 year old girl was a virgin who was probably the daughter of the drunk - he was mentioned as having lived in a 'cave' at one point and believing in the pagan ritual of carrying stones in the pocket to make oneself invisible. It says he was rumored to have had a daughter at one time. My guess is that drunk, he 'sold' his daughter to Leonard and Laura (an alliteration like Lucifer?). He was the only local person to ever go out onto the Loney, and I think he lived with regret for having done that to his child.

Instead of taking on the sins of the world, the baby was to take on ailments. Leonard and Laura wear clothing that looks like it was out of the 30s... I think they are very, very old but kept young by the babies. Selling cures is how they profit. The girl Else may be fairly old too, but locked in her virginal 13 year old form. She also has a pet white cat - like the black cat in the USA, it is a symbol of evil in the UK (or so I've read).

The clue to some of this is when Farther blurts out 'JESUS!' when they come to that sheeps head crucifixtion scene with the pig heart full of nails in the chest. Father Bernard says yes, when you said "Jesus" I think that's who this is supposed to be. The pagans or Satanists out at Thesaly require sacrifice, payment, and the blocking of the celebration of Easter. Maybe??

When the old, lightening-struck tree has sprouted a new limb, the birds nest early, etc I think it is the generalized 'healing' that takes place on Easter weekends whenver Leonard, Laura, and the pregnant Else are summoned. The healing shrine may have gotten its reputation for curing because of miraculous cures in the town - but the taxidermist, who ended up in the insane asylum, obviously ended up figuring out that it was pagans or Satanists who were behind the cure. He didn't want whichever child of his who'd survived TB so far to be touched by these 'witches' and he used the little jar.

Within minutes of that jar being broken, the local pagans showed up. The egg pacing is, I've read, a very old tradition in Europe but I'm guessing that it was another ritual required for the healing to be bequeathed.

Lastly, I think that Tonto always worred that Hanny might revert to his old self or somehow remember that he had shot that baby. He was worried over his brother and couldn't stop obsessing over him. Andrew believed so fervently that he'd been cured by God that if he were to ever recall that it was the devil's people who cured him, he would lose his faith and perhaps 'accidentally' kill himself as Father Wilfred had done. The one constant in the story is that Tonto loved his older brother and would do anything to keep him safe.

Loved this creepy story!