"We went down the corridor, giggling and giving strangers the ‘so what’ look. I suppose it was then we begun that phase of our lives as the giddy country girls brazening the big city. People looked at us and then looked away again, as though they had just discovered that we were naked or something. But we didn’t care. We were young and, we thought, pretty."
Just like some movies work and do wonder – without an interesting storyline – on sheer talent of the director to handle the subject, and use the available resources proficiently. Some books remain in your memories for the way they are written, for their lucid words and absorbing language, for time after time, when you are reading them, they succeed in bringing smile on your face and tears in your eyes, as the story goes. Where you remain so lost in the words; that at moments you forget the overall plot. ‘The Country Girls’ is one such book with interesting content to read but average overall storyline.
ABOUT THE STORY: Cathleen Brady (Cait) and Bridget Brennan (Baba) are the two young Irish Country Girls; they are friends from their childhood. Cait, dreamy and romantic, yearns for true love, while Baba just wants to experience the life of a single girl. Though life had been quite easy for Baba, with caring and well doing parents; it’s just the opposite for Cait, with drunkard father who beats her mother every now and then; and her misery only swells with the loss of her loving mother - only person who really cared for her – at her age of fourteen. Brady’s also loses their ancestral land and farms due to drinking and gambling habits of Cait’s father. Cait’s father do ends drinking and gambling as an act of remorse but it was too late, for Cait to forgive him.
It is in the midst of these misfortunes (for Cait) that Cait and Baba goes to convent for high school studies. But one year before the completion of their courses, Baba and Cait – more on the urge of Baba, who finds it quite impossible to spend even a day at the convent- plans an act that could help them to get rusticated from the Convent; and they do succeed.
The escape from Convent leads them to Dublin. Two country girls who have just moved out of the country life finds the lights and crowds and noises of Dublin city quite fascinating and tempting, but will they succumb to alluring but deceptive city life or will they carry on their lives with dignity, now that they are in the world of temptations, at an age of fervor, with freedom to choose their own ways. Read the book to know.
Parallel to it all runs the love story of Cait with Mr. Gentlemen (a man of her father’s age) – which is more of an infatuation, a dream.
Story may seem to be sadistic from the way I have narrated it, but believe me it is told in most lucid and inspiring way. It is narrated from the Cait’s point of view, and very well captures the essence of the country life. Though it’s based in the background of 1950’s Ireland, It can very well be associated with the country life of any part of the world.
Two girl’s life in Convent and their early days in Dublin forms most interesting read of the book. It has its moments of fun, esp. when Baba is around, with her mean and cunning ways- like the way she uses Cait as a tool to get things done for her or for both of them. Baba’s character brings the humor in the story.
“Are you a fast woman?” Baba asked Cynthia bluntly.
“What’s fast woman?” I interrupted.
“It’s a woman who has a baby quicker than another woman. You right looking eziet.” Baba said quickly.
ABOUT THE BOOK AND AUTHOR : The Country Girls’ is the first book of the ’The Country Girls’ trilogy written by Edna O’Brien and is somewhat autobiographiical. The tale of Cait and Baba moves further in ‘The Girl with Green Eyes’ and ‘Girls in their Married Bliss’.
Edna has written the book in quite a simple but impressive way; the influence of James Joyce style in her writing is perceptible, as she herself has said "Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist made me realize that I want literature for the rest of my life.". Lots of attention is given to details and thoughts of human behavior and relations. Rather lyrical prose of the narrator Cait makes it pretty easy for the reader to carry on with story, which otherwise is not that gripping.
The importance given to the natural surroundings - reminds one of Ruskin Bond’s styles of writing:
The street lights came on outside, the wet bulbs gave out a blurred yellow light, and the street took on that look of night mystery that I always love. The raindrops hung to the iron bars that held up the grey awning, they clung to it for a while and then they dropped on a man’s hat as he went by."
While covering the emotions and surroundings, Edna hasn’t dig too deep into things and kept the story going at a good pace. Edna is a wonderful storyteller, and I would love to write like her one day, if I could. "The yellow skin stretched like parchment over her old bones and her hands and her wrists were thin and brown like boiled chicken bones. Her knuckles were bent with rheumatism, her eyes almost dead, and I hated to look at her. I was looking at death."
Only weak point is an average story. When a reader moves from one chapter to another, there isn’t much to look forward too, though once you are in, every chapter has its own grip and moments. But overall it seems to be dragging at times, and climax does not make for an impressive end, as was expected, considering “The Country Girls” to be Edna’s most popular book and a classic one. How I wish for the plot to be little more gripping, but I guess thats how the real life characters and real life stories go.
FINAL WORDS : So, I would recommend "The Country Girls" to those who can enjoy books for the writing talents of the author and very interesting in between the lines happenings. A very good book to learn how to write, not what to write :)
My overall Rating : 3.5
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Take Care and Keep Writing
Vikky Gural
PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA...