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A review by teokajlibroj
The Lonely Girl by Edna O'Brien
3.0
The Country Girls didn't have much of a plot, but its description of a time and place made it enjoyable. The Lonely Girl also has a very bare plot, but without the redeeming description of the setting (although the visit to the village is very well done).
The biggest problem with the book is the bland characters and the frustrating narrator. The author does do a good job showing sexism and an exploitative relationship, but Caithleen is also very annoying. She is excessively passive, I doubt she made a single decision for herself in the book, instead she sits in silence while things happen around her. She cried about 30 times in the book, often for no reason. She almost like a child, with no control over her life and doesn't seem to understand much about the world. She acts the same at 21 as she did at 14 in The Country Girls.
I have no idea why she was attracted to Eugene (was the author intentiaonally trying to make the relationship seem illogical?) who seems to have no personality either other than being grumpy and rude. Worst of all he is boring. The scenes with the two if them are just two boring people squabbling, he ignores her and she cries.
The book does have its good moments and it is an accurate depiction of ordinary life, but ordinary life is often boring. Would it have killed Caithleen to do anything except for mope and feel sorry for herself or act crazed with love for a dull man old enough to be her father and gives her no reason to be excited?
The biggest problem with the book is the bland characters and the frustrating narrator. The author does do a good job showing sexism and an exploitative relationship, but Caithleen is also very annoying. She is excessively passive, I doubt she made a single decision for herself in the book, instead she sits in silence while things happen around her. She cried about 30 times in the book, often for no reason. She almost like a child, with no control over her life and doesn't seem to understand much about the world. She acts the same at 21 as she did at 14 in The Country Girls.
I have no idea why she was attracted to Eugene (was the author intentiaonally trying to make the relationship seem illogical?) who seems to have no personality either other than being grumpy and rude. Worst of all he is boring. The scenes with the two if them are just two boring people squabbling, he ignores her and she cries.
The book does have its good moments and it is an accurate depiction of ordinary life, but ordinary life is often boring. Would it have killed Caithleen to do anything except for mope and feel sorry for herself or act crazed with love for a dull man old enough to be her father and gives her no reason to be excited?