THE GREEN ROAD

‘The Green Road’ is unquestionably an Irish story by the first Irish Laureate for Irish Fiction, Anne Enright, whose novels have continued to make book club lists be it her Booker Prize novel ‘The Gathering’ or more recently ‘The Wren, The Wren’. Recommended as an author enjoyed by Den readers we have selected ‘The Green Road’, Enright’s award winning novel of 2015. This is a family saga spanning 30 years, with its matriarch holding centre stage. Perfect for the month of March when we commemorate Mother’s Day as well as celebrate Irish writing in the lead up to St Patrick’s Day.

At the heart of ‘The Green Road’ is Rosaleen, ‘Mammy’, the mother of four children who each have a voice and a chance to share their role and relationship within the Madigan family - sharing the ties, knots and angst to break away from their small town lives in County Clare, as well as their mother’s uncomfortable apron strings.

The novel unravels through a series of interconnected stories that begins in 1980 in which we first meet Hanna, Rosaleen’s youngest child, who is sent off on an errand to help her sick mother who appears out of sorts and unable to cope with her young family. The novel considers how each of the children experience their perspective in the family unit and their own desires to leave their town, whether it be joining the priesthood, heading to the Big Apple, volunteering to ‘save the world’ as an aids worker in Africa or choosing rather to marry their way out. Shifting time and locations with different emphasis on the siblings we experience their journeys growing up, as well as recognising the obligations and emotions drawing the children back home.

The second part of the novel shifts to an older and lonely Rosaleen and we witness the return of the siblings for a final gathering at the home their mother is about to sell. Here we see a different Rosaleen - full of regret as a mother who really doesn’t quite know how to love her children or show any natural warmth. The retreat back home forces them all to find compassion in the wake of an unexpected crisis. Whilst not a celebratory story of motherhood Enright manages to show empathy with the less than perfect ‘mamma’.

‘The Green Road’ book scored high 7s and 8s in book club although it also divided opinions on Rosaleen as mother. Also opened a window into the politics of an Irish family with lots of talking points.