The Country Girls (The Country Girls Trilogy, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 15, 2022 Steve rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, favorites

Short but extremely well-done novel by O'Brien (her first) about two young Irish girls ("Cait" and "Baba") growing up, going to a spirit crushing convent school, and then on to Dublin to work, sometime around the late 50s is my guess. Cait and Baba (Caithleen and Bridget) are friends and, at times, frenemies. That said, Cait has an abusive father, and Baba's family is always there as place refuge when the old man is in his cups. Cait is something of a romantic dreamer, but one who consistently d ...more

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Mar 07, 2023 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it really liked it

Kate and Baba are friends. Baba is nice to Kate. Kate loves Baba. Baba is mean to Kate. Kate hates Baba. On and on. With lots of Baba being mean.

Kate's homelife is...well, bad. Her dad drinks, and he turns into a monster. Her mother tries to cope. But not well. Baba's home is where Kate goes when things go south.

And then there is Mr. Gentleman, an older, married man.

I was fascinated with this story of two young girls living in the country, going off to school with nuns, heading to the big city ...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Megan rated it liked it

Quite well written and enjoyable to a point, but quite depressing. I spent most of the book hoping for Caithleen just to break away from Baba and her bad influence. I think I might have liked the interview I read with O'Brien about the effects of censorship and the way her community reacted to this book better than the story itself.
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