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Author: Anne Enright, 2011.
Genre: Contemporary. Literary. Chick-lit.
Other Details: Paperback. 230 pages.
Told in retrospect during a 2009 snow storm that has brought Dublin to a halt, Gina Moynihan reflects on her affair with Seán Vallely. In the Preface Evie, Seán's 9-year old daughter, had walked in on Gina and Seán kissing in an upstairs bedroom during a 2007 New Year party hosted by Seán and his wife. Will she tell Mummy what she saw? Making this situation more complicated is that Gina is also married. Her husband Conor comes across as quite a decent bloke who is oblivious to his wife's adultery. Gina reflects upon the affair and their secret meetings in hotel rooms and how things worked out between then and now.
Another one from the 2012 Orange Prize short list. Although this novel has received good reviews from critics and readers and even was featured in The Guardian's Book Club, it just didn't appeal to me. I found Gina's rambling fragmented stream-of-consciousness narration annoying and even while reading in the middle of the day I found it was putting me to sleep. I really just didn't care about Gina and her tangled love life.
Yes, I could step back and see that it was a well written novel but it struck me as literary chick-lit and I am not really a fan of these kind of relationship-heavy dramas.
