Hidden Symptoms

In this brief but powerful evocation of death and loss, Madden, whose short stories have won Irish literary awards, opens another window on the terrible landscape of Northern Ireland. Within the angular body and couched in the defensive speech of Theresa, a Roman Catholic university student whose twin brother has been murdered by terrorists, are the symptoms of the larger turmoil in Belfast. At war with herself, her religion and her would-be comforters, Theresa struggles with the problem of love: love of God, love of her brother, of her uncomprehending mother. For her, love, not hate, is the problem. Others in her small circle of university colleagues experience the city in varying but equally comfortless ways. The beaten-down feelings of young Irish intellectuals whose faith is sorely tested, or lost completely, are eloquently voiced here. (January 28)