August is a Wicked Month

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The language has a slow, langurious quality to it, in which everything seems to be happening in the half-realized manner of a dream, interspersed with the frenetic quality of extreme loneliness. Later she meets a group of wealthy party-goers who explore the Riviera, beaches, restaurants and a fabulous French mansion.

This was the first Edna O'Brien book I have read and I was drawn to do so by significant plaudits following the publishing of her autobiography "Country Girl" last year. But, her fantasy comes up against human beings and human existence, and she gets nothing of the raunchy or tender fling that she envisioned.A short novel, it is nevertheless jam-packed with the O'Brien's trademark haunting prose - in her best works ( House of Splendid Isolation, In the Forest), her trance-like writing is both comforting and harrowing - often at the very same time.

Banned in several countries on first publication, Edna O'Brien's August is a Wicked Month is a shimmering, sensual tale of a woman rediscovering herself - and it feels just as glorious, radical, and escapist as today. O’Brien really does a fine job of getting into the mind of her character, including the repulsive aspects of her wandering.I have only been this wrong about a book, once before, when I thought The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns was a “light romance. I’m going to have to hunt through my London TBR (now safely arrived) to see what other O’Brien gems I squirrelled away. At any rate, this novel by O'Brien explores the psychology and neurosis of a youngish, attractive mother who's separated from her husband and goes a little crazy on her summer vacation alone.

She has written over 20 novels, including her most recent novel, Girl, set amid the atrocities of Boko Haram which was published in September 2019. Perhaps because I'm not Irish Catholic, I don't feel sufficiently guilty about life to truly understand Ellen.BTW I couldn’t add this to your A Year of William Trevor page, and you’re on a break at Twitter, so here’s the link to Fools of Fortune (which I read this month to tie in with Cathy’s Reading Ireland month). August may be a wicked month for Miss Edna o'brien [sic] but it's one of the busiest in the calendar for local fashion watchers. She wants every man she meets to be enthralled to her, yet makes little effort to make herself interesting in any way. If you enjoy novels of the variety I mentioned earlier in my review, then this is definitely one you should read.

The copyright page states first published 1965 indicating the first edition, with copyright Edna O¿Brien 1965. This book filled me with an incredible sense of sadness, as in some ways I found myself in complete undersranding of ellen's emotions. It’s excellent… I liked the cool restrained style of the prose and was stunned by the revelation that changes the whole feel of the story. I received a Penguin Classic, and I am pretty sure it was available to the seller to choose from, so I was a bit irked that I did not get that same cover.

I am impressed with how well Edna O'Brien conveys emotional peaks and valleys, how she can expose the depths of loneliness, sadness and grief. There, she meets all sorts of people including lesbians and gay men but she realizes that she is not really looking for sex because she does not get interested even on a good-looking actor. For a while, I thought maybe O'Brien was showing the emptiness of a life based on liquor, sex, and celebrity. If you want to see how a masterful author can develop a character so real seeming that you want to befriend, help, and guide her, this book does that and more.