August is a Wicked Month / Edna O'Brien

August Is A Wicked Month by Edna O'Brien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Under the soft skin and behind the big, melting eyes her heart was like a nutmeg. Some of it had been grated away by life but the very centre never really surrendered to anyone…

I struggle with Edna O'Brien's writing. Despite her wonderful technique, I often feel that I am missing the point. I'd liked the descriptions of this novel—a divorced woman goes to France in search of sun and sex. What could be wrong with that premise? Lots, apparently. Perhaps because I'm not Irish Catholic, I don't feel sufficiently guilty about life to truly understand Ellen. She is a divorcee with a child, but still seems to be incredibly naïve.

For a while, I thought maybe O'Brien was showing the emptiness of a life based on liquor, sex, and celebrity. Ellen spends much of the book in the company of various men and is too nice to turn them down. By accident it seems, she ends up in the posse of a movie star, Bobby, whom she seems to actually want, especially as he holds himself aloof. O'Brien just kept throwing test after test at poor ineffectual Ellen, who by the book's end is finally starting to take her life in hand and be adult enough to handle large hotel bills, physical ills, grief, and getting rid of men who really mean nothing to her. Is that the point, that if we are lucky we can grow up and take the reins?

I don't regret reading this slim volume, but I can't say that I will be recommending it to very many people either. I had a hunt to find this copy, but it won't be staying in my home library. I will give it freedom to join another reader who appreciates it more than I do.


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