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Country Girl (2013)

by Edna O'Brien(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

031612270X (ISBN13: 9780316122702)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Little, Brown and Company

review 1: A self-indulgent stroll through the cluttered memories of expatriate Irish writer Edna O'Brien. Her childhood years are interesting enough but she quickly grows up, marries young to the wrong man, of course, and becomes part of the London swinging sixties set. Then we are treated to page after page of which movie stars she slept with, which movie stars gave gifts to her children and what a cool mummy she is for having them serve drinks at her parties and smoking pot in front of them. Even Paul McCartney makes a midnight appearance, waking them up and singing to them so they can boast about it at school. Complaints from the neighbours, her ex-husband and her sons' schoolmaster are all dismissed. The impression is of a very tiresome person. I haven't read anything by E... moredna O'Brien and now I don't think I ever will. Note to self, stop reading memoirs.
review 2: Of course, Edna O' Brien drops names! She's a country girl who became a celebrated writer. She made a success of herself despite childhood persecution and rural small-mindedness (not only did her parents not have a library, but they burned her books). She lived through a time that post-feminists like to think never existed--she had to flee her marriage because her husband's jealousy of her talents threatened to strip her of her sons. Her success was hard earned, and one of the components of exploring life outside the constraints she had known were parties in London and New York, sometimes with other thoughtful writers, sometimes with people by whom she was just as starstruck as would be us ordinary folk. In my humble opinion, the quality of her writing overcomes any qualms I might have about name-dropping; her storytelling charmed me throughout. I loved this book; after borrowing the kindle edition from the public library I bought it to have it in my library. less

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