Official Review: A Wicklow Girl by Brian O'Dowd
Posted: 24 Apr 2020, 08:27
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Wicklow Girl" by Brian O'Dowd.]
Self-proclaimed to be written “perhaps in the style of J.P. Dunleavy or James Joyce,” A Wicklow Girl by Brian O'Dowd is a fictional novel that seems to be somewhat based on the author’s own life. It follows the life of Brian after a chance encounter in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Brian, born and raised in Ireland, has been living in Ontario, Canada for the last 20 years. He is recently divorced and on his Louisiana travels meets the lovely Noreen from Wicklow County. Once back in Ontario, our protagonist gets himself fired from his job as a professor and moves to his deceased aunt’s house in Howth Head, Ireland. He leads a lonely life there until Noreen comes to join him.
This story follows Brian’s return to Ireland, his attempts to readjust, his relationship with Noreen and how he responds to the challenges in his life. It is written in a stream of consciousness style with little regard for commas or complete sentences. The book explores the superficial thoughts of Brian, those closest to the surface, in some detail. These reflections include descriptions of the surroundings, responses to events as they are happening and reactions to any creature that can be described as female. Deeper sentiments are well-buried and take some excavation to find.
This is the first time I have been truly tempted to hit the “I hate the book and can’t finish it" button. The style was very hard to follow. At times, it felt as if all the words of the sentences (plus several extras) were thrown into a bag, shaken and ‘Yahtzee’d’ out onto the page. Even after having successfully read many novels of different styles, I never really found the rhythm of this one. The initial write up mentioned that the story would be suitable for readers with Irish-British connections, but really, it seems the audience is much more specific than that. My parents are Irish and while born in Canada, I have been to Ireland a fair number of times. However, that was not nearly enough to understand much of the Irish slang included in this book. For true understanding, the audience is limited to people with an age and nationality similar to the author.
Another challenge that I had with the book was the actual character of Brian and how he was portrayed. He really seemed to be an amoral, misogynistic idiot with his head up his behind. Now, as I kept with it, more information was slowly revealed. Facts that were provided two-thirds and three-quarters through the book helped greatly with the understanding of the characters; the protagonist in particular. These details were too few and far between. If more had been provided closer to the beginning, I might have chosen to read further without the need to finish the book to write my review.
Even after having such a hard time reading this novel, I was glad that I stuck with it until the end. It gave me the pleasure of getting to know the one worthwhile character in the whole book, Gillian. The ending was reasonably satisfying and included the resolution of many of Brian’s issues. As a note, after giving my youngest child a brief outline of the story, she had some very clear recommendations for the main character. My little one was quite pleased to realize she is, indeed, smarter than a grown man.
In the end, I give A Wicklow Girl 2 out of 4 stars. Although the writing style made it challenging to be completely sure at times, more than ten errors were found in the text. There was some profanity and mid-level erotic content. At times, the understanding of the sexual innuendo/euphemisms would be related to the reader’s knowledge of the colloquial language. In my mind, a more straightforward approach and, at least, a few additional upfront details would really improve the book. This novel is for readers interested in the inner workings of the mind of a middle-aged man who returns to Ireland after a long time away. They must be prepared for a stream of consciousness approach that includes a great deal of Irish slang.
******
A Wicklow Girl
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Self-proclaimed to be written “perhaps in the style of J.P. Dunleavy or James Joyce,” A Wicklow Girl by Brian O'Dowd is a fictional novel that seems to be somewhat based on the author’s own life. It follows the life of Brian after a chance encounter in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Brian, born and raised in Ireland, has been living in Ontario, Canada for the last 20 years. He is recently divorced and on his Louisiana travels meets the lovely Noreen from Wicklow County. Once back in Ontario, our protagonist gets himself fired from his job as a professor and moves to his deceased aunt’s house in Howth Head, Ireland. He leads a lonely life there until Noreen comes to join him.
This story follows Brian’s return to Ireland, his attempts to readjust, his relationship with Noreen and how he responds to the challenges in his life. It is written in a stream of consciousness style with little regard for commas or complete sentences. The book explores the superficial thoughts of Brian, those closest to the surface, in some detail. These reflections include descriptions of the surroundings, responses to events as they are happening and reactions to any creature that can be described as female. Deeper sentiments are well-buried and take some excavation to find.
This is the first time I have been truly tempted to hit the “I hate the book and can’t finish it" button. The style was very hard to follow. At times, it felt as if all the words of the sentences (plus several extras) were thrown into a bag, shaken and ‘Yahtzee’d’ out onto the page. Even after having successfully read many novels of different styles, I never really found the rhythm of this one. The initial write up mentioned that the story would be suitable for readers with Irish-British connections, but really, it seems the audience is much more specific than that. My parents are Irish and while born in Canada, I have been to Ireland a fair number of times. However, that was not nearly enough to understand much of the Irish slang included in this book. For true understanding, the audience is limited to people with an age and nationality similar to the author.
Another challenge that I had with the book was the actual character of Brian and how he was portrayed. He really seemed to be an amoral, misogynistic idiot with his head up his behind. Now, as I kept with it, more information was slowly revealed. Facts that were provided two-thirds and three-quarters through the book helped greatly with the understanding of the characters; the protagonist in particular. These details were too few and far between. If more had been provided closer to the beginning, I might have chosen to read further without the need to finish the book to write my review.
Even after having such a hard time reading this novel, I was glad that I stuck with it until the end. It gave me the pleasure of getting to know the one worthwhile character in the whole book, Gillian. The ending was reasonably satisfying and included the resolution of many of Brian’s issues. As a note, after giving my youngest child a brief outline of the story, she had some very clear recommendations for the main character. My little one was quite pleased to realize she is, indeed, smarter than a grown man.
In the end, I give A Wicklow Girl 2 out of 4 stars. Although the writing style made it challenging to be completely sure at times, more than ten errors were found in the text. There was some profanity and mid-level erotic content. At times, the understanding of the sexual innuendo/euphemisms would be related to the reader’s knowledge of the colloquial language. In my mind, a more straightforward approach and, at least, a few additional upfront details would really improve the book. This novel is for readers interested in the inner workings of the mind of a middle-aged man who returns to Ireland after a long time away. They must be prepared for a stream of consciousness approach that includes a great deal of Irish slang.
******
A Wicklow Girl
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
