My suggestion, if you are a Catholic and have some doubts about the faith, would be to not read the books The Secret Scripture (a novel), by Sebastian Barry, and Waiting for the Apocalypse (a memoir), by Veronica Chater, simultaneously. It's not that they're bad books. One at a time would be fine. They're both quite interesting, actually. But the Catholic Church doesn't really appear to its best advantage in either.
In the former, Irish author Barry tells the story of Roseanne McNulty, a woman over one hundred years of age, who is living in a psychiatric hospital that is about to be closed down. It's a twice-told story; Roseanne is writing down her version of events, while the doctor evaluating her is writing down what he knows of her from medical records, past reports, and her conversation. Roseanne, who lived in Ireland during the time of "the Troubles," has not had an easy life, and suffered from living during a time when being seen alone with a man who was not her husband got her branded a nymphomaniac (and committed) by the local priest.
It was an interesting book, and it's got a nice little twist at the end. But a real "upper" it was not. Come back tomorrow for part 2 of the double whammy: Chater's memoir. Oh. And happy St. Patrick's Day!
Please, how is Sebastian Barry a "British" author? He was born in Ireland, educated in Ireland, writes mostly about Ireland ("The Secret Scripture is set in Roscommon, I believe), and lives in Wicklow. British??
Posted by: Abbie | 18 March 2009 at 12:33 AM
Abbie,
You're right, you're right, you're right. I apologize for the error and the offending passage has been changed to "Irish." Barry's a new author for me and I wrote "British" as a placeholder in the text while I checked his nationality, and then of course I never went back to check. Doesn't make it right. Thanks for the call-out.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 18 March 2009 at 09:04 AM
Ooh, you will have to do penance! I suggest maybe reading another Irish book... Here's a good site to find authors, if you're interested: http://www.irishwriters-online.com/lista_z.html
And for my part, I'm going to read "The Secret Scripture", sometime in 2009. Cheers!
Posted by: Abbie | 18 March 2009 at 11:16 AM
Ah, penance. You ARE getting into the spirit of this post! I will do it, gladly. That's a fantastically useful site (of Irish writers) you've sent; thank you! Cheers right back at you--and do let me know what you think of this one when you read it. It was interesting but I don't know that I can do another Barry anytime soon.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 18 March 2009 at 11:59 AM