How disconnected are we without our devices? More importantly, how isolated are we in today’s digital world? These are the central questions posed by acclaimed novelist Colum McCann in his latest work, Twist. The novel navigates the lives of characters literally at sea while reflecting on the broader human experience in the internet era.
Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown profiles McCann and his new novel for PBS NewsHour’s arts and culture series, CANVAS.
In Twist, McCann takes inspiration from an astonishing fact: despite common perceptions that data flows through satellites and clouds, about 95 percent of the world’s intercontinental information actually travels through undersea cables. The novel’s plot centers around a boat tasked with repairing these vital but vulnerable connections.
“I stumbled upon a story about a boat that goes out to fix the Internet,” McCann said. “I was fascinated by how much of our communication relies on these hidden cables beneath the sea.”
The book blends adventure, love, and a meditation on broken lives. Its opening lines speak to this theme:
“We are all shards in the smash-up. Our lives, even the unruptured ones, bounce around on the seafloor. For a while, we might brush tenderly against one another, but, eventually and inevitably, we collide and splinter.”
McCann describes Twist as a novel about brokenness, sabotage, and ultimately, repair — a metaphor for the fractured world we inhabit and the human longing to mend what is broken.
The Irish-born, New York-based author is renowned for his vivid storytelling that probes deeply into contemporary issues. His previous novels include Let the Great World Spin, which won the National Book Award and captured post-9/11 loss, TransAtlantic, a mosaic of linked stories around a historic flight, and Apeirogon, a fragmentary exploration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I love the tiny and the epic together,” McCann explained. “The local becomes universal. It’s the writer’s job to find those small lives that influence the world.”
Twist portrays a fractured and divided modern world, highlighting loneliness and disconnection amid screens, but set against the concrete reality of cable repair crews battling storms and sabotage on the high seas. The main character, an Irish journalist who goes out to sea seeking personal repair, represents this search for meaning amidst chaos.
McCann also addresses larger themes such as climate change and communication, but ultimately the story focuses on human beings striving to find connection and significance.
The novel captures the contradictory nature of modern life — connection and disconnection, love and hate, peace and war — all carried by streams of light through underwater cables.
Beyond his writing, McCann is deeply engaged with his times. He co-founded Narrative 4, an organization dedicated to teaching young people to share their stories and connect across divides of conflict and difference. His work has taken him worldwide, from war zones to meetings with global figures like Pope Francis.
“One of the ways toward change is the ability to tell our own story,” McCann said.
In a world splintered by divisions and uncertainty, McCann views storytelling as a vital act of understanding and repair. While not all writers engage politically, for McCann, knowing others through their stories is essential to healing fractured communities.
An upcoming report will explore Narrative 4’s work and the power of shared storytelling in greater detail — a mission reflected in Twist’s exploration of connection in a disconnected world.
