All Names Have Been Changed

by Claire Kilroy

Set in the Dublin of the mid 1980s - gripped by a heroin epidemic and light years from the post EU economic boom of today - All Names Have Been Changed tells the story of a small group of mature students on a writing course at Trinity, who become dangerously obsessed with their tutor, a notorious writer. Brilliantly exploring the shifting group dynamic, as events spiral ever further out of control, this is a novel of considerable verve and ambition. Following earlier forays into the worlds of art restoration and classical music, it is further evidence of a writer with a natural gift for narrative and atmosphere.

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Irish Literature, Dark Academia, Novels

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2009

About the author

Claire Kilroy is the author of five novels including Soldier Sailor, All Summer, Tenderwire, and The Devil I Know. She was awarded the Rooney Prize in 2004 and has been shortlisted for many other prizes, including the Irish Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. She studied at Trinity College and lives in Dublin.

Reviews

[Wendy Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I nearly abandoned this after one chapter - the passages describing the fictional background of the obnoxious Glynn are boring in the extreme, and the writerly pretensions of the characters are extremely unsympathetic; it reads like a spoof. But stick with it and it's an OK read. The most interesting interludes are the observations about Dublin knackers and streetlife. It's all a bit indulgent and pointless but I kind of enjoyed it.

[Siobhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it to see if it would be as it seems to want to be, an Irish take on The Secret History, but it lacked the plot and intricate characters of Tartt's book and there was no real sense of why the main characters were interested in Glynn, the famous writer they worship, particularly as it's very hard to write a book about how amazing a fictional writer is when you're confined to writing fake snippets of their work or describing it.

Also, heroin addiction and crime in Dublin is treated as a quirky backdrop for the tormented and pretentious guy protagonist, which felt hugely undeveloped, and the presentation of conflict between men and women and the troubles of heterosexuality just felt tiresome.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

well written but if you're looking for a book where things actually happen, this isn't for you.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel does not have the hurried pace of cinematic storytelling. For readers looking for quick dialogue and an driving plot, this could be frustrating.

But for those who wish to look through the scrapbook with her, Kilroy pauses and lingers and expands single moments, like photographs given a few spacious moments before and after the instant they were taken. She splices together the tensions and mysteries of this small group of writers, clinging on the life of the great writer in their midst, with scenes of Irishness: the rain, religion, faded grandeur, desperate need, drink, romanticism, grime and survival.

I found the invitation to pause and view each scene as pleasurable as moving slowly through the paintings of a museum gallery. The scenes depict the codependency of a famed, broken writer and his desperately admiring entourage. They establish a power dynamic which prohibits each of the characters from really coming into their own, a bitter depiction of patriarchal triumph. In particular, the flitting glimpses of the female characters as mysteriously knowledgeable, untouchable, and incidental to the male narrator, Dermot, only furthers the overall messages of the fraught relationship between patriarchy and female creativity.

The pace of the novel accelerated throughout the book until the very end, and leaves the reader feeling bored, exhausted, ravaged, and a bit hungover. Despite the topic not being particularly close to home to me, I appreciated and enjoyed it.

[Pierce]

Read this shortly after The Devil I Know, having found a pile of Kilroy down in Kerry. In some ways it reads like a different author wrote it. There are many things for me to identify with here, most notably the obsession with a certain brand of Irish author. The small pond effect of our appreciations. But when Glenn appears is he so awful, so entirely without merit as a teacher and a person, that it makes the group's devotion to the man seem a bit silly. Kind of pushes it beyond belief. The novel never really manages to convey what an author like Glenn is worth to these people. His value is taken as read, to some degree, but there is a gap there between the novel's regard for him and the reader's. This neuters some of the dramatic twists and turns, the suspense and concern endured by the characters. No awful thing Glenn could do or say is surprising, the only surprising thing is that anyone still cares about him.

Most of his small, claustrophobic group of students are well-drawn, though. It's only half about Glenn. The novel feels very autobiographical (and is, of course—unashamedly). The ending is bizarre and completely unearned.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ever since I read a review that likened this to 'The Secret History' it's been on my list of must-reads. After drawing a blank at second-hand shops I finaly got it in a Waterstones 3-for-2. And I know it's been a while since I read Donna Tartt's suspenseful masterpiece but didn't something actually happen in it? Plot was noticeably absent from this.



The first 50-odd pages are really just hyping up this Glynn character, the following 200 charting his total collapse, or rather, dissolution into the bottom of a pint glass.



The main thing that brought it to life for me was that Glynn reminded me so much of a postgrad English student I remember from uni who held so many in his thrall, and how I imagine he'll be by the time he's in his 50's, especially if he starts drinking again.



Another book probably ruined by over-anticipation.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had its faults, and was a bit self-referential at times, but on the whole I quite enjoyed it. Felt you really needed to know quite a lot about Irish literature and writers beforehand though, and if you didn't I imagine much of it would lose its impact. Some very good set pieces, though, and some intelligent and insightful writing.

[Candace · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had to summarize this book in a single sentence or phrase, it would be, "A Portrait of the Artist as as Old Drunk." It's set in Dublin, narrated by a young male student about a Famous Literary Figure's relationship to a clique of four adoring female students. Interesting at times, overall it didn't do much for me. The end felt re-written and tacked on.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 starts but yet closer to 4. 100 pages in, I’ve been struggling. However, later on I just couldn’t stop. I guess this book would make more sense to those who are well acknowledged with Irish literature and have a great knowledge of Dublin (!). That’s pivotal for the comprehension of the book, in my opinion. The ugliness of the inner city that’s yet prevalent to this day, the heritage of those dark days. It goes hand-in-hand with the theme of becoming and being a writer in that particular setting.
It’s an ‘ugly’ book. about anger, hatred, frustration, jealousy and other negative notions that are sometimes inevitable in the search for the right words to be put on paper.

[David Murray · Rating 1 out of 5]

The blinding obsession of the group with Glynn was initially captivating - their intimate familiarity with every photograph of the man and every aspect of his work was so perfectly rendered. This, however, does not a novel make. The characters were poorly developed and did not elicit the reader's interest - the only ones (Antonia and Glynn) who had any dimensionality were caricatures by the end of the book. The plot was silly and failed to engage me. That said, I must credit some nice prose scattered throughout. But, this does not a novel make.

[Eliza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t easily abandon books and I’m sorry I felt I had to in this case. It was quite boring from the start, and only got worse. I read more than half so at this point I decided I could leave it. The book just couldn’t catch me I guess, or maybe it’s the hero/ mentor figure, the fictional writer called Glynn, that I didn’t care about, which is so much is about. Anyway, I tried. I did love the prosaic writing and the 1980s Dublin setting.

[Jacqui · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually quite liked this book; I thought the writing was excellent and the main character was memorable and easy to relate to. It wasn’t the most exciting story and I think it was mostly the writing that kept me turning the page but it was a tale of a time in a student’s life which I found interesting in itself. Glad I read it.

[Debbie Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has a meandering quality that people looking for a quick pace might not care for. It is not a thriller, despite the marketing that may make it seem so. There is certainly a creeping dread and conflict as climax, but I suppose I'd call it an Irish novel of a certain life and I mean that in the best possible way. I did enjoy it.

[Genevieve Brassard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5: I read her other books years ago and enjoyed them, but this one annoyed me at times. It felt peopled with self-absorbed writers and wanna-be writers, and the central figure (washed up author leading a workshop of misfits/groupies) was an unredeemed cliche. But I kept reading...

[Rebecca Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wanna-be Donna Tartt with none of the heart and vivid nature of TSH. DNF: p51.

[Abbie Greene · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author writes beautifully, but halfway in I still failed to grasp the point of the book. Really difficult to connect to any of the characters or their motives

[Cold · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worship of the author/writing professor was tedious. The first half of the book goes on and on and on about how good he is at writing, but there's never any good writing extracts. The good part is the writing about 1980s Dublin and also the dynamics between the students.

A bad book.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not know for certain what this book is about

[Mariele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I expected too much from Ms Kilroy. After having read her most recent novel first (“The Devil You Know”, 2012) - and finding it sensational - her previous novels were less intriguing reads. They were well written, but plot-wise, I thought them disappointingly mundane. Accordingly, in “All Names Have Been Changed”, hints of a transcendent, supernatural element seemed to lurk at every corner, but remained an unfulfilled promise. Unfortunately, the novel is all smoke and mirrors.

On the one hand, Kilroy’s writing style is competent and clever, full of savvy puns and allusions to famous Irish writers, and I wonder who was the real-life model of Patrick Glynn. Hence, I enjoyed the novel’s satirical metanarrative. I also liked the setting, Dublin in the 1980s, a city ravaged by grime and crime.

However, it is also a very unrewarding story about five graduate students who become entranced by the story’s anti-hero, who comes in the shape of their award winning literature professor. How does he deserve their fascination with him? It is never made clear. After standing up his creative writing class for several weeks in a row, there are only a handful of students left. After their first lesson, the four female students go out for drinks with their teacher. Before we know it, Professor Glynn lies in a ditch, drunk as a lord, and the four women have to call the male narrator for help.
Thus begins a power play, a war of the sexes, and so on and so forth, and worse comes to worst. There is a lot of jealousy, bitterness and desperation, both on a professional and private (= sexual) level, all told from the only male student’s point of view.

I never felt a connection to any of the characters. Most of the time I was puzzled how old the five students actually are. Moreover, it all seemed so pointless and unpleasant.
To conclude: sudden introductions, an unmitigated ending. Overall a rather strange story, too bizarre to be enjoyable.

[Alwyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

abandoned. given this book as part of book club and I just couldn't get into this book. there was just no story just repetition of glynns books and what he wrote how he wrote what he wore when he wrote how he felt when he wrote it I was literally screaming at the book asking when does the author actually start an actual story. this happens half way thru by that stage I just had enough. at no stage do you feel a connection with the characters simply because I had to read about glynns books you don't get a feeling of how Ireland was in the 80's simply again because I had to read about glynns books. so sadly got to part 2 of the book and just couldn't take any more. is this book badly written definitely not very descriptive which would usually draw me in but the subject overall just wasn't for me and therefore couldn't finish this book.

[Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best of Kilroy's books I've read. As others have commented, very reminiscent of "The Secret History" but didn't generate the same convincing characters. in contrast the students in this story seemed to drift through a year in Dublin with much time spent in the local pubs. The end of the year was a bit of an anti-climax and the very happy ending not very convincing. Will look for some of her other books.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing satiric ramble through the nuances of Irish literature from the fifties to the eighties. Dense with litarary allusions and jokes; you need to have read the important novles, poems, and dramas from that period. I usually don't like literary self-consciousness, but I can't begrudge a witty romp.

[Molly Ferguson · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I weren't writing about Kilroy's work right now, I wouldn't have finished this. It's just not a good book. It's really overworked, and it's impossible to care about any of these characters. The only really nice thing I can say is that I liked the chapter titles. Read Tenderwire and The Devil I Know instead!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to Claire Kilroy via a £1 punt (for 'Tenderwire') and have consciously sought her out since. This, a study of group dynamics and Dublin in the 1980s, is as enticingly written, drawing me in by means of acutely-observed characters, maintaining tension via their individual reactions to each other and to Professor Patrick Glynn.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a real disappointment - self indulgent prose, negligible narrative drive, characters either unsympathetic or just cyphers. A shame really, as it promised a lot in the first 50 pages - by halfway through I was reading one page in four...

[Paul Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, and pleasant read for the most part. Set in mid-1980's and narrated by Declan, the only male student. The story follows him and four women, who are studying in a tight-knit writing group with Professor Glynn - their a formidably talented but troubled teacher.

[Bobbi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly the only reason I finished this is because I promised myself not to abandon any books this year. I can't think of any reason to recommend it. The characters are insufferable and there's no real story to make it worthwhile. Hard pass.

[Karen Magill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting Irish perspective on the '80's. Apparently her previous book is much better...

[Martina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this book. I found it boring it had no soul to it. Not enough information about the characters and too much about Glynn and his books. Wouldn't rush to read this book :(

[Heather]

Bored me to tears, couldn't read more than a couple of pages at a time! Didn't finish and wouldn't recommend, just not my kind of book.