A review by comradegodzilla
Amongst Women by John McGahern

2.0

I can appreciate the simple prose in this novel, but overall I wasn't taken in by the plot. The novel seemed to be another story of a patriarchal family being overshadowed by the head of the household. While many other books have done this before, amongst women does this in a unique way by showing confrontation between the male and female children with the father. However, despite its different approach in reconciling a patriarchal family, I couldn't help but be bored throughout the novel. I was hoping for more reflection of how being Irish would shape the family. Though, I suppose the point of the novel is that families in Ireland have become isolated and broken after the Irish revolution. The author does this very subtly, and maybe that's the brilliance of it, but overall it did not enthrall me.