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jennrid 's review for:
The Green Road
by Anne Enright
This review originally appeared on Everyday eBook
No Place like Home: Anne Enright's Affecting Irish Family Saga
Anne Enright's writing résumé is among the most elite: her novel The Gathering won the Man Booker Prize, her novel The Forgotten Waltz won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and she is the first ever Laureate for Irish Fiction. Her new novel, The Green Road, is a beautiful family saga set mainly on Ireland's west coast in County Clare and centers on Rosaleen Madigan and her four children: Dan, Constance, Hanna, and Emmet.
Our first encounter with the Madigan family is in 1980, when Hanna is twelve. Her older brother Dan announces to the family that he is going to join the priesthood; Rosaleen reacts peculiarly--howling in angst and taking to her bed (apparently not for the first time). From there, we move through time and characters to 2005, when the Madigan children return home for Christmas.
Enright's structure for telling their story is linear yet reminiscent of linked stories. As we move through time, the book focuses on one child in a particular period of time. After Hanna, we see Dan in New York City, 1991. He is not a priest, but rather struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality at the dawn of HIV. We then jump to 1997 and Constance, who is at the doctor for a mammogram. She is married with children and living in County Limerick. Our next stop is Segou, Mali, where Emmet is now doing humanitarian work and living with a woman named Alice. He is also trying to convince himself that he is marriage material and that Alice is the one. The last half of the book brings us back to County Clare and Rosaleen, as she awaits her children's arrivals.
Through these touch points, we never see much of a background, only the current moments defining the characters. And we don't see the rest of the family for any other context. It makes the reader feel as though the family is not extremely close -- not to their mother or to each other.
This makes their convergence on the family home that much more interesting to observe. We watch them regress to childhood mentalities of trying to hide failings and faults, while at the same time vying for Rosaleen's attention and approval. When Rosaleen drops a bomb on the family, it shatters the fragile peace in the house. As we have witnessed in the past, Rosaleen's reaction to the fallout is dramatic, causing waves throughout the county. It also forces all five members of the Madigan family to confront their history and family binds, however tenuous they may seem.
While this is the story of an Irish family, it is also a universal story about family, growing up, growing apart, and coming back together. This is not a new plotline to tackle, but Enright has done it in such a realistic way, it is not stale or rote. The characters, despite the brief introductions, are whole and identifiable. It reminds us that however far we drift, home can be found.
No Place like Home: Anne Enright's Affecting Irish Family Saga
Anne Enright's writing résumé is among the most elite: her novel The Gathering won the Man Booker Prize, her novel The Forgotten Waltz won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and she is the first ever Laureate for Irish Fiction. Her new novel, The Green Road, is a beautiful family saga set mainly on Ireland's west coast in County Clare and centers on Rosaleen Madigan and her four children: Dan, Constance, Hanna, and Emmet.
Our first encounter with the Madigan family is in 1980, when Hanna is twelve. Her older brother Dan announces to the family that he is going to join the priesthood; Rosaleen reacts peculiarly--howling in angst and taking to her bed (apparently not for the first time). From there, we move through time and characters to 2005, when the Madigan children return home for Christmas.
Enright's structure for telling their story is linear yet reminiscent of linked stories. As we move through time, the book focuses on one child in a particular period of time. After Hanna, we see Dan in New York City, 1991. He is not a priest, but rather struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality at the dawn of HIV. We then jump to 1997 and Constance, who is at the doctor for a mammogram. She is married with children and living in County Limerick. Our next stop is Segou, Mali, where Emmet is now doing humanitarian work and living with a woman named Alice. He is also trying to convince himself that he is marriage material and that Alice is the one. The last half of the book brings us back to County Clare and Rosaleen, as she awaits her children's arrivals.
Through these touch points, we never see much of a background, only the current moments defining the characters. And we don't see the rest of the family for any other context. It makes the reader feel as though the family is not extremely close -- not to their mother or to each other.
This makes their convergence on the family home that much more interesting to observe. We watch them regress to childhood mentalities of trying to hide failings and faults, while at the same time vying for Rosaleen's attention and approval. When Rosaleen drops a bomb on the family, it shatters the fragile peace in the house. As we have witnessed in the past, Rosaleen's reaction to the fallout is dramatic, causing waves throughout the county. It also forces all five members of the Madigan family to confront their history and family binds, however tenuous they may seem.
While this is the story of an Irish family, it is also a universal story about family, growing up, growing apart, and coming back together. This is not a new plotline to tackle, but Enright has done it in such a realistic way, it is not stale or rote. The characters, despite the brief introductions, are whole and identifiable. It reminds us that however far we drift, home can be found.