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August Is a Wicked Month
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August is a Wicked Month by Edna O'Brien
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I love Edna O'Brien. She gets inside a female mind like few other writers. Even if I haven't exactly run away to the South of France, nor got caught up with a Hollywood star, I have sought solace on a summer holiday and been propositioned by characters who turn out to be less than savoury and so often when reading O'Brien I feel I have experienced similar situations. She has the ability to write about women's lives with skill and precision and at the same time her books are so readable. Her heroine is a much more complicated and nuanced Bridget Jones, wanting to be proactive but ending up being acted upon rather than taking the initiative. O'Brien captures the indecision and the realisation of poor choices right when the mistake is being made. Ellen may not be a heroine, but she is a woman trying to find solace, and the reader can identify with her quest.4 stars.
Rating: 3 StarsRead: August 2016
I did not love this as much as the rest of you. This is by first book by O'Brien, and I hope they get better. I thought the book had a solid plot and definitely had a lot of redeeming factors going for it. I just didn't care for the overall writing style. I felt the book had the potential to be great, but it just didn't quite deliver for me. I did appreciate that although the book was written in the mid-60s, much of it is still relevant today (except for the part about her ex not being able to contact her, since there were no mobile phones then).
2 stars from me
This was my 3rd Edna O'Brien all from the 1001 list and I have to say I have not really enjoyed any of them.
The book is solidly written but I hated all the characters and did not care what happened to them, if was not even hating them in a good way I was bored and indifferent.
This was my 3rd Edna O'Brien all from the 1001 list and I have to say I have not really enjoyed any of them.
The book is solidly written but I hated all the characters and did not care what happened to them, if was not even hating them in a good way I was bored and indifferent.
Mod
Jen wrote: "I also disliked this book. Gave it 2 stars"
The more I think about this book the angrier I get, if it wasn't a library book I think I would have to throw it across the room lol
The more I think about this book the angrier I get, if it wasn't a library book I think I would have to throw it across the room lol
★★I confused this book with another book that I really disliked. When I realized my confusion, though I was sure I hadn't enjoyed it when I read it, I decided it couldn't be as bad as the one I misremembered it as.
At least it was short.
Mod
My review from before, The novel, written in 1965, depicts the life of a young woman who has left her husband. Ellen is 28, has a seven year old son, works at a job that must pay reasonably well for the time (1965). Her son leaves with his father for a camping/fishing outing and in her boredom, Ellen has a one night fling and then leaves for beaches of France for a vacation and more one night stands.
The book reads fast, the story was engaging enough to hold me but simply did not like Ellen. She is very flawed. 1001 description of Ellen is just average and her life is just average. I think points the author may have been making is that Ellen's Catholic guilt made all her attempts to make her life a fantasy of seduction and hedonism just made her more and more guilt ridden. It briefly touches on pain of loss and grief but not very well or at least not so that it made Ellen a sympathetic character.
My opinion has not changed. As John says, at least it is short and it isn't as bad as some books on the list.
2 stars from me as well. I had a hard time relating to Ellen, and her motivations. I do like other books by Edna O'Brien, so I think this one was just a dud for me.
Mod
This novel feels like a collision between A Spy in the House of Love by Anais Nin and The Stranger by Albert Camus, but all we have left is the wreckage. A recently divorced woman with a taste for romantic/sexual adventure gets on a junket in the south of France while her ex and their son go on a camping trip. The kid dies in an accident, she's in shock but still persists carousing around and picks up what looks like the clap. Meh.
August is a Wicked Month by Edna O'Brien
1 star
August is a Wicked Month just made my August reading it depressing. This book just had no redeeming qualities, in my opinion. I didn't like Ellen and thought she was extremely selfish. She decides to go away for a vacation by herself while her husband and son go for a fishing trip. She also decides that she is open to any sexual encounters that may arise. Then, when she's on her own and having various dalliances, she's not really happy about it. I just felt like this was a self-absorbed woman who didn't know what she wanted and then the entire book ends on a disastrous note. I wasn't even convinced that her response to the tragedy was appropriate. I'm glad I read it to tick it off my list but the only thing I really appreciated was that karma bit her in the ass.
August is a Wicked Month by Edna O'Brien2 stars
I read this a part of my 2018 TBR effort.
I have not read any other Edna O'Brien but she has real skill at character development. I felt the main character was well drawn although in a self centered way. However, the story of a lonely women, Ellen, who unlike the Jean Rhys character I recently read about, has all the capabilities to hold down a job and to adore and care for her son, nevertheless feels that the way through her loneliness is to find fulfillment in the arms of an man. She is off to France to have an adventure and to find the right man to have that adventure with. Originally published in the 1960's, the sexual motivation of this young woman was probably new to some readers. She was able to say no to some men and not to others and because what exactly she was looking for was vague in her own mind, it is doubly vague in the eyes of the reader. Ultimately it seemed the opposite of feminist sexual freedoms. Ellen is effectively punished for her actions in the book, not as a straight forward cause and effect but more as an overall morality tale. There is a tragedy, which although not of her own doing, nevertheless feels like it was aimed at her. Plus, in the end, the only way to get through the tragedy, the loneliness and human despair is to become indifferent.
I understand that indifference can be an armor against the horrors of the world, but to have that be the culmination of the awakening of feminist freedoms is truly depressing.
I believe I have to read other Edna O'Brien's work.
I didn't like this as much as her Country Girls trilogy but it was still an enjoyable side. The book shocked many of its original readers because of the frankness of the portrayal of the sexual desires of its lead character Ellen. This book having being written by Edna O'Brien means that this is a more nuanced portrayal of summer romances and has the downbeat ending I am coming to associate with the author. (And I rather look forward to the endings of her books).4 stars.
Ellen is divorced with one son. The book opens with Ellen's ex-husband and son leaving for a camping adventure. Now alone Ellen decides to take a holiday from her London home to France and there in lies our story.
This is the second book I have read from Edna O'Brien. I enjoy that she writes books about women. Her characters are flawed but authentic. The two books I have read were originally written in 1960s and I can see their historical significance as her characters are trying to break free from the status quo. For this book, it was a solid 4 for me until about 80% in and then she lost me and thus my score went down. Still I appreciate her writing.
My favorite quote, “So you haven't found the perfect man yet? He said. No, but I've applied for one.” This made me laugh out loud. But this quote I think more represents the book and character, “Fear and hatred were what motivated her passions.”