Reading this as part of the Dublin: One City, One Book initiative. Enjoyed the second novel more than the first. Looking forward to reading the last book to see what happens Kate. ( )

A looooong time ago in the decade old life of Arukiyomi, I read August is a Wicked Month. That was my first taste of O’Brien’s work and it’s been too long since I’ve been back. Her writing is always heavy with meaning and carefully crafted.

Although this didn’t live up to August, I did enjoy it. It’s a tale of young love set in O’Brien’s native Ireland. What action there is takes place in Dublin or the countryside nearby.

But this is not a novel about action. It’s a novel about a clash of cultures. O’Brien skilfully uses the medium of a woman in her early twenties falling in love with a much older (and essentially a much more married man) to portray the gap between contemporary Irish culture and the traditional.

Traditional Irish culture gets treated mercilessly. We have the
religious bigots and hypocrites, the decaying Irish village, the village weirdos, the controlling family, the damp housing … even the weather and landscape away from Dublin fail to find sympathy with O’Brien.

Against this backdrop, you have the young country girl struggling to find her new identity on various levels as both Dublin and her new lover inspire her to conquer her fears and forge her path.

The only judgment here comes from those too prejudiced to have an objective viewpoint. I’m tempted to include O’Brien herself in that. Not only, as I’ve said, does she not have a good word to say about the traditionalists, but she fails to provide any tangible exploration of the failings of the new culture that is emerging.

In this she disappointed me. No culture is perfect. Present-day cultures which condone the so-called freedoms of adultery, infidelity and the myth of premarital sex apparently without consequences will be condemned, as every other culture has been, by history itself. This makes the novel important for capturing the essence of its time, but its weakness for me was that it did not transcend this. ( )

I actually enjoyed this book more than the first in the trilogy.

However, Caithleen has not changed much. She is older, but she is still not able to make her own decisions. As may be typical of a girl whose mother died when she was young and who grew up with an alcoholic father and a domineering best friend (Baba), Caithleen just wants to please. This makes her rather wishy washy, as she holds the opinion of the person with her a the time.

This is also a very trait to have as a young woman in 1960s Ireland who has left home for the city. With no supervision, a friend who just wants to have fun, and a job, Caithleen cannot be trusted to do what is best for herself or for herself. She has no real opinions of her own to trust, as she can't read people at all.

Must read book 3. ( )

Country bumpkin falls in love with older, more sophisticated man. A quick read; funny at times and insightful at others. ( )

Caithleen (luego Kate) y Baba, dos amigas irlandesas —encantadoras unas veces, contradictorias otras—, se han instalado, tras una adolescencia de paisajes rurales e internados, en una excéntrica pensión de Dublín. Bajo las luces de la gran ciudad, sus vidas giran y se agitan en torno al tumulto y la confusión de las nuevas amistades, las madrugadas fuera de casa, las aventuras y desventuras, y los amoríos insignificantes. Baba busca diversiones despreocupadas, amores de ocasión, mientras que Kate, tan profunda, se empeña en hablar de los libros que lee con sus nuevos conocidos. Aunque, curiosamente, será esta última quien desate el escándalo entre parientes y amigos católicos cuando se enamore de Eugene, un director de cine protestante que acaba de separarse de su mujer y vive en los Montes Wicklow. Durante un tiempo, Kate verá sus sueños cumplidos: alcanzará un sofisticado refugio idílico y literario, cosmopolita a pesar de encontrarse en medio del campo. Pero cuando su padre se entere de esa relación, hará todo lo posible por impedirla y desatará la ira de toda una peculiar comunidad —whisky mediante— contra ella y su enamorado. Humor y amor, como en toda rima fácil, al mismo tiempo que —otra rima— dolor, el dolor de vivir cuando la alegría de la juventud se vuelve oscura, se convierte en su reverso ( )