I relished this book. In one way, it's a story in two halves - the earlier lives of four siblings and their mother: and then later, when this dispersed family returns for a family Christmas.

I loved the different voices in which this story is told. In part one, each chapter could stand as a self-contained novella. And each of the five characters is revealed not in a simple narrative, but through vignettes in which they may not even stand centre stage - the story of Dan is a particular triumph.

I loved the change of pace too. Those 'novellas' were rich explorations of five very different lives . But in the second part, the chapters become briefer, fractured, as the drama of unfolding events gathers pace.

We're left with a portrait of a disfunctional family unwittingly revealed with great clarity by the characters themselves. ( )

This review contains mild spoilers.

Anne Enright speaks in the authentic voice of each character in this book: a mother of grown children, a child (later an alcoholic mother and actress), a gay man, a missionary, and a responsible oldest daughter. Her expert shift from voice to voice, especially early in the book, is a pleasure.

The Green Road is a thoughtful exploration family dynamics, with the occasional passage that moves me to tears, rings with truth that transcends this story, or directs a laser focus into my own motivations.


( )

The Green Road is about a dysfunctional Irish family. It is split into two sections. In Part One, we meet each of the four children and the matriarch, Rosaleen. In Part Two, Rosaleen has decided to sell the family home, and the children return to their home town in Ireland to spend Christmas together. Frankly, I was perplexed as to what the author was trying to convey. The book covers so much ground so quickly that it is difficult to get to know the characters and understand what has led to the dysfunction. I enjoyed the second part much more than the first, once the story moves back to Ireland, where the author is clearly at home. Her descriptions of the Irish countryside are vivid, and the story gained momentum. To me, the ending was rather unsatisfying so it would be difficult for me to recommend it. ( )

The Green Road, by Anne Enright, is an introspective, remarkable, often poignant story about the four siblings of the Madigan family, and their mercurial, often tempestuous, aging mother, Rosaleen. Set primarily in Enright's native country of Ireland, the narratives of the four children sometimes wander from that green island to America and Mali, carrying with them the subterranean influences of their mother's influence.

This is a story about acceptance: of each other, of ourselves, of the places we inhabit. This could be anyone's story, and because of that Enright has succeeded in making a very specific story a common and relatable one.

The prose, while easy and straightforward, somehow is also quite precise and lush. She weaves description through the narrative with a deft hand, so that the reader is transported.

But the reader should be aware this isn't the sort of novel which immediately grabs you and hauls you into a consuming read. Rather, this is the type of novel to be read carefully, with commitment, working through the opening chapters with complete faith the author knows what's she's about, and will eventually have you quite absorbed and preoccupied with the world she's created.

Definitely a novel worthy of the literary accolades it's been accorded, and definitely a novel worthy of your time. ( )

What a wonderful discovery—the Irish novelist Anne Enright! I heard a talk she gave that I found among the London Review of Books podcasts. It was called “Adam and Eve and the Origin of Blame”. I have listened to it twice, appreciating the ideas and the wry wit of Enright’s delivery. That same wit is sewn throughout The Green Road.
This tale of a family, a matriarch and her four children, is funny and sad. Enright portrays the individuals acutely; they all lived vividly for me, coherent and unique. I thought the interactions among them were especially believable and the book became harder and harder to put down as it arrived at its conclusion. ( )