I have marked this as finished, but that's a wee fib, 'cause I haven't. But I just can't be bothered with this book any longer. It's boring. The first part was quite interesting, a tale of Edna growing up in the stultifying atmosphere of catholic Ireland in the 1930s but then she degenerates into...
I have read other autobiographies of the 1960's but could hardly get through Edna O'Brien's. Raised in a deteriorating country house in Ireland then sent to convent school, we see her spiral into self-pity and loveless marriage before she becomes the darling of the jet-set and American president...
A beautiful probably-autobiographical wee slip of a novel which reads more like a memoir about two Irish girls between the ages of 14 and 18 in which nothing much happens except ordinary poor country life stuff, the girls being bored witless and trying to grow up, the girls being righteously disg...
“…the milk-white china cups with their beautiful rims of gold, dimmed here and there from the graze of lips…” (3-4).“…telling her that she would have to go to Dublin for observation. Observation for what? As is she were the night sky” (8).“…I’ll never forget this moment, the hum of the bee, the s...
Edna O'Brien's prose reads like poetry. She conjures images from the mists of Irish mountains and the thick skin of peat bogs, her characters appearing wraith-like in a land of ancient legends and living superstitions. Her style lends a sense of timelessness to her stories and their settings and ...
I love that publishers are bringing back these vintage titles. This one was originally published in 1965. That’s not to say the story is dated. It’s about a young Irish woman with an eight year old son who’s been separated from her husband for a year. She’s also gone without sex for at least ...