This is about family, or more specifically three generations of Irish women, who have to work out how to deal with the men who weave in and out of their lives.
Nell is the youngest of the three, just starting her independent life after college, and her mother is Carmel who has never told Nell who her father was. Carmel's mother was Terry who was married to, and then abandoned by, a (fictional) well-known Irish poet, Phil, whose work is referenced throughout the book.
In each case, the women link up with men who they imagine to be better than they are, and so form relationships with a vision of a man rather than the reality. Men come and go throughout the book, but it is the women who remain in their places and each generation carries on as best they can. Women carry the weight of the family despite all the squabbles and personality clashes.
Anne Enright is a master of fine detail that can be unexpected and all the more powerful for that:
'Ronan continued his pondering; the sad business of correcting the world's many misconceptions, and still requested sex as though asking for directions from a stranger on the road.
A nice stranger. But even so.'
A nice stranger. But even so.'
The very essence of a dull man captured in a few short lines. Brilliant.
Although the writing is so good, I'm not convinced the book has that extra spark that will carry off The Women's Prize for Fiction which it is longlisted for. It's not quite up there with her book 'The Gathering' that won the Booker in 2007 but we shall see.
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