I admired the three books of Colum McCann that I read previously, so I was looking forward to this one. The narrator tells us he needs the work assignment he’s been given, writing about the cables that carry internet traffic on the ocean floor, to go well. Ideally, there would be a break in the cable and he would go out to sea with the folks who repair breaks. He makes his way to South Africa and meets one of the great cable repair guys, a fellow Irishman, John Conway, a commanding figure. In some ways he’s a regular guy. He has a beloved who is a successful Black South African actress and he loves her children. It’s notable that he’s a guy who uses a flip phone.
In good news for the narrator a cable break or two do turn up. He has several days of punishing seasickness, but over the time they are at sea, he sobers up and is happy to be more healthy. McCann, that wonderful writer, successfully recounts the slow-moving drama of repairing the first break in the cable in a way that once again displayed his great story telling.
We are told early on that something happens to Conway, but his story is told after the “event.” References are made to Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, that leave me in the dark. I have not read that book or seen that movie, choices that I made and am not tempted to change. I don’t relate well to the mysterious warrior character.
And now, after giving the SPOILER ALERT, I will tell that what happened to Conway was that the cable repairer is also a guy who cuts the cable that disrupts all that internet communication that is required for modern life. The incredible knowledge and skill that he displayed in repairing the cable is put to use to disrupt it. The author clearly wants to point out the harm that all that technology has undeniably brought to humans. The description of his dive to break the cable is at least as mesmerizing as the one of the repair. I must also tell that Conway paid the ultimate price for his work.
After I read the book, I read the review Ron Charles wrote, as I face the sad fact that The Washington Post has laid off my very favorite book reviewer. I should have read his review first.
Colum McCann, Twist, Random House, 2025, 239 pages (I listened to the audiobook). Available from the public library.