Country Girl by Edna O’Brien
Published by: Little, Brown & Company
Published on: April 30, 2013
Page Count: 368
Genre: Memoir
My Reading Format: ARC sent by the publisher for consideration
Available Formats: Hardcover and eBook
My Review
As a junior in college I took an Irish literature class that introduced me to Edna O’Brien. She was the only female Irish author featured. I don’t remember that much about the plot to Night, but I remembered being impressed by her moxie and writing style. It’s been a few more years than I care to mention between then and the day that a copy of Country Girl showed up on my doorstep, but I couldn’t have been more excited last month than I would have been back then. My excitement simply at seeing the cover was fully rewarded. From the very last paragraph in the Prologue which closes with “…and so on that day in August, in my seventy-eighth year, I sat down to begin the memoir which I swore I would never write,” I was hooked into the story of her life.
Country Girl had my complete focus throughout. The lyrical way she returned to the significant places, events, and themes in her life made me long for the Irish literature I devoured so hungrily in my 20s. I very much appreciated that she didn’t approach this book like someone following a timeline. Reading this memoir felt very much like taking a walk with O’Brien, allowing her memories to flow as they came to mind. I kept asking myself why I don’t choose to pick up literary memoirs more often, especially when the author in question faced a great deal of criticism. O’Brien’s own book was burned in her home town. They were scandalized that one of their daughters would write something so unladylike. When that was less upsetting than her life at home with her husband, it takes a strong woman to continue to forge her career. It was not without cost, but O’Brien has proved herself to be a worthy daughter of Ireland.
People interested in literary memoirs, feminism, and Irish literature really must pick up a copy of Country Girl. This year I have focused on the fiction of Edith Wharton. While reading this memoir I knew that 2014 would be the year of Edna O’Brien. Read Country Girl and you’ll see why.
