"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
The novel follows Maria to Manhattan where she ends up cleaning apartments and trying to pretend she's a sexual sophisticate. Her own mystery unravels when she falls in love with boy who carries a photo of what looks like her, aged 12, in his wallet. "She had been completely robbed...She had the right mouth, but the wrong voice might come out of it". Meanwhile Rose is quitting music college and a dull lover and sensing that she "has the kind of mind where nothing was ever enough".
Enright balances the mystery of their provenance superbly and her handling of the character's inexplicable alienation is astounding. Physical sensations are revealed in a fresh, visual and highly sensual way. When Rose's boyfriend jolts out of her during sex, "he laughed, all angry and flustered like he had pulled his head out from under a waterfall".
Maria's visit to the family farm has some of the most vivid descriptive writing in recent Irish fiction. You can feel yourself at the Sunday lunch, where "men ate their way through to the china, mashing potatoes to sop up the gravy, shaking the salt, their movements obliged and tragic as they picked their way through the teacups and the tiny jug for milk".
Despite the emotional intensity of the narrative, the tone is never overwrought nor the prose maudlin. The language startles and spins from the opening line: "She was small for a monster, with the slightly hurt look that monsters and babies share, the same need to understand". The moments of psychic connection between the twins and the ending are wisely underplayed and the overall effect is as haunting as Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark. An assured, compelling novel about identity, loss and messy business of recovery. --Cherry Smyth
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR006630615
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Fair. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration. Seller Inventory # GOR009530121
Book Description Condition: Very Good. 1706622639. 1/30/2024 1:50:39 PM. Seller Inventory # U9780224060639
Book Description Condition: Poor. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has soft covers. In poor condition, suitable as a reading copy. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,350grams, ISBN:9780224060639. Seller Inventory # 9167478
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: Very Good. Paperback Original. First Edition trade paperback, 259 pages; gently read, clean and unmarked. See also our other Enright titles. Seller Inventory # 021291
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: Very Good +. Paperback Original. First Edition trade paperback, 259 pages; very gently read, tiny rubber stamp on half title page, otherwise very clean and unmarked. See also our other Enright titles. Seller Inventory # 021251
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Paperback. 1st edition. 21.5x13.5cm. 259 pages. Spine is flat. Clean & tight. No inscriptions. Flat pages. Dispatched ROYAL MAIL FIRST CLASS with TRACKING next working day or sooner securely boxed in cardboard. ref zb. Seller Inventory # 043461
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket as Issued. First Paperback Edition. Trade paperback. A Paperback original. Slight wear on cover edges. Peeling on cover turning points. Lightly tanned pages. Clean pages. Strong binding. No inscriptions. 4th printing. Seller Inventory # 009856
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Signed by Anne Enright on the title page; this is the uncorrected proof of the Jonathan Cape edition published in March 2000. In fine condition, unread and in very collectible condition. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 002675