The Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry
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Book Reviews of The Secret Scripture
Book Review: Poetic Prose
Summary: 5 Stars
The Secret Scripture was short listed for the Booker prize in 2008 and won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year in January 2009, despite the judge's assessment ( with which I agree) that the ending is flawed. The book's primary narrator is a woman who may be approaching her 100th birthday in the insane asylum where she has spent most of her life. Once a striking beauty Roseanne Clear now describes herself as "a thing left over ... a scraggy stretch of skin and bone in a bleak skirt and blouse, and a canvas jacket, and I sit here in my niche like a song less robin -- no, like a mouse that died under the hearth stone where it was warm, and lies now like a mummy in the pyramids ... No one even knows I have a story." Dr. Grene, her caregiver, had given her a biro with blue ink which she determines to use along with some `discarded paper' to record the memories she has so that when she is gone her own story of her life will be found. The power the Catholic church wielded over the everyday lives of anyone living in Ireland in those times is portrayed wrenchingly in Roseanne's continuous betrayals. These tragedies she records with an amazing lack of blame saying "There is no difficulty not of my own making. " and in another passage "I suppose we measure the importance of our days by those few angels we spy among us, and yet aren't like them." Dr Grene has his own dilemma: the asylum is going to be closed in a few months with as many of the frail patients returning back to society as can be safely discharged. As Dr. Grene attempts to assess Roseanne for possible discharge the journal he is keeping becomes crucial to his understanding of her tangled past. We forget or perhaps have never known that it was common in the much of the 20th century for Irish women to be "sectioned" for "moral" reasons, for flirting, for being too pretty or boisterous, for being too much of a temptation, for being unwed and pregnant, for having been raped and ruined. In reviewing The Magdalene Laundries Norm Langenbrunner, a priest of the Archdiocese of Cinncinatti says "When Ireland became a free state in 1922, politicians and prelates began to work collaboratively to make Catholic morality the criterion for Ireland's public image. Among their primary concerns was sexual immorality.....In an incredible display of hypocrisy, the women were blamed for all sexual sins, while the men involved went free." The Secret Scripture explores this complex era of dance halls, jazz, civil war, betrayal and turmoil though the cloudy lens and vicissitudes of an old woman's memory and the empathy of her caregiver.
Book Review: Lyrical images and language, memorable
Summary: 5 Stars
This was my first Sebastian Barry, but definitely just a beginning as a fan. The language was lyrical, evocative, and captured me right away when I first heard Roseanne's voice. Her story spans 100 years along with all the confusion of Irish history after partition.
Although her surroundings were meant to be dreary and confining, somehow she rose above them and carried me with her. She wasn't into feeling sorry for herself, so I wasn't either--she evoked tremendous empathy and caring. She was luminous and filled with an innocent grace that was not the least bit artificial or learned. It was the way she was written, because her actions certainly didn't gain her that status. She was repressed by others, squashed, controlled, brutalized. But she must have almost absented herself to survive the way she did.
Barry through Roseanne examines the ambiguities and difficulties of remembering over a long life; they compare it to a box room, filled with stuff that gets jumbled. And though we don't know what the truth might be, as her memories compete with the statements of a local priest about her, we know we prefer her version. It's a bit like the Life of Pi--which story do you choose to believe? Does it ultimately matter?
Dr. Grene's tale is almost sadder because he and his wife both had choices, yet made each other suffer. Dr. Grene is drawn to Roseanne's story, but in a halting, 'I don't want to pry' manner strange for a psychiatrist. But she is fragile and worth caring about as he tries to decide what will become of her in the process of shutting down the mental hospital in which she's all but entombed. at age 100.
It's hard today to accept how repressive Irish Catholic society could be in the 1920s to 1940s, and a lot of my friends were somewhat troubled by her passivity, but it seemed to me to fit the times and her situation. Another stumbling block for some was the confluence of some of the story lines, yet i felt they were constructed on a rational basis that allowed me to accept and move on.
There are so many images that will stay with me--feathers and hammers, the Pointing Man, her near-death scene at the sea, the shuffling character of John Kane (a hospital attendant). Brilliant writing that doesn't require any effort but carries you along and perhaps is the main character along with Roseanne.
Apparently Barry has written another book about the McNulty family, The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, and that's going to be a Must Read for me now. Barry has left me with images and lots to think about. Excellent book for group discussion--we had ours today.
Book Review: another fine book by Sebastian Barry
Summary: 4 Stars
ebastian Barry has done it again. I love his work and this one is no exception. I couldn't even talk after I finished this book (which is rare...I always have something to say, just ask my husband!), and I was a wee bit choked up. So...you may want to have a tissue at the ready. I read this in just about 3 hours and couldn't stop reading it except to fetch cookies I was baking out of the oven every 12 minutes. A beautiful book and one that really made me a bit angry when I think about it...the treatment of this young woman by a Catholic priest was just sad.
Basic plot: Roseanne Clear McNulty is probably a hundred years old, and lives in a mental institution which is about to be torn down. She is being assessed by the head of the place, a Dr. Grene, who has to decide if she's able to make it on her own on the outside. She in turn, has been writing a record of her life and keeps the thing hidden in her room under the floorboard. In this diary she tells of not only her life, but indirectly of the politics and troubles of Ireland. She loses her father at a young age, has a troubled mother, and has to take on life completely unprepared. Her life is ultimately ruined (I won't say how) by an Irish priest named Father Gaunt -- who obviously hates & mistrusts women and takes it upon himself to turn her life completely upside down at a time when she was happy. At that time, the priests of the church wielded a lot of power, so much so that they held the lives of people in their hands. But ... no matter how badly things were for Roseanne, and although her memory may fail her at times, she tries so hard above all else to be fair in her memories ...even to those who were less than kind to her. But Roseanne's story is one of two in this book -- Dr. Grene has his own demons with which he must grapple.
An amazing story; it's easy to see why Sebastian Barry's work keeps getting nominated for literary awards. He's an incredible writer, and his glimpses into Ireland's upheavals and the human costs of the troubled times are staples in his books. I can most highly recommend this book to anyone familiar with Barry's writing, or to anyone interested in Irish fiction, or to those who want to put a human face on Ireland's suffering, or to anyone interested in the (as the book cover blurb puts it) "stranglehold" of the Catholic Church on the Irish people. Although maybe a tad melodramatic toward the end (hence the hanky) I loved this book and I won't soon forget it.
Book Review: THE FALLIBILITY OF MEMORY
Summary: 4 Stars
The book is set against the backdrop of the Irish troubles - the early years, and explains, to a limited degree, how the Irish problem started and developed. It is also a very harsh indictment of the Catholic Church.
It is a judgement of those times and of religion; throughout there is the constant reminder of God's Judgement in the shape of the Iron Man statue that stands in the sea pointing downwards - a bit like the perpetual eye in the Great Gatsby. Judgement will come to the evil doers - and there are many of them:
- the controlling and pitiless priest
- the family who reject Roseanne
- the murderous political activists
At first I was captivated by the character of Roseanne's father and when he dies I was tempted to abandon the book altogether. But it captivated me further as other characters developed.
We have three accounts of events in the book: Roseanne's diary, the Doctor's diary and the writings of the priest; at times they are at odds with each other. But which is the truth?
We never know - and this is the fallibility of memory - a running theme throughout. Memory is subjective - and so question remains: what is truth?
There is so much cruelty in the book - breathtaking - but when one considers the evil that was perpetuated in the orphan schools in Ireland there is a ring of authenticity about what is described.
What triumphs is love as Roseanne never gives into self-pity or dire recriminations and bitterness. Her perception, and hence the truth for her, is that the world is a place of beauty and that life is worth living.
She endures, despite all that she has suffered and comes to terms with the death of her father and her many misfortunes. The Doctor too is coming to terms with the death of his wife.
The ending seems unbelievable and hence contrived (I will not give it away here) - but what the author is saying is that there is a meaning to our existence and a force outside of ourselves does have influence. Perhaps God?
I loved this book - the language - the characterisations - the story telling.
It will live in my memory.
Book Review: SECRET pleasure to read!
Summary: 4 Stars
Sebastian Barry has written one of the most lyrical books I have ever read, yet still had an intriguing story beneath all of its layers. Not everyone may enjoy reading and re-reading passages to fully absorb the contents, but I did.
THE SECRET SCRIPTURE is the story of a nearly 100 year old woman who decides to create a secret account of her life. Her story begins with her childhood in Ireland and spreads into her young adulthood, then strikes out to include her decades long stay in a mental institution, without exactly stating why she is there. As the main character she is more than just an interesting storyteller.
The doctor in charge of Roseanne's care must determine whether or not she must continue in the care of the institution when the residents are forced to relocate. Does she even belong in a mental hospital? She has been such a fixture there that Dr. Grene only now realizes that he has no idea the circumstances that brought Roseanne to Roscommon Mental Hospital over 50 years ago. Thus begins his investigation into her past.
The story very gradually unfolds. Roseanne depicts life as she remembers it, while Dr. Grene hopes to piece together very limited medical information into an accurate history. It is not until the very end that the reader will be able to determine whose version of the story is most accurate and what the fate of Roseanne has been and will be.
This was really an enjoyable read for many reasons. The writing itself is beautiful and often thought provoking..."For history as far as I can see is not the arrangement of what happens, in sequence and in truth, but a fabulous arrangement of surmises and guesses held up as a banner against the assault of withering truth"..."Who was I then? A stranger, but a stranger that hides in me still, in my bones and my blood. That hides in this wrinkled suit of skin. The girl I was".
Worth the descriptiveness of Ireland's beauty, the honesty of human condition and the passion of a long-lived life, this book should be enjoyed by many. You will want to ease out each of the secrets of this lilting "scripture" but you will need to be patient.