Mother Ireland by Edna O'Brien

 genre: memoir

This book is a series of autobiographical essays about the authors early life in mid-century Ireland. She weaves in, especially in the beginning, a lot of Irish history that is both literarily lovely and interestingly written. I had to read with a pen, O’Brien’e way with words was truly stunning sometimes. We learned about her early life in a very small town as well as her young adulthood in a Dublin that was both thrilling but unforgiving. It isn’t fast paced and sometimes it felt almost a bit too ambiguous, like it was beautifully written but I didn’t super have my feet under me well enough to understand what I was reading about. I enjoyed it though and I’m glad I gave this author a try. I think I’ll try her fiction next time.