A review by andrew61
The Green Road, by Anne Enright
3.0
The opening chapter of this book introduces us to the Madigan family in the early 1980's and the popes visit to Ireland is referenced. we meet Hanna , the youngest of four children who goes with her father to visit her gran , and to her uncle the local pharmacist for some medication for her mothers nerves, her mother Rosaleen having retired to bed after Dan the oldest chid has announced he is going to become a priest. It is a domestic picture that suggests that this is a family with external divisions between maternal and paternal side but a mother who is an emotional strain on the whole family group.
Thereafter the book shows us each individual child over the next 30 years with snapshots of their lives and relationships before the final part has the whole family gathering in their old home for Christmas after Rosaleen now widowed and cantankerous threatens to sell the house with the main burden of her care falling on Constance who lives locally and is going through her own emotional upheavals. The story of Dan particularly as a gay man in 1980's and 1990's New York at the height of the aids crisis was well done and certainly evoked time and place well.
It is an interesting picture of how a family fractures over the years and the impact that a mother can have on her children especially one so self absorbed and the picture of a family reverting to type in their roles at Christmas was well done. I felt that the only character that was not filled out was Hanna and as the book came to its end I wondered why the child who was the crux of the opening chapter almost became a throwaway character at the end whilst the majority of the middle of the book had given substantial focus on Dan and emmet , I wanted more about Hanna's journey. As a consequence whilst the book was very readable it only ended up being for myself an average book which did not stand out unlike the other two books of hers that I have read including The Gathering and The Forgotten waltz.
Thereafter the book shows us each individual child over the next 30 years with snapshots of their lives and relationships before the final part has the whole family gathering in their old home for Christmas after Rosaleen now widowed and cantankerous threatens to sell the house with the main burden of her care falling on Constance who lives locally and is going through her own emotional upheavals. The story of Dan particularly as a gay man in 1980's and 1990's New York at the height of the aids crisis was well done and certainly evoked time and place well.
It is an interesting picture of how a family fractures over the years and the impact that a mother can have on her children especially one so self absorbed and the picture of a family reverting to type in their roles at Christmas was well done. I felt that the only character that was not filled out was Hanna and as the book came to its end I wondered why the child who was the crux of the opening chapter almost became a throwaway character at the end whilst the majority of the middle of the book had given substantial focus on Dan and emmet , I wanted more about Hanna's journey. As a consequence whilst the book was very readable it only ended up being for myself an average book which did not stand out unlike the other two books of hers that I have read including The Gathering and The Forgotten waltz.