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A review by erinlcrane
Girl by Edna O'Brien
2.0
Given the subject matter, I was weirdly /so bored/ reading this book. I think you can make a case for the things that caused my boredom, but it doesn’t change my boredom. The things that contributed were I think: detachment from the protagonist despite the first person perspective, random stories from other minor characters, and bad thing after bad thing happening.
Potentially the first thing was purposeful because of the disassociation the protagonist would have to experience to survive. For me, it made it difficult to connect with her in the way that I think this book wants me to connect with her.
The second might be a result of the author’s work interviewing so many people. She may have tried to include everything she learned in this book, but it’s only 200 pages so none of those stories are done any justice. They’re distractions from our primary story.
And the last thing is the most understandable. But focusing on only bad things over and over again made Maryam feel less like a real person. I think the one moment of joy she had (before the end) is maaayybe those fairy lights of her husband’s?? It just felt like very incomplete human experience, even in some of the worst circumstances. I’m not saying she should have been having a great time, not at all, but there could have been moments of joy when she’s just with the women. A contrasting story that comes to mind is Room by Emma Donoghue. I didn’t read the book, but assuming the film is similar, it did a good job showing us a full person with multiple kinds of experience in dire circumstances. I’m assuming that the reason this book is the way it is is because the message was overpowering good storytelling.
I would’ve ditched this before finishing it, but I read it for a book club read!
Potentially the first thing was purposeful because of the disassociation the protagonist would have to experience to survive. For me, it made it difficult to connect with her in the way that I think this book wants me to connect with her.
The second might be a result of the author’s work interviewing so many people. She may have tried to include everything she learned in this book, but it’s only 200 pages so none of those stories are done any justice. They’re distractions from our primary story.
And the last thing is the most understandable. But focusing on only bad things over and over again made Maryam feel less like a real person. I think the one moment of joy she had (before the end) is maaayybe those fairy lights of her husband’s?? It just felt like very incomplete human experience, even in some of the worst circumstances. I’m not saying she should have been having a great time, not at all, but there could have been moments of joy when she’s just with the women. A contrasting story that comes to mind is Room by Emma Donoghue. I didn’t read the book, but assuming the film is similar, it did a good job showing us a full person with multiple kinds of experience in dire circumstances. I’m assuming that the reason this book is the way it is is because the message was overpowering good storytelling.
I would’ve ditched this before finishing it, but I read it for a book club read!