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The Country Girls Trilogy #2
La chica de ojos verdes
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. Es esta novela un bellísimo ejemplo de iniciación a la vida y a la feminidad. Nadie como Edna O’Brien ha escrito con tanta intensidad sobre la pasión y el valor, las tristezas y alegrías —y también la vulnerabilidad— de la juventud: sus grandes planes y sus indefinidos anhelos.
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. Es esta novela un bellísimo ejemplo de iniciación a la vida y a la feminidad. Nadie como Edna O’Brien ha escrito con tanta intensidad sobre la pasión y el valor, las tristezas y alegrías —y también la vulnerabilidad— de la juventud: sus grandes planes y sus indefinidos anhelos.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
About the author
Edna O'Brien
99 books1,276 followersEdna O’Brien was an award-winning Irish author of novels, plays, and short stories. She has been hailed as one of the greatest chroniclers of the female experience in the twentieth century. She was the 2011 recipient of the Frank O’Connor Prize, awarded for her short story collection Saints and Sinners. She also received, among other honors, the Irish PEN Award for Literature, the Ulysses Medal from University College Dublin, and a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Literary Academy. Her 1960 debut novel, The Country Girls, was banned in her native Ireland for its groundbreaking depictions of female sexuality. Notable works also include August Is a Wicked Month (1965), A Pagan Place (1970), Lantern Slides (1990), and The Light of Evening (2006). O’Brien lived in London until her death.
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November 6, 2024
OCCHI DI RAGAZZA
Kate e Baba: Rita Tushingham e Lynn Redgrave.
Edna O’Brien non ha mai fatto mistero di quanto la sua trilogia “Ragazze di campagna” attingesse a piene mani dalla sua stessa vita, fosse abbondantemente autobiografica.
Non tanto nel senso che la trama è ricalcata sui fatti della sua vita: quanto piuttosto che dettagli, particolari, pensieri, reazioni delle protagoniste sono modellati sulla sua personale esperienza.
Per me fu una bella scoperta questa ragazza dagli occhi verdi che veniva dall’Isola di Smeraldo.
Che raccontava l’Irlanda più scontata: provinciale, povera, retrograda, inchiodata alla croce cattolica come e più di questa Italia vaticana. Un paese chiuso, bigotto, che perseguitava ogni forma di diversità, che rifiutava la modernità. Una terra dove per una ragazza l’unico obiettivo era prepararsi al matrimonio, sposarsi, fare figli, crescerli: una vita rinchiusa nella famiglia, limitata al focolare domestico.
Kate e Eugene, interpretato da Peter Finch.
Le donne di cui racconta Edna O’Brien non ci stanno, non si accontentano, vogliono cambiare le cose. Non sanno come farlo, non ne hanno ancora gli strumenti, pagano, ma ci provano, insistono. Donne che lottano e cercano di conquistare i propri diritti in un mondo che glieli nega.
Personaggi femminili dotati di senso dell’umorismo, al contrario di quelli creati da Elena Ferrante, ma che per il resto sento molto prossimi, sorelle di quelli della scrittrice italiana.
La trilogia delle ragazze di campagna fece scalpore in patria, fu messa all’indice, e anche al rogo. Adesso, decenni dopo, sembra quasi impossibile, incredibile.
Baba e Kate, o Cait, diminutivo di Caithleen, scappano e si trasferiscono a Dublino, la città.
Mentre Baba crede che la sua emancipazione passi comunque dalla presenza di un uomo, e, donna pratica e concreta passa da una storia all’altra, da un fallimento a una delusione, Kate è più romantica, legge e cerca di crescere: ma anche per lei è l’uomo, l’amore, la coppia che rappresenta libertà ed emancipazione.
Quello di cui s’innamora, Eugene, è più grande, più colto, di origine francese. In seguito scoprirà che è anche già sposato e padre di un bambino (la moglie si è trasferita in US per divorziare).
Il padre della ragazza va a riprendersi la figlia che non può convivere con un uomo già sposato, è contro la religione, contro tutti i principi della maledetta chiesa cattolica.
Ma Kate non ci sta, scappa di nuovo, torna in città a vivere con Eugene.
Solo che dopo un po’ le cose cambiano: lei si sente disprezzata dagli amici di lui che non la reputano alla loro altezza (e lei condivide di tale basso concetto di sé), si sente ferita dal rifiuto di Eugene per qualsiasi tema cattolico, si sente stufa del legame con la moglie che lui continua a coltivare, e Kate torna a vivere con Baba.
La stessa Baba, più presente nel romanzo precedente e in quello seguente, più marginale in questo secondo episodio della trilogia, la stessa Baba non si brucia, non soccombe. Alla fine del romanzo si sta per trasferire da Dublino a Londra, un altro salto avanti, e Kate decide di seguirla.
Nessuna delle due è delusa o frustrata dalle esperienze apparentemente negative collezionate: sono comunque esperienze e momenti di crescita.
Senza piagnistei, senza autocommiserazione, ma neppure ragazze foxfire: sono esseri umani, giovani donne che hanno anima, coraggio, bellezza, forza e volontà. Evviva.
La ragazza con gli occhi verdi: Edna O’Brien nei suoi trent’anni.
Kate e Baba: Rita Tushingham e Lynn Redgrave.
Edna O’Brien non ha mai fatto mistero di quanto la sua trilogia “Ragazze di campagna” attingesse a piene mani dalla sua stessa vita, fosse abbondantemente autobiografica.
Non tanto nel senso che la trama è ricalcata sui fatti della sua vita: quanto piuttosto che dettagli, particolari, pensieri, reazioni delle protagoniste sono modellati sulla sua personale esperienza.
Per me fu una bella scoperta questa ragazza dagli occhi verdi che veniva dall’Isola di Smeraldo.
Che raccontava l’Irlanda più scontata: provinciale, povera, retrograda, inchiodata alla croce cattolica come e più di questa Italia vaticana. Un paese chiuso, bigotto, che perseguitava ogni forma di diversità, che rifiutava la modernità. Una terra dove per una ragazza l’unico obiettivo era prepararsi al matrimonio, sposarsi, fare figli, crescerli: una vita rinchiusa nella famiglia, limitata al focolare domestico.
Kate e Eugene, interpretato da Peter Finch.
Le donne di cui racconta Edna O’Brien non ci stanno, non si accontentano, vogliono cambiare le cose. Non sanno come farlo, non ne hanno ancora gli strumenti, pagano, ma ci provano, insistono. Donne che lottano e cercano di conquistare i propri diritti in un mondo che glieli nega.
Personaggi femminili dotati di senso dell’umorismo, al contrario di quelli creati da Elena Ferrante, ma che per il resto sento molto prossimi, sorelle di quelli della scrittrice italiana.
La trilogia delle ragazze di campagna fece scalpore in patria, fu messa all’indice, e anche al rogo. Adesso, decenni dopo, sembra quasi impossibile, incredibile.
Baba e Kate, o Cait, diminutivo di Caithleen, scappano e si trasferiscono a Dublino, la città.
Mentre Baba crede che la sua emancipazione passi comunque dalla presenza di un uomo, e, donna pratica e concreta passa da una storia all’altra, da un fallimento a una delusione, Kate è più romantica, legge e cerca di crescere: ma anche per lei è l’uomo, l’amore, la coppia che rappresenta libertà ed emancipazione.
Quello di cui s’innamora, Eugene, è più grande, più colto, di origine francese. In seguito scoprirà che è anche già sposato e padre di un bambino (la moglie si è trasferita in US per divorziare).
Il padre della ragazza va a riprendersi la figlia che non può convivere con un uomo già sposato, è contro la religione, contro tutti i principi della maledetta chiesa cattolica.
Ma Kate non ci sta, scappa di nuovo, torna in città a vivere con Eugene.
Solo che dopo un po’ le cose cambiano: lei si sente disprezzata dagli amici di lui che non la reputano alla loro altezza (e lei condivide di tale basso concetto di sé), si sente ferita dal rifiuto di Eugene per qualsiasi tema cattolico, si sente stufa del legame con la moglie che lui continua a coltivare, e Kate torna a vivere con Baba.
La stessa Baba, più presente nel romanzo precedente e in quello seguente, più marginale in questo secondo episodio della trilogia, la stessa Baba non si brucia, non soccombe. Alla fine del romanzo si sta per trasferire da Dublino a Londra, un altro salto avanti, e Kate decide di seguirla.
Nessuna delle due è delusa o frustrata dalle esperienze apparentemente negative collezionate: sono comunque esperienze e momenti di crescita.
Senza piagnistei, senza autocommiserazione, ma neppure ragazze foxfire: sono esseri umani, giovani donne che hanno anima, coraggio, bellezza, forza e volontà. Evviva.
La ragazza con gli occhi verdi: Edna O’Brien nei suoi trent’anni.
March 28, 2021
After a rather bumpy start to my 2021 reading year, I've been gravitating to "sure things". Like this, and this. More are on the way in that vein, don't worry. I found Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls was also a "sure thing" and so upon finishing it, I quickly ordered the sequel, The Lonely Girl.
Like anyone else living during this time, I'm ready for joy, I'm tired of stasis, I feel like the corner that needs to be turned is so far ahead I can't see it. Same with that stupid light - you know, the one at the end of the tunnel? It seems to have gone out.
I've got this song in my head, on repeat. Waiting, for that miracle to come.
So it's wonderful to have a book in hand that delivers, that distracts, that entertains. And it does so with seeming effortlessness. O'Brien claims that The Country Girls "wrote itself" (in three weeks). Well, my claim is that The Lonely Girl read itself. It was such a pleasure, I barely noticed the pages turning. Suddenly I was halfway through the book, and Kaithleen is with yet another mysterious, possibly married, older man (don't judge, we all have our types), and Baba is up to trouble somewhere else, and - oh, those pages just keep flying - they are learning the hard way, always, about life and love and - what, it's over?
Now I'm waiting again - for instalment #3, Girls in Their Married Bliss - but it's a sweet type of waiting, because I know when I get it, and it's in my eager hands, I'm safe - O'Brien won't let me down.
Like anyone else living during this time, I'm ready for joy, I'm tired of stasis, I feel like the corner that needs to be turned is so far ahead I can't see it. Same with that stupid light - you know, the one at the end of the tunnel? It seems to have gone out.
I've got this song in my head, on repeat. Waiting, for that miracle to come.
So it's wonderful to have a book in hand that delivers, that distracts, that entertains. And it does so with seeming effortlessness. O'Brien claims that The Country Girls "wrote itself" (in three weeks). Well, my claim is that The Lonely Girl read itself. It was such a pleasure, I barely noticed the pages turning. Suddenly I was halfway through the book, and Kaithleen is with yet another mysterious, possibly married, older man (don't judge, we all have our types), and Baba is up to trouble somewhere else, and - oh, those pages just keep flying - they are learning the hard way, always, about life and love and - what, it's over?
Now I'm waiting again - for instalment #3, Girls in Their Married Bliss - but it's a sweet type of waiting, because I know when I get it, and it's in my eager hands, I'm safe - O'Brien won't let me down.
December 20, 2022
“We all leave one another. We die, we change–it’s mostly change–we outgrow our best friends, but even if I do leave you, I will have passed on to you something of myself; you will be a different person because of knowing me; it’s inescapable.”
I was struck by the truth of this; the way each person we care for in life leaves their indelible mark on us and influences the way we react to or think of the next person.
This book transported me back to my own twenties and my first real experience with love. Mine was nothing like Kate’s, but I think each and every one of us has this experience and we never forget it. The first time we love with heart and soul, and the first time we feel the heartbreak that comes with loving the wrong person.
I would have loved these books had I read them when I was in my early thirties and only slightly distanced from this world of men and searching. I think Edna O’Brien has done a marvelous job of capturing that time of a girl’s life. I felt very nostalgic while reading. I also felt grateful, because I know what Kate and Baba do not yet know–there is life after those years of angst, and that life can be splendid.
I will finish the trilogy next month and see if the girls have a happy ending. No doubt a lovely way to start the year.
I was struck by the truth of this; the way each person we care for in life leaves their indelible mark on us and influences the way we react to or think of the next person.
This book transported me back to my own twenties and my first real experience with love. Mine was nothing like Kate’s, but I think each and every one of us has this experience and we never forget it. The first time we love with heart and soul, and the first time we feel the heartbreak that comes with loving the wrong person.
I would have loved these books had I read them when I was in my early thirties and only slightly distanced from this world of men and searching. I think Edna O’Brien has done a marvelous job of capturing that time of a girl’s life. I felt very nostalgic while reading. I also felt grateful, because I know what Kate and Baba do not yet know–there is life after those years of angst, and that life can be splendid.
I will finish the trilogy next month and see if the girls have a happy ending. No doubt a lovely way to start the year.
December 17, 2012
In one interview Edna said
I was reading van Gogh’s letters. My God! I’m surprised he cut off only one ear
Not relevant at all, but it is funny.
On to the book. So, in 1962, one year before Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique kicked off the 2nd wave of feminism, and one year before the Beatles pressed the ON switch for the 1960s, Girl with Green Eyes was published and set in the mid-fifties and is really, as far as I can see, a pre-feminist novel. It carries on after The Country Girls which is a sweet, sad, hilarious and heartfelt autobiographical first novel about growing up in the priest-ridden West of Ireland in the early 50s, and thank your lucky stars if you didn't. That book is RECOMMENDED. At the end of The Country Girls they've managed to escape to Dublin and that's where we pick up with them again. But this second slice of Kate and Baba is a more miserable affair, in both senses, for Kate, our Edna stand-in, and for the reader, because Kate's foul-mouthed outrageous friend Baba is sorely missed for long stretches, in which Kate gets her first proper affair going. The whole plot is the beginning, middle & end of this affair, and what a droopy, moribund thing it is. I will ply you with a couple of quotes, but please beware, if you happen to be female, you may wish to remove all sharp objects from your reach before reading on :
"It's all right, I wouldn't throw a nice girl out of my bed," he joked, and I wondered what he really thought of me. I was not sophisticated and I couldn't talk very well nor drive a car.
"I'll try and get sophisticated," I said. I would cut my hair, buy tight skirts and a corset.
We sat on the couch and he told me in a concerned voice that I would have to grow up and learn to control my emotions. Discipline and control were the virtues he most lauded. These and frugality. In fact, the things I was most lacking in.
The pompous git saying this stuff is the Love Object with whom Kate has been obsessed and in love and mooning over and finally shagging (a little bit) for 200 pages. She thinks he's a paragon, and when he haughtily throws her overboard, having realised her gaucheness will cause his metropolitan friends to mock him, she's devastated, instead of dancing on the kitchen table shouting that she's free from the pig at last. I mean, here he is again:
"You are incapable of thinking. Why don't you get up and wash your face and put some powder on? Do something, sink your inadequacy into washing the walls or mending my socks…" (p226)
And Kate says
I knew that if I loved him enough I would put up with anything from him.
So, given the above, I can't say I recommend this novel! But I will press on with the third in the trilogy which is called Girls in their Married Bliss – an ironic title, I'm thinking. Maybe in that one Kate and Baba learn karate like Emma Peel in The Avengers (a famous 60s show!) and go round beating up smooth movie producers and disc jockies. I hope so.
I was reading van Gogh’s letters. My God! I’m surprised he cut off only one ear
Not relevant at all, but it is funny.
On to the book. So, in 1962, one year before Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique kicked off the 2nd wave of feminism, and one year before the Beatles pressed the ON switch for the 1960s, Girl with Green Eyes was published and set in the mid-fifties and is really, as far as I can see, a pre-feminist novel. It carries on after The Country Girls which is a sweet, sad, hilarious and heartfelt autobiographical first novel about growing up in the priest-ridden West of Ireland in the early 50s, and thank your lucky stars if you didn't. That book is RECOMMENDED. At the end of The Country Girls they've managed to escape to Dublin and that's where we pick up with them again. But this second slice of Kate and Baba is a more miserable affair, in both senses, for Kate, our Edna stand-in, and for the reader, because Kate's foul-mouthed outrageous friend Baba is sorely missed for long stretches, in which Kate gets her first proper affair going. The whole plot is the beginning, middle & end of this affair, and what a droopy, moribund thing it is. I will ply you with a couple of quotes, but please beware, if you happen to be female, you may wish to remove all sharp objects from your reach before reading on :
"It's all right, I wouldn't throw a nice girl out of my bed," he joked, and I wondered what he really thought of me. I was not sophisticated and I couldn't talk very well nor drive a car.
"I'll try and get sophisticated," I said. I would cut my hair, buy tight skirts and a corset.
We sat on the couch and he told me in a concerned voice that I would have to grow up and learn to control my emotions. Discipline and control were the virtues he most lauded. These and frugality. In fact, the things I was most lacking in.
The pompous git saying this stuff is the Love Object with whom Kate has been obsessed and in love and mooning over and finally shagging (a little bit) for 200 pages. She thinks he's a paragon, and when he haughtily throws her overboard, having realised her gaucheness will cause his metropolitan friends to mock him, she's devastated, instead of dancing on the kitchen table shouting that she's free from the pig at last. I mean, here he is again:
"You are incapable of thinking. Why don't you get up and wash your face and put some powder on? Do something, sink your inadequacy into washing the walls or mending my socks…" (p226)
And Kate says
I knew that if I loved him enough I would put up with anything from him.
So, given the above, I can't say I recommend this novel! But I will press on with the third in the trilogy which is called Girls in their Married Bliss – an ironic title, I'm thinking. Maybe in that one Kate and Baba learn karate like Emma Peel in The Avengers (a famous 60s show!) and go round beating up smooth movie producers and disc jockies. I hope so.
September 13, 2021
This is the follow-up to ‘The Country Girls’ (1960) and was written two years later, I wonder what Edna O’ Brien had in mind when writing the first novel, ‘The Country Girls’ – did she have a big-picture idea before writing it that she was going to write several novels about the girls? Or after she wrote ‘The Country Girls’ she was still thinking about her protagonists and had some fresh ideas of how their lives moved along and wanted to let us know? 🤔
Anyway, I liked the writing. It was written in the first person, and Caithleen is a real human being. O’Brien does not imbue her with saintly or wise qualities. Caithleen can act impetuously…she is immature…she is the same ole Caithleen as in the first novel.
Baba, Caithleen’s friend, is still featured in this book, thank goodness. Baba won’t be crowned a saint anytime soon. 😉
‘The Country Girls’ had a substantial shot of humor infused into it….this one had its moments of humor but less so than the first book. However, it wasn’t dark either. It was just a slice-of-life of a young woman in Ireland who was having an affair with an older man, Eugene, a film director.
Caithleen works at a grocer’s. She lives in Dublin in a boarding house. The matron of the house, Joanna, is a funny character. Over the course of the novel her father and some friends coerce her back to her home where she grew up, but then she escapes and moves in with her lover…
I breezed through this book in about a day. I found it to be interesting and again the writing was so unpretentious. Her writing slays me. It’s really as if a country bumpkin girl is writing this.
• ‘She was in the kitchen making a soda cake in a big tin basin, the cellophane packet of brown caraway seeds on the table beside her. We all liked caraway seeds in the bread, except Maura, who picked them out, thinking that they were insects or something.’
I am going to give this 3.5 stars. All in all I liked it, and I suppose my rating is perhaps more elevated because it was connected to ‘The Country Girls’ which I absolutely loved. This book was banned in Ireland by the Catholic Church, as was ‘The Country Girls’.
Reviews
• A most excellent review… https://www.curledup.com/lonelyg.htm
• an hour long discussion of the book on The Diane Rehm Show: https://dianerehm.org/audio/#/shows/2...
• https://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=7964
• https://www.gjgriffithswriter.com/boo...
Anyway, I liked the writing. It was written in the first person, and Caithleen is a real human being. O’Brien does not imbue her with saintly or wise qualities. Caithleen can act impetuously…she is immature…she is the same ole Caithleen as in the first novel.
Baba, Caithleen’s friend, is still featured in this book, thank goodness. Baba won’t be crowned a saint anytime soon. 😉
‘The Country Girls’ had a substantial shot of humor infused into it….this one had its moments of humor but less so than the first book. However, it wasn’t dark either. It was just a slice-of-life of a young woman in Ireland who was having an affair with an older man, Eugene, a film director.
Caithleen works at a grocer’s. She lives in Dublin in a boarding house. The matron of the house, Joanna, is a funny character. Over the course of the novel her father and some friends coerce her back to her home where she grew up, but then she escapes and moves in with her lover…
I breezed through this book in about a day. I found it to be interesting and again the writing was so unpretentious. Her writing slays me. It’s really as if a country bumpkin girl is writing this.
• ‘She was in the kitchen making a soda cake in a big tin basin, the cellophane packet of brown caraway seeds on the table beside her. We all liked caraway seeds in the bread, except Maura, who picked them out, thinking that they were insects or something.’
I am going to give this 3.5 stars. All in all I liked it, and I suppose my rating is perhaps more elevated because it was connected to ‘The Country Girls’ which I absolutely loved. This book was banned in Ireland by the Catholic Church, as was ‘The Country Girls’.
Reviews
• A most excellent review… https://www.curledup.com/lonelyg.htm
• an hour long discussion of the book on The Diane Rehm Show: https://dianerehm.org/audio/#/shows/2...
• https://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=7964
• https://www.gjgriffithswriter.com/boo...
June 6, 2016
I read this about 25 years ago when I was 14, and on Saturday I was lucky enough to see Edna O'Brien (now aged 85) speak at event near where I live. She was so wonderful - warm and funny - and the book is just the same.
She has a really interesting style of writing - she'll often add a non sequitur onto the end of a paragraph that brings me up short, in a wonderful way. It reminds me a lot of the way Barbara Comyns wrote, and sometimes Shirley Jackson.
Remind me to read this again in another 25 years if I haven't done so.
She has a really interesting style of writing - she'll often add a non sequitur onto the end of a paragraph that brings me up short, in a wonderful way. It reminds me a lot of the way Barbara Comyns wrote, and sometimes Shirley Jackson.
Remind me to read this again in another 25 years if I haven't done so.
November 23, 2015
Rereading it after 30 years, I guess I enjoyed the novel as much as I did the first time round. It is such an amusing view of the 1950s Ireland. The girls are infuriating but realistic, the film-maker hero plausible and the settings lovely. I particularly enjoyed the village mentality where everybody knows everybody and gossip is rife. The love story made me aware how much change there has been around us since I first read it. With 14-year-olds now having boyfriends and girlfriends, what about this 21-year-old virgin? Does this make the novel old-fashioned? (I often wonder about the longevity of modern novels.)
The weakness of the novel is in the ending. Not quite the last page, which redeems the preceding pages somewhat, but the lovers' last quarrel doesn't sound quite right.
I was amused to learn that the novel was first published as 'The Lonely Girl'. It was perhaps not selling quite as well under that title although it would fit the story better.
The weakness of the novel is in the ending. Not quite the last page, which redeems the preceding pages somewhat, but the lovers' last quarrel doesn't sound quite right.
I was amused to learn that the novel was first published as 'The Lonely Girl'. It was perhaps not selling quite as well under that title although it would fit the story better.
July 28, 2022
It's such a pleasure following this continuing drama about two Irish country girls who are now young women dealing with very adult problems. The story picks up two years after the end of “The Country Girls” when Cait and her spirited friend Baba are living in rented accommodation in Dublin. Both are working and enjoying their status as independent women in the city free from the constraints of family and the religious school of their youth. But, while Baba is consumed with flirting and partying, Cait has recovered from her misjudged romance in the first book and now embarks on a perilous new relationship with Eugene, an older man and documentary filmmaker. They grapple with intimacy and move into his house together though it's still crowded with memories of his first wife (reminiscent of “Rebecca”). Meanwhile, a series of anonymous letters makes Cait's father aware of the perceived inappropriateness of her relations with Eugene. Suddenly she finds herself in danger of being trapped in the constrained family life she thought she'd been freed from. It's a story filled with tense conflict and complex emotions as it charts Cait's continuing development. There are also numerous deliciously funny scenes and heartbreaking moments as Cait struggles to maintain her autonomy and articulate her desires.
Read my full review of The Lonely Girl by Edna O'Brien at LonesomeReader
Read my full review of The Lonely Girl by Edna O'Brien at LonesomeReader
December 29, 2013
This trilogy was banned in Ireland when it was first published in the sixties. If the first novel wasn’t fully clear on the reason why, the second one will make that very clear: a young girl living together with an older and previously married man, whose wife is still alive. As the priest who comes to preach on Kate indicates: 'divorce is the biggest sin in the world'. A man drunk and aggressive is normal, it’s just because of the bad climate. But divorce is a sin bigger than words and living together unmarried is the ‘the path to moral damnation’.
O’Brien still played nice in book 1, but in this one she is pulling out all the stops, attacking the repressive, catholic world she grew up in. Our narrator, Kate, is now a young girl who left her village behind and is living in Dublin, rooming together with a friend from her village. Going out in town, they meet many boys and men, but Eugene captures Kate’s interests – and yes, becomes the previously mentioned ‘path to damnation’ for her.
I like the perspective the story is told in: it clearly attacks the hypocrisy of the ruling catholic Irish world at that time (and not only Ireland might I add), but at the same time it doesn’t colour Kate in a rosy light either. The girl makes some pretty stupid choices, and the author doesn’t try to deny that. They are all Kate’s mistakes to make though. We can help her, but we shouldn’t leave her behind for making different choices, nor should we hunt her down.
If only religion was that human in the sixties. A book like this makes me wonder how many lives it ruined, how many people it isolated after they were swept up by a number of events, and couldn't tell what way their life was going.
This book was originally titled ‘the Lonely Girl’. I do not know (I also didn’t try to research it) why it changed title, and whether it was the publishers or O’Brien herself who made the change. I do think the first title covers the book so much better.
O’Brien still played nice in book 1, but in this one she is pulling out all the stops, attacking the repressive, catholic world she grew up in. Our narrator, Kate, is now a young girl who left her village behind and is living in Dublin, rooming together with a friend from her village. Going out in town, they meet many boys and men, but Eugene captures Kate’s interests – and yes, becomes the previously mentioned ‘path to damnation’ for her.
I like the perspective the story is told in: it clearly attacks the hypocrisy of the ruling catholic Irish world at that time (and not only Ireland might I add), but at the same time it doesn’t colour Kate in a rosy light either. The girl makes some pretty stupid choices, and the author doesn’t try to deny that. They are all Kate’s mistakes to make though. We can help her, but we shouldn’t leave her behind for making different choices, nor should we hunt her down.
If only religion was that human in the sixties. A book like this makes me wonder how many lives it ruined, how many people it isolated after they were swept up by a number of events, and couldn't tell what way their life was going.
“The sea was calm, the waves breaking calmly over the boulders and a strong, unpleasant smell of ozone in the air. I could not tell whether the tide was coming in or out. It is always hard to tell at first.”
This book was originally titled ‘the Lonely Girl’. I do not know (I also didn’t try to research it) why it changed title, and whether it was the publishers or O’Brien herself who made the change. I do think the first title covers the book so much better.
“I could see his brown eyes as I had last seen them in the hotel, full of sadness, and full of knowledge that I was not the girl he had imagined me to be. A stone, he’d said. I thought of stones bursting open in the hot sun and other stones washed smooth by a river I knew well.”
February 28, 2017
The Lonely Girl is the second volume of Edna O'Brien's Country Girls Trilogy. I had read the entire trilogy back in 2004, which is when I fell in love with O'Brien, so this was a second reading.
She captures so well the innocence and emotional states of Kate and her friend Baba. Baba mostly just wants to have fun but Kate falls in love with another older man. She had done that in the first book, The Country Girl, when she was still living at home and grieving for her recently deceased mother, and had her heart broken. This time, she and Baba are living in a rooming house in Dublin, working at dull jobs, usually short of money, and looking for men.
Eugene Gaillard is a supposedly divorced writer who lives outside of the city on a large country estate. In fact, he is still married to his American wife with whom he has a daughter but they are separated. The romance is doomed because he is worldly and Kate is a country bumpkin, still a virgin, steeped in her Catholic teachings, in no way prepared to deal with his ways and her insecure jealousy.
It is painful to watch how her inept youthful inexperience causes her to suffer. Painful also to remember those years in my life. In some ways my early twenties were more exciting than anything in life so far but in the end there was more heartbreak than fun.
Kate's drunken father plays a huge role as he shows up at Eugene's house with a priest and a friend. They virtually kidnap her, a 20-year-old woman, and take her back to the small town where she grew up. It is all sanctimonious Irish Catholic sentiments from men who actually mistreat women. Sound familiar? Though she manages to escape she has learned very little.
Disgusting, disturbing, and the central theme of all the O'Brien novels I have read so far. Her brilliance is in plumbing the inner thoughts and feelings of her female characters.
March 2, 2024
I had been seeking out this book- immediately fell into it related to it so much.the awkwardness of coming of age and that overwhelming need for attention from men. I love her innocence and her care with clothes and how she presents herself. It made me remember my own uncomfortable years mad to be adult but not at all ready to be out in the world alone or led by some true adult. so so good.
June 18, 2020
It's quite late in the night but blame it to the book, I couldn't wait to know what happens with Caithleen, the protagonist, who is constantly on her heels throughout the book.
It's a second book in the series. The teenage girls, Caithleen and Baba have come to Dublin now, Baba studying and Caithleen has procured a job in a grocery shop. It's their time of the life. The girls don't have much money and Baba befriends old rich men and both girls either go for dinners or gathering. From here, I couldn't have imagined the turns that would come in both of their lives. The story is alive, poignant at times and comic sometimes. It is before the times when women had to yet realize and ask for their rights. There are so many references that shows it. While reading them, I flinched. Some were stark, some too subtle that they made me uncomfortable without knowing the reason.
I am in awe of Caithleen, she's so brave. I recall myself being so naive at her age. She puts up fight with her family for she's in love and goes through a dangerous escape. She is also sensitive and the falseness of the world leaves her brooding. If not for Baba, she might have been either succumbed or had married a long back ago. It's an autobiographical book so I'm thinking the ways it could have ended otherwise. I salute her brave spirit and resilience. Not all girls can go through this and come out with beautiful colors.
It has beautiful set up of a big house and countryside home. I loved it. I imagined the house, the lake and woods and mountains.
Overall, an excellent read which will make you forget everything and root for Kate.
It's a second book in the series. The teenage girls, Caithleen and Baba have come to Dublin now, Baba studying and Caithleen has procured a job in a grocery shop. It's their time of the life. The girls don't have much money and Baba befriends old rich men and both girls either go for dinners or gathering. From here, I couldn't have imagined the turns that would come in both of their lives. The story is alive, poignant at times and comic sometimes. It is before the times when women had to yet realize and ask for their rights. There are so many references that shows it. While reading them, I flinched. Some were stark, some too subtle that they made me uncomfortable without knowing the reason.
I am in awe of Caithleen, she's so brave. I recall myself being so naive at her age. She puts up fight with her family for she's in love and goes through a dangerous escape. She is also sensitive and the falseness of the world leaves her brooding. If not for Baba, she might have been either succumbed or had married a long back ago. It's an autobiographical book so I'm thinking the ways it could have ended otherwise. I salute her brave spirit and resilience. Not all girls can go through this and come out with beautiful colors.
It has beautiful set up of a big house and countryside home. I loved it. I imagined the house, the lake and woods and mountains.
Overall, an excellent read which will make you forget everything and root for Kate.
May 14, 2021
این کتاب حاصلِ پیاده روی تو هوای بارونی به سمتِ یه کتابفروشی کوچیک و دنج بود؛ به اعتبارِ اسم "بهمن فرزانه" خریدمش.
بعد از "آلبا دسس پدس" و "گراتزیا دلددا" ، "ادنا اوبراین" سومین نویسنده ی زنیه که به واسطه ی علاقه م به ترجمه های بهمن فرزانه، باهاش آشنا میشم.
این رمان خیلی قدیمیه (چاپ سال 79) و اتفاقاتش مربوط به اواسط قرن 19 در ایرلنده.
یه رمان عاشقانه که حال و هوایی بسیار نزدیک به داستان های خواهران برونته و جین استین داره و منو برد به دوران نوجوونی و حسی که موقع خوندن جین ایر و بلندیهای بادگیر و ... داشتم.
برای تنوع هم که شده نیاز داشتم به خوندنِ همچین داستانی. مناسبِ این روزها بود. زنونه و لطیف🍃
بعد از "آلبا دسس پدس" و "گراتزیا دلددا" ، "ادنا اوبراین" سومین نویسنده ی زنیه که به واسطه ی علاقه م به ترجمه های بهمن فرزانه، باهاش آشنا میشم.
این رمان خیلی قدیمیه (چاپ سال 79) و اتفاقاتش مربوط به اواسط قرن 19 در ایرلنده.
یه رمان عاشقانه که حال و هوایی بسیار نزدیک به داستان های خواهران برونته و جین استین داره و منو برد به دوران نوجوونی و حسی که موقع خوندن جین ایر و بلندیهای بادگیر و ... داشتم.
برای تنوع هم که شده نیاز داشتم به خوندنِ همچین داستانی. مناسبِ این روزها بود. زنونه و لطیف🍃
January 3, 2015
You know how the Thing about Edna here is the fact that she, for the first time, unveiled the secret desires of the female heart for the world to see or some such thing?
That's a remarkable intent for sure, but if this - dresses and dances and men - is all the Modern Woman is supposed to be thinking of, it would have been better if the secret desires of the female heart had stayed secret.
Oh, I know, it's the Sixties. Sure it is. But how can a woman of any era be as meek and submissive as Caithleen and live with herself? How can she stand the humiliation of showing the world her tears and ignorance (you read Joyce yet use the word "mystical" without knowing what it means? Yeah, right, fuck you very much) and not try to make something more of herself? How can she chase after married men like a bitch in heat (but without the sexual part) and live to please them, and then cry because that prevents her from pleasing all the other people in her life? How can she be twenty-one, and so naïve and blind and trusting?
Don't get me wrong, I liked this novel. I've reached a certain degree of affection for Caithleen (as well as a sort of grudging respect for Baba), and I felt for her everytime something bad went down. But by God, woman, you're ASKING FOR IT.
The Lonely Girl/The Girl with Green Eyes is a warm, cosy and moderately compelling slip of a thing you can read in one afternoon (oh, the joy of holidays and free time). It's got a pink cover, for chrissakes, and it's about a girl's love life. Still can't see what I'm getting at? As I said for Country Girls: this is vintage chick lit. An easy morsel in between juicier, heavier, darker stuff; a palate cleanser, if you will, but in no way a masterpiece deserving of the title of classic.
To end this on a more positive note, at the end of this little adventure Caithleen does say that she's "learning to stand on her own" (translated from the Italian translated from the English - that's the general idea, anyhow). I haven't seen any of that happen so far, but hey, if she believes, it can happen, right? (She didn't seem very confident about it.)
(I guess that's not as positive as I wanted it to be.)
That's a remarkable intent for sure, but if this - dresses and dances and men - is all the Modern Woman is supposed to be thinking of, it would have been better if the secret desires of the female heart had stayed secret.
Oh, I know, it's the Sixties. Sure it is. But how can a woman of any era be as meek and submissive as Caithleen and live with herself? How can she stand the humiliation of showing the world her tears and ignorance (you read Joyce yet use the word "mystical" without knowing what it means? Yeah, right, fuck you very much) and not try to make something more of herself? How can she chase after married men like a bitch in heat (but without the sexual part) and live to please them, and then cry because that prevents her from pleasing all the other people in her life? How can she be twenty-one, and so naïve and blind and trusting?
Don't get me wrong, I liked this novel. I've reached a certain degree of affection for Caithleen (as well as a sort of grudging respect for Baba), and I felt for her everytime something bad went down. But by God, woman, you're ASKING FOR IT.
The Lonely Girl/The Girl with Green Eyes is a warm, cosy and moderately compelling slip of a thing you can read in one afternoon (oh, the joy of holidays and free time). It's got a pink cover, for chrissakes, and it's about a girl's love life. Still can't see what I'm getting at? As I said for Country Girls: this is vintage chick lit. An easy morsel in between juicier, heavier, darker stuff; a palate cleanser, if you will, but in no way a masterpiece deserving of the title of classic.
To end this on a more positive note, at the end of this little adventure Caithleen does say that she's "learning to stand on her own" (translated from the Italian translated from the English - that's the general idea, anyhow). I haven't seen any of that happen so far, but hey, if she believes, it can happen, right? (She didn't seem very confident about it.)
(I guess that's not as positive as I wanted it to be.)
January 6, 2017
The follow up book to The Country Girls and just as easy a read; I finished this in a day. It's not that it's shallow or trite it's more that the prose and the plot are simple and easy to follow. It touches on some serious issues but doesn't dwell on them, focusing instead on following the life of Kate and her quest for love or an understanding of what she wants out of life.
Kate is still very young, although she's starting to stand up a little more on her own, without so much dependence on her frenemy Baba, for which I am thankful! Her choice, an older, married (separated) non-catholic, is about as explosive as you can get for a young Irish girl who hails from a small conservative village and her actions puts a few foxes in the hen-coops back home.
Kate seems to yearn for worldly sophistication in men, falling for father figure replacements who seem worldly wise and rich with life experience. Baba goes more for the flashy, she's a girl with an eye for the main chance in other words.
I'm interested enough that I'll pick up the third and final book in the series at some point even though it isn't a 1001 book.
Kate is still very young, although she's starting to stand up a little more on her own, without so much dependence on her frenemy Baba, for which I am thankful! Her choice, an older, married (separated) non-catholic, is about as explosive as you can get for a young Irish girl who hails from a small conservative village and her actions puts a few foxes in the hen-coops back home.
Kate seems to yearn for worldly sophistication in men, falling for father figure replacements who seem worldly wise and rich with life experience. Baba goes more for the flashy, she's a girl with an eye for the main chance in other words.
I'm interested enough that I'll pick up the third and final book in the series at some point even though it isn't a 1001 book.
September 21, 2022
Part 2 of the Country Girls Trilogy. Book 1 was terrific. Edna O’Brien is a wonderful writer. Her main characters are two young women - friends. One is very sweet (Baba) and quite naive and likes school and one adventuresome and a risk taker (Cait). Normal young women. Baba loves animals and from a larger farm. It’s set in the early 1960’s in conservative- repressed - Catholic West Ireland. Their story was banned because it had sexual urges.
In Book 2 - the friends had to leave school (a girls Catholic boarding school where Baba has a scholarship) and went up to Dublin - Cait’s dream. Baba’s works in a mom and pop grocers. Kate is off socializing and looking for men. Baba was a good student and loved learning , No she is unsatisfied in her life. They live in a digs in some ones house.Kate is still coming up with crazy ideas and Bab’s goes along and they end up in such precarious situations. Edna O’Brien tells the truth - it’s damn hard to be a young women on your own at this age let alone for young women on their own in Ireland at this time. She gets their moods and her depth of understanding of them comes through in her grand writing.
In Book 2 - the friends had to leave school (a girls Catholic boarding school where Baba has a scholarship) and went up to Dublin - Cait’s dream. Baba’s works in a mom and pop grocers. Kate is off socializing and looking for men. Baba was a good student and loved learning , No she is unsatisfied in her life. They live in a digs in some ones house.Kate is still coming up with crazy ideas and Bab’s goes along and they end up in such precarious situations. Edna O’Brien tells the truth - it’s damn hard to be a young women on your own at this age let alone for young women on their own in Ireland at this time. She gets their moods and her depth of understanding of them comes through in her grand writing.
June 5, 2016
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.
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.
January 12, 2020
I made the mistake of reading this one without first reading The Country Girls and do think that I would have enjoyed in more had I read the books in order. The trilogy was banned in Ireland when first published and reading it nearly 60 years later I can understand why. These girls broke the rules of Catholic 1950s Ireland. O'Brien attacks the repressive, and dogmatic Catholic world in which she was raised.
In The Lonely Girl our narrator is Kate who is now a young woman living in Dublin with her friend. They have left behind their small village home. Though the village mentality (nosy people spreading gossip about each other) comes through on it pages. The young women are loving city life and enjoy going out meeting young men, flirting, dancing and drinking. Kate meets Eugene, who is older than her and divorced. His wife is still alive so the church considers them to still be married. Kate moves in with Eugene. All of this is considered a sin. It is a 'path to moral damnation.'
O'Brien attacks the hypocrisy of the church at the time, but doesn't try to make Kate look too sweet and innocent. I like the honesty of it. She allows the reader to see where Kate errors. She allows us to see a girl who acts stupidly and is too naive. But whom among us hasn't. She was a young girl and O'Brien is showing us that these are her mistakes to make and she shouldn't be judged, tormented or shunned for them.
I spent my life until recently as a member of a very restrictive and judgmental church. And, despite the fact that I am 57 (the same age as this book) not a lot has changed in some church communities.
I enjoyed the book and will certainly go back to read the first book before moving on to the third.
In The Lonely Girl our narrator is Kate who is now a young woman living in Dublin with her friend. They have left behind their small village home. Though the village mentality (nosy people spreading gossip about each other) comes through on it pages. The young women are loving city life and enjoy going out meeting young men, flirting, dancing and drinking. Kate meets Eugene, who is older than her and divorced. His wife is still alive so the church considers them to still be married. Kate moves in with Eugene. All of this is considered a sin. It is a 'path to moral damnation.'
O'Brien attacks the hypocrisy of the church at the time, but doesn't try to make Kate look too sweet and innocent. I like the honesty of it. She allows the reader to see where Kate errors. She allows us to see a girl who acts stupidly and is too naive. But whom among us hasn't. She was a young girl and O'Brien is showing us that these are her mistakes to make and she shouldn't be judged, tormented or shunned for them.
I spent my life until recently as a member of a very restrictive and judgmental church. And, despite the fact that I am 57 (the same age as this book) not a lot has changed in some church communities.
I enjoyed the book and will certainly go back to read the first book before moving on to the third.
September 30, 2015
Capisco l'intento dell'autrice nello scrivere questo romanzo, e in generale tutta la trilogia di cui fa parte, e capisco anche il valore che ebbe al momento della pubblicazione affrontare certe tematiche (tanto che la reazione della chiesa cattolica non fu sicuramente blanda). Eppure mi domando se è un romanzo che ha ancora senso oggi come oggi. Per me, personalmente, anche no. Mi intristisce la protagonista Kate, anche se capisco la sua lotta: lei vuole fuggire la vita orribile e orribilmente vuota nel suo paesino natale, con il padre ubriacone e violento e la sottomessa zia, ma al tempo stesso non aspira alla vita della ragazza moderna come l'amica Baba, anche se in qualche modo sembra sentirsi costretta a provarci. Alla fine del romanzo Kate sembra non aver imparato nulla dalle sue avventure, tant'è che tocca come al solito a Baba arrivare, prenderla per un braccio e trascinarla via...
August 27, 2013
A delight. Enjoyed this just as much as Book 1, The Country Girls.
O'brien is a deceptively gifted writer, and the book is filled with many light strokes and deft touches; the beauty is in the detail of the observations. I found myself re-reading passages just for the enjoyment of the simple unadorned language and the Irishness of the irony.
The novel is an unremarkable coming-of-age tale on one level, but what it has is much depth, character and believability, that make the reader (me at least) buy into the emotional turmoil that is Kate's passionate affair. Anyone who has experienced young love should be able to identify with the feelings for that special person which turn the world upside down.
I look forward to reading, at some stage soon, Book 3 -- Girls in their Married Bliss; and possibly also some of the author's other works. Her biography of James Joyce sounds interesting.
O'brien is a deceptively gifted writer, and the book is filled with many light strokes and deft touches; the beauty is in the detail of the observations. I found myself re-reading passages just for the enjoyment of the simple unadorned language and the Irishness of the irony.
The novel is an unremarkable coming-of-age tale on one level, but what it has is much depth, character and believability, that make the reader (me at least) buy into the emotional turmoil that is Kate's passionate affair. Anyone who has experienced young love should be able to identify with the feelings for that special person which turn the world upside down.
I look forward to reading, at some stage soon, Book 3 -- Girls in their Married Bliss; and possibly also some of the author's other works. Her biography of James Joyce sounds interesting.
July 29, 2024
It’s just too many naive girls and love for a married men.
Not my cup of tea
Not my cup of tea
September 29, 2019
One of the most enjoyable novels (the whole trilogy, in fact) that I have ever read. In my search to really understand the soul, character, and personality of women, Edna O'Brien is a lucky find for me. She is a master, not only in this novel but of every piece she's written practically. One cannot go wrong in picking up any book written by her. They will learn, feel and appreciate. Her works stay with you.
See my review of "Country Girls" trilogy by Edna O'Brien.
See my review of "Country Girls" trilogy by Edna O'Brien.
December 30, 2014
Un'educazione sessuale.
Quella notte, quando mi amò e si abbandonò dentro di me, pensai: È solo con i nostri corpi che ci perdoniamo davvero; la mente finge di perdonare, ma nutre e ricorda i momenti neri. E persino facendo l'amore, ricordai le nostre difficoltà, i mondi separati, diversi, da cui ognuno di noi proveniva; lui che, controllato, pieno di livore e di intolleranza, conosceva tutti e sapeva tutto - io, che vacillavano e mi impaurivo ad ogni alito di vento, sbadata, un po' pazza (come diceva lui), cresciuta (sempre come diceva lui) «nell'ignoranza dell'età della pietra e nell'inciviltà della religione». Pregai san Giuda, patrono dei casi disperati.
È proprio così come si descrive, Caithleen, la ragazza dogli occhi verdi e i capelli ramati, e come la descrive Eugene - «Tu tenera, sciocca birichina, hai un occhio matto» disse guardandomi negli occhi che, decise, erano verdi. «Occhi verdi e capelli ramati, mia madre non si fiderebbe di te» disse. Sua madre aveva freddi occhi blu, penetranti e astuti. L'avvolgeva un odore di olio, di eucalipto.: sbadata, un po’ pazza, cresciuta nell’ignoranza, tenera e sciocchina. Ma è curiosa, ha un occhio matto, è piena di vita, e soprattutto consapevole del fatto che la sua vita è solo sua e che va vissuta fino in fondo, a dispetto di ogni costrizione e di ogni abuso familiare, lontana da ogni imposizione religiosa e dalla campagna dov’è cresciuta.
Ricomincia a Dublino, la sua nuova vita, e ricomincia a Dublino il secondo capitolo della trilogia delle ragazze di campagna (la definizione è mia, ignoro se e come venga definita), dove Caithleen e Baba ormai vivono dopo essere state cacciate dal collegio religioso dove erano state mandate a studiare.
Ed è qui, in fuga dalla famiglia e dai pettegolezzi di un paese bigotto e pettegolo, dove scopre il sesso, l’amore, l’indipendenza e il prezzo della libertà, che anche la scrittura di Edna O’Brien si libera per diventare più intensa e coinvolgente; ed è sempre qui che amore e sesso, romanticismo e sensualità, finiscono per trovare l’equilibrio perfetto e trasformare la ragazza di campagna in una donna.
È qui che la lotta per l’emancipazione di Caithleen e delle donne irlandesi prende forma e scopre il proprio corpo.
Bello, ora pacato e ora vibrante, «La Ragazza agli occhi verdi» aggiunge tutta quella passione e quel calore che non ero riuscita a trovare in «Ragazze di campagna», arricchendo ulteriormente il ritratto della società irlandese degli anni Sessanta costretta fra il desiderio di indipendenza (anche privata) e la morale (in)civile dell’epoca mascherata da perbenismo sociale e sentimento religioso.
Mentre sedevamo accanto al camino dello studio disse: «Oh, tu povero fiorellino sempre solo, non è proprio una bella luna di miele, questa, vero? Cerca di pensare a delle cose belle… al sole, ai fiumi di montagna, alle fucsie…».
Rannicchiata tra le sue braccia, riuscivo però a pensare soltanto a quello che sarebbe successo di lì a poco. Aveva messo un disco e la musica riempie la stanza. Fuori la pioggia che picchiettava contro la finestra; sulla sporgenza interna del telaio si era raccolta dell’acqua. Regnava un grande silenzio, interrotto solo dalla musica e dalla pioggia. Ascoltava la musica tenendo gli occhi chiusi. La musica aveva uno strano effetto su di lui: il volto gli si addolciva, rispondeva ad essa con tutta l'anima.
«È Mahler» disse proprio quando mi aspettavo dicesse: «Puoi restare o andartene».
Quella notte, quando mi amò e si abbandonò dentro di me, pensai: È solo con i nostri corpi che ci perdoniamo davvero; la mente finge di perdonare, ma nutre e ricorda i momenti neri. E persino facendo l'amore, ricordai le nostre difficoltà, i mondi separati, diversi, da cui ognuno di noi proveniva; lui che, controllato, pieno di livore e di intolleranza, conosceva tutti e sapeva tutto - io, che vacillavano e mi impaurivo ad ogni alito di vento, sbadata, un po' pazza (come diceva lui), cresciuta (sempre come diceva lui) «nell'ignoranza dell'età della pietra e nell'inciviltà della religione». Pregai san Giuda, patrono dei casi disperati.
È proprio così come si descrive, Caithleen, la ragazza dogli occhi verdi e i capelli ramati, e come la descrive Eugene - «Tu tenera, sciocca birichina, hai un occhio matto» disse guardandomi negli occhi che, decise, erano verdi. «Occhi verdi e capelli ramati, mia madre non si fiderebbe di te» disse. Sua madre aveva freddi occhi blu, penetranti e astuti. L'avvolgeva un odore di olio, di eucalipto.: sbadata, un po’ pazza, cresciuta nell’ignoranza, tenera e sciocchina. Ma è curiosa, ha un occhio matto, è piena di vita, e soprattutto consapevole del fatto che la sua vita è solo sua e che va vissuta fino in fondo, a dispetto di ogni costrizione e di ogni abuso familiare, lontana da ogni imposizione religiosa e dalla campagna dov’è cresciuta.
Ricomincia a Dublino, la sua nuova vita, e ricomincia a Dublino il secondo capitolo della trilogia delle ragazze di campagna (la definizione è mia, ignoro se e come venga definita), dove Caithleen e Baba ormai vivono dopo essere state cacciate dal collegio religioso dove erano state mandate a studiare.
Ed è qui, in fuga dalla famiglia e dai pettegolezzi di un paese bigotto e pettegolo, dove scopre il sesso, l’amore, l’indipendenza e il prezzo della libertà, che anche la scrittura di Edna O’Brien si libera per diventare più intensa e coinvolgente; ed è sempre qui che amore e sesso, romanticismo e sensualità, finiscono per trovare l’equilibrio perfetto e trasformare la ragazza di campagna in una donna.
È qui che la lotta per l’emancipazione di Caithleen e delle donne irlandesi prende forma e scopre il proprio corpo.
Bello, ora pacato e ora vibrante, «La Ragazza agli occhi verdi» aggiunge tutta quella passione e quel calore che non ero riuscita a trovare in «Ragazze di campagna», arricchendo ulteriormente il ritratto della società irlandese degli anni Sessanta costretta fra il desiderio di indipendenza (anche privata) e la morale (in)civile dell’epoca mascherata da perbenismo sociale e sentimento religioso.
Mentre sedevamo accanto al camino dello studio disse: «Oh, tu povero fiorellino sempre solo, non è proprio una bella luna di miele, questa, vero? Cerca di pensare a delle cose belle… al sole, ai fiumi di montagna, alle fucsie…».
Rannicchiata tra le sue braccia, riuscivo però a pensare soltanto a quello che sarebbe successo di lì a poco. Aveva messo un disco e la musica riempie la stanza. Fuori la pioggia che picchiettava contro la finestra; sulla sporgenza interna del telaio si era raccolta dell’acqua. Regnava un grande silenzio, interrotto solo dalla musica e dalla pioggia. Ascoltava la musica tenendo gli occhi chiusi. La musica aveva uno strano effetto su di lui: il volto gli si addolciva, rispondeva ad essa con tutta l'anima.
«È Mahler» disse proprio quando mi aspettavo dicesse: «Puoi restare o andartene».
December 20, 2020
Este título forma parte de la trilogía Las chicas de campo, de la escritora irlandesa Edna O”Brien.
La historia inicia con dos chicas muy jóvenes que vienen de pequeños pueblos de Irlanda y comparten una humilde habitación en Dublín donde tienen modestos trabajos, con lo que ganan, apenas tienen para pagar renta y comida, pero se las ingenian para ir al cine, a tomar bebidas, o cualquier diversión para conocer hombres o alternar con los que ya conocen y pasar un buen rato, ellas son la extrovertida Baba y la regordeta Catleen, a su manera son felices, aunque siguen siendo un poco ingenuas un poco silvestres, y muy incultas.
Conforme transcurre la historia, nos vamos centrando en Catleen, aunque tímida y regordeta, tiene unos hermosos ojos verdes y es muy guapa, conoce a un director de Documentales llamado Eugene, un hombre de mundo, de mediana edad. Ella se enamora perdidamente de él, y cuando descubre que es separado aunque no divorciado, ya es demasiado intenso su amor.
Aún cuando su padre es un alcoholico no es tam irresponsable y cuando llega a sus oídos los detalles de la relación, va por su hija a Dublín para llevarla al pequeño pueblo, a la húmeda y lóbrega casa donde viven con una tía solterona.
La historia es muy sencilla pero donde reside la magia de este libro es como se cuentan las cosas, la narración es tan perfecta que puedes imaginarte los escenarios, inclusive sentir el. clima, las lluvias que hielan, los ambientes caldeados de las habitaciones cerradas y poco aireadas, o la pobreza de un lugar, inclusive puedes imaginarte la disposición de los personajes en las escenas, sin que por eso se pueda imaginar un exceso en los detalles, al contrario existe una economía muy bien aplicada.
Otro acierto es su lado intimista y sincero, el personaje de Catleen se nos presenta sin armaduras, artificios o mentiras, podemos saber cuando está contenta, cuando se siente triste, inclusive cuando es insegura, o cuando su aspecto físico no refleja su belleza, esa voz es verdadera y desnuda cada pensamiento aún los más secretos.
La lectura es muy entretenida, bella y te deja un regusto cálido con un fondo de tonos semi amargos que permiten pasar a un final fresco y burbujeante.
La historia inicia con dos chicas muy jóvenes que vienen de pequeños pueblos de Irlanda y comparten una humilde habitación en Dublín donde tienen modestos trabajos, con lo que ganan, apenas tienen para pagar renta y comida, pero se las ingenian para ir al cine, a tomar bebidas, o cualquier diversión para conocer hombres o alternar con los que ya conocen y pasar un buen rato, ellas son la extrovertida Baba y la regordeta Catleen, a su manera son felices, aunque siguen siendo un poco ingenuas un poco silvestres, y muy incultas.
Conforme transcurre la historia, nos vamos centrando en Catleen, aunque tímida y regordeta, tiene unos hermosos ojos verdes y es muy guapa, conoce a un director de Documentales llamado Eugene, un hombre de mundo, de mediana edad. Ella se enamora perdidamente de él, y cuando descubre que es separado aunque no divorciado, ya es demasiado intenso su amor.
Aún cuando su padre es un alcoholico no es tam irresponsable y cuando llega a sus oídos los detalles de la relación, va por su hija a Dublín para llevarla al pequeño pueblo, a la húmeda y lóbrega casa donde viven con una tía solterona.
La historia es muy sencilla pero donde reside la magia de este libro es como se cuentan las cosas, la narración es tan perfecta que puedes imaginarte los escenarios, inclusive sentir el. clima, las lluvias que hielan, los ambientes caldeados de las habitaciones cerradas y poco aireadas, o la pobreza de un lugar, inclusive puedes imaginarte la disposición de los personajes en las escenas, sin que por eso se pueda imaginar un exceso en los detalles, al contrario existe una economía muy bien aplicada.
Otro acierto es su lado intimista y sincero, el personaje de Catleen se nos presenta sin armaduras, artificios o mentiras, podemos saber cuando está contenta, cuando se siente triste, inclusive cuando es insegura, o cuando su aspecto físico no refleja su belleza, esa voz es verdadera y desnuda cada pensamiento aún los más secretos.
La lectura es muy entretenida, bella y te deja un regusto cálido con un fondo de tonos semi amargos que permiten pasar a un final fresco y burbujeante.
May 12, 2020
Because of its depictions of pre-marital sex, as well as realistic portrayals of sexuality, this book was banned in Ireland following its publication in the 1960s. Written in O'Brien's distinctive voice, it continues from, but is not a direct sequel to, The Country Girls. Cait has lived in Dublin for two years, working in a grocer's shop, when she meets Eugene, an attractive older married man. The novel delves into the unequal relationship between Eugene and Cait, and in doing so captures the misogyny that young women face. It also depicts the violence and repression of Irish society at the time: because he does not approve of her relationship, Cait's father forces her to return to her home village with him, dragging her onto the train despite her protests. Cait desperately tries to leave this village, and discovers all her neighbours, the parish priest and the bishop, are complicit with her father. The sense of ownership and entitlement that the men in Cait's life was shocking to me, even though I'm aware of the patriarchal control the Catholic church had over women's lives in Ireland. I found this an excellent novel in every way: each character, even those with small parts, are well drawn, and O'Brien has an eye for capturing the small details that make up life. Cait's infatuation with Eugene, and his interest in her, are subtly and believably captured. The plot is gripping, and while the landscape of the novel is small, the emotional depth is enormous.
May 20, 2020
This is the second book in The Country Girls trilogy - I completed my review of the first book by saying that I hoped Caithleen was going to come to her senses regarding her friendship with Baba. It was with quite a relief that, now in Dublin, Caithleen was not as tied to Baba, certainly not when she started to infatuate about Eugene, a married man she had met (although she was not aware he was married at the time). Fearing that Baba would take him off her, as that's the sort of thing she would do, she keeps her relationship secret from everyone. However, her family get to hear about it thanks to an anonymous letter sent to her father (we never learn who the author is but I had my suspicions!) and force her to return home. But Caithleen perseveres, although it seems she will never feel herself able to live up to Eugene's totally different lifestyle. So, frustratingly, she leaves Eugene in the hope that he will come after her and goes to London with...yes, you guessed it, Baba! Aaaargh!! Still going to plough on into the final book of the trilogy for the final outcome - 7/10.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2017
Le avventure di Caithleen e Baba continuano dopo i fatti di "Ragazze di campagna". A Dublino, Caithleen si innamora di nuovo di un uomo più vecchio di lei, ma stavolta le cose prendono una piega diversa. Se con Mr. Gentleman si era bloccato tutto sul nascere, con Eugene Gaillard si è testimoni di un cambiamento profondo in Caithleen, che ho particolarmente apprezzato. Infatti ho preferito questo libro a "Ragazze di campagna": la straziante scoperta della propria sessualità e dei propri limiti mi ha conquistata. Riesco a immedesimarmi nel personaggio di Caithleen e nel suo sentirsi sempre fuori posto e ho apprezzato particolarmente la capacità della O'Brien di descrivere il suo stato interiore con leggerezza e umorismo, che nella seconda parte del libro si trasformano in forza e speranza. Il personaggio di Baba non è molto caratterizzato, ma a dire la verità non ne ho sentito particolarmente la mancanza. Non vedo l'ora di finire la trilogia con il terzo libro!
November 18, 2019
Als er één woord is om dit boek te omschrijven (dat autobiografisch getint is?), dan is het wel pijnlijk.
Geen romantisch liefdesverhaal hier tussen Kate en de veel oudere Eugene, want wat een worsteling van een relatie, bovendien tegengewerkt door haar katholieke omgeving, die geen graten ziet in een alcoholieker als vader, maar die wel een gescheiden man als het grootste kwaad beschouwt.
Edna O'Brien maakt zich niet schuldig aan romantisering: Kate gedraagt zich als een vervelend klein kind dat om de vijf minuten aan het huilen is. De aantrekkingskracht van Eugene blijft een groot mysterie. En de "beste vriendin" Baba is nog even antipathiek als in het eerste boek van de reeks.
Maar het is juist deze rauwheid en oprechtheid die dit boek bijzonder maakt.
Want iedereen moet door de pijnlijke momenten heen, om zo tot zichzelf uit te groeien.
Geen romantisch liefdesverhaal hier tussen Kate en de veel oudere Eugene, want wat een worsteling van een relatie, bovendien tegengewerkt door haar katholieke omgeving, die geen graten ziet in een alcoholieker als vader, maar die wel een gescheiden man als het grootste kwaad beschouwt.
Edna O'Brien maakt zich niet schuldig aan romantisering: Kate gedraagt zich als een vervelend klein kind dat om de vijf minuten aan het huilen is. De aantrekkingskracht van Eugene blijft een groot mysterie. En de "beste vriendin" Baba is nog even antipathiek als in het eerste boek van de reeks.
Maar het is juist deze rauwheid en oprechtheid die dit boek bijzonder maakt.
Want iedereen moet door de pijnlijke momenten heen, om zo tot zichzelf uit te groeien.
September 2, 2011
I was surprised by this little book...I found it in a pile of books my mother-in-law was planning on getting rid of. At some point, I realized that on the back cover it says this is the second in a "luminous trilogy". I'm not sure if I will seek out the other two books, but if I come across them, I will definitely read them. The depth of emotion that is expressed by the characters in so short a book was surprising, as was the familiarity of emotion expressed. Any woman who ever had an ill-fated love affair will surely relate to Caithleen and her friend Baba. I recommend if you like realistic romance/coming-of-age type stories.
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