The green road by Anne Enright – a book review

Years later, old and withered, when you sit down to write Christmas or homecoming cards for your flock that has flown away from the nest and has been away for a long long time, what will you write to them, write of them? Will you address him as the now besuited CEO, or will you remember and remind your son of always being bullied in school; will you frown terribly or have a happy smirk as you write of your daughter as the chubby grumpy child who’d never stop following her mother like a lost puppy?

What we remember is what we choose to remember – of people, of things, of situations, of life. Sketches made and stored in our memory might not necessarily resemble the muses; seldom are artists true and neutral; rarely can they resist not adding or altering something in the name of creativity. Subsequently and consequently the muse changes and that’s how we remember them thenceforth.

Anne Enright’s eccentric Rosalene tries to bring together her flock, probably for one last time, during Christmas. She feels neglected, and she is; her children – four of them, have chosen to stay away from their domineering mother for reasons they know best but she fails to understand. She thinks she is a failure as a mother, she thinks they too have failed her as children. Insecure, old, alone and lonely, having been deserted by a dead husband too – a man who she thinks she married beneath her yet loves him even today, a man who worshipped her but went quiet towards the end, the huge and empty house gets to her and she intends to sell it. Attention and company is what she seeks and yearns for, like a child.

Why do they want to stay away from their mother, these children of her: Constance, Dan, Emmet and Hanna? Do they fear that like their father; they too would eventually lose their voice and resilience and go quiet finally to the grave? Is she that bad?

Divided into two parts, the first part of Anne Enright’s story has one chapter dedicated to each child, as she eloquently sketches their lives away from home and finally their mother’s. The second one is about their homecoming.

Rosalene’s restlessness is apparent in each child as they progress in their lives. Their struggles, though disparate, are the link they carry. Though from the same womb, they’re distinctly apart in their thoughts and doings, as if each fused in a different time and space from different sperm and egg owners. Enright very adeptly and beautifully presents their lives, the disturbances in them. Her ramblings through her characters seem to be her highlight; it reminded me of ‘The Gathering’ – the first one of hers that I’ve read. She subtly puts across the hundreds of thoughts, emotions that go unnoticed in each life lived, some of them so beautiful yet never conveyed, or understood, or possibly even ignored. The interminable chatter in the head, the struggle to push beyond yourself to do what you know is right when the only one who prevents you is you; these struggles are not just Emmet’s and Dan’s as much as they are yours and mine. We define our ideals and when we discern that we’ve drifted away from them, frustrated we fight or give in, but there is never a full acceptance of the defeat, of ourselves. And the ramblings only grow, some words are blurted, some are not, some emotions are let out, some smothered; we become different versions of ourselves, for the world, for the acceptance of us by them. In an interview for one of her other books ‘Actress’, Anne Enright said, ‘As a writer, your problems are your solutions.’ So true, not only for writers, but for all of us, I believe!

I loved Anne Enright’s matter-of-fact way of presenting her story; I’d probably want to read it again. I wish everyone finds their green road to walk upon, a place that gives clarity to the mind and subdues the noise, even if to some extent.  

My rating: 4 out of 5

Picture copyrights:

Anne Enright – https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/anne-enright-as-a-writer-your-problems-are-your-solutions-1.4161408

Book cover – https://www.amazon.in/Green-Road-Anne-Enright/dp/0099539799