BOTM Aug 2019 - The Secret Scripture

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

no spoilers before August

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

author bio:

Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. His novels and plays have won, among other awards, the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Prize, the Costa Book of the Year award, the Irish Book Awards Best Novel, the Independent Booksellers Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He also had two consecutive novels, A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), shortlisted for the MAN Booker Prize. He lives in Wicklow with his wife and three children.

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

from Publishers Weekly: The latest from Barry (whose A Long Way was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker) pits two contradictory narratives against each other in an attempt to solve the mystery of a 100-year-old mental patient. That patient, Roseanne McNulty, decides to undertake an autobiography and writes of an ill-fated childhood spent with her father, Joe Clear. A cemetery superintendent, Joe is drawn into Ireland's 1922 civil war when a group of irregulars brings a slain comrade to the cemetery and are discovered by a division of Free-Staters. Meanwhile, Roseanne's psychiatrist, Dr. Grene, investigating Roseanne's original commitment in preparation for her transfer to a new hospital, discovers through the papers of the local parish priest, Fr. Gaunt, that Roseanne's father was actually a police sergeant in the Royal Irish Constabulary. The mysteries multiply when Roseanne reveals that Fr. Gaunt annulled her marriage after glimpsing her in the company of another man; Gaunt's official charge was nymphomania, and the cumulative fallout led to a string of tragedies. Written in captivating, lyrical prose, Barry's novel is both a sparkling literary puzzle and a stark cautionary tale of corrupted power.

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

Have any of you seen the movie? Have any of you read other books by Barry?

I have read Days Without End and really enjoyed it.

[Celia]

I have just started this book and hope someone joins me. I am on page 12 and in love with the writing already.

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

I am still hoping to get to it. I have only read one book by this offer but really loved it so I have high hopes.

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

But the library still estimates a two week hold... so we will see.

[Celia]

I have found a delightful review site where the blogger has reviewed this book. I am sure the review is FULL of spoilers so will read it after I am done.

https://wecanreaditforyouwholesale.co...

[[deleted user]]

I found it at the library ... it is not at my local branch but found a copy of the ebook through them

[Celia]

I have it on Kindle and will be sharing my highlights.

[Gail]

I finished reading The Secret Scripture and I found this twin narration from two unreliable narrators to be very moving. I have read reviews where people thought it was too gothic and too predictable in its ending but I did not think so. Our first narrator is a 100 year old Irish woman who tells her tale through the device of writing her history in order to get at the truth before meeting her God. This woman has been in various mental asylums for much of her life. The second narrator is her doctor and the primary administrator of the hospital she inhabits. The book is a story about memory, the nature of narration and the nature of truth. It is also about forgiveness and I am a sucker for forgiveness.
Has anyone gotten this book to read it? My library had it, thankfully.

[Gail]

Quotes:

"Of course I was young, very young, but as I remember it, no one is ever quite so old as a fifteen-year-old girl."

"People persist with ordinary life because, there is no other sort of life".

"Memory, I must suppose, if it is neglected becomes like a box room, or a lumber room in an old house, the contents jumbled about maybe not only from neglect but also from too much haphazard searching in them, and things to boot thrown in that don't belong there."

In speaking about unreliable memories:
"Perhaps this is our nature, and perhaps unaccountably it is part of our glory as a creature, that we can build our best and most permanent buildings on foundations of utter dust."

[Celia]

Gail wrote: "I finished reading The Secret Scripture and I found this twin narration from two unreliable narrators to be very moving. I have read reviews where people thought it was too gothic an..."

I will finish it today. Thanks for your comments, BTW. I have been struggling with this book because of the 'unreliable' narrators. I have read a lot of people's reviews just so I could figure out what was going on. Will probably write my review tomorrow.

[Celia]

Gail wrote: "Quotes:

"Of course I was young, very young, but as I remember it, no one is ever quite so old as a fifteen-year-old girl."

"People persist with ordinary life because, there is no other sort of li..."
LOVE your quotes. Thanks. I highlighted quite a few quotes too but we have none in common. That means we can complement each other!!

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

Gail wrote: "I finished reading The Secret Scripture and I found this twin narration from two unreliable narrators to be very moving. I have read reviews where people thought it was too gothic an..."

It finally came in today! A bit late, but I am going to try to read it anyway.