Wild Decembers by Edna O’Brien

This book  encapsulates so much about rural Ireland and feuding families and the strictures on women.  It’s heart-breaking and beautiful and true.  O’Brien’s language is gorgeous, and the story unfolds like a great tragedy.  Unfortunately, the audio version I listened to was of poor quality.  I’m surprised Audible did such a terrible job with this one.  It’s obviously a dub from a CD version, and the sound was bad.  The reader was also woefully bad at Irish pronunciations, which tossed me right out of the story over and over, so I was very glad to have the paper version of the book in my library.  I’ll stick to the voices in my head for this one, thanks.  I’ll save my big complaints for Books for Ears since my negative criticism applies only to the audio version.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Edna O’Brien’s novels, I can’t say enough about her gorgeous prose.  She’s such a talented writer, and she’s a force to be reckoned with in the world of Irish letters.  In addition to her glorious fiction, she’s a great biographer and literary critic.   O’Brien, Ni Dhomhnaill, Boland–those writers reshaped my brain,  and connected my understanding of ancient Ireland to the modern country.  They paved the path I try to tread.

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