Saturday, September 5, 2015

The Green Road by Anne Enright

The Green RoadThe Green Road by Anne Enright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Green Road was sheer poetry, some of the best writing I've enjoyed in a long time. Anne Enright is the kind of writer who makes me want to toss my pen, she is so good and her work appears effortless:   "Rome was 1962, an audience with the Pope, a man on a little Vespa, so handsome he would cut you, with a fat brown baby on his knee. Oh and Roma, Roma! The unexpected piazzas, the sprays of orange blossom, an old codger on the tram who stank of garlic so badly -- Rosaleen should have realised that morning sickness was setting in. Dan was conceived in Rome. And Dan loved garlic! There was no end to the mysteries of Dan.". The story of a family told through the lives of each of the grown children and their mother in Ireland, it ends with a family Christmas which is a stunning chapter on the trauma and tragedy faced by many on the enforced holidays slated to be joyful, and the priceless litany of groceries brought in by the striving-to-please daughter Constance as she unloads almost 500 Euros of foodstuffs to please all, forgetting the coffee. Poignant, funny, and deeply affecting, the book is a top choice for me this year. Knausgaard is next or maybe Elena Ferrante.


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