The Green Road in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 07, 2015 Rachel rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, man-booker-winner-finalist, libraryrealbook

For a few minutes there I thought this felt a whole lot like A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler, except without the humor. Which is funny since they are both on the long list for the Booker in 2015.

I thought this was a lot of whining and the reason behind all the angst and unhappiness unclear. I mean the mother didn't seem particularly pleasant but there wasn't a history. Also, at one point she changes to first person and completely threw me. Nobody learned anything, nothing changed really. M ...more

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Feb 16, 2020 Lisa of Hopewell rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, read-in-2020

One of the Guardian's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
"With language so vibrant it practically has a pulse, Enright makes an exquisitely drawn case for the possibility of growth, love and transformation at any age." —People
With hype like this at the top of the Amazon blurb, I was cautious but hopeful. I should have kept moving. My snarky side says this one all that praise for mentioning masochistic homosexual sex. That follows most of a chapter trying to wax eloquent about butchering a chicken One of the Guardian's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
"With language so vibrant it practically has a pulse, Enright makes an exquisitely drawn case for the possibility of growth, love and transformation at any age." —People
With hype like this at the top of the Amazon blurb, I was cautious but hopeful. I should have kept moving. My snarky side says this one all that praise for mentioning masochistic homosexual sex. That follows most of a chapter trying to wax eloquent about butchering a chicken, more on disagreeable fictional people's sex lives than I ever wanted to know, a few teary moments over a friend of mine lost years and years ago to that new illness that became known as AIDS, then HIV/AIDs, a trip to Africa to remember all the folks I knew there who died of HIV or related illnesses, and even more depressing things like, oh, breast cancer. Yeah. It reminded me of last year's revolting "real" book--Normal People, which I also loathed for many of the same reasons, but especially because these were just not people I cared to know! I couldn't connect with any character enough to finish this book.
I will give Anne Enright her due--she can coin a phrase. Her ability to pin a person to a description is likely close to being unrivaled. How many could pull off "her supermarket hair," or "it was a lived-in face," and, "her voice had layers." I loved these phrases! The book IS written in a fine style--it was the subject matter that did me in. It's not as though I'm unfamiliar with Ireland and Irish culture--although my family came from Ulster, not the south and we are Protestant, there's a whole lot that's the same. Anyone not a British aristocrat had a pretty crappy existence anywhere on the Emerald Isle until the late 20th century. But in The Green Road, I just could not like these people (just like in Normal People) and reached a point where I could not give the book one more second of what's left of my life! DNF. I recommend DNS--do not start!
I listened to the audiobook until disc 6.

My Verdict

2.5 ...more

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