Sign in with Facebook
Roman Clodia's Reviews > Milkman
Milkman
by
by
4 November 2020: Re-listened to the audiobook with a book group and I think this is even better the second time around: the fractured narrative means that some of the things that happen at the start (Somebody McSomebody pushing a gun into Middle Sister's breast) don't carry their full weight of significance until we can fit them into the story overall. I experienced the whole gamut of emotions once again - just a glorious piece of writing!
-------------------------------------------------
5 stars... 6 stars... all the stars for this one! It's been a while since I've been so enamoured of a book that I blasted through the second half when I *really* should have been doing proper work stuff.
That voice! It's so intimate with its quasi-stream of consciousness style, replete with all the cadences of Belfast, in love with words for their own sake and the perfect vehicle for a story which veers from comedy (Ma's rear, the international ballroom dancing couple) through cynicism (the renouncers' groupies, the chip shop), to the sardonic (the fate of Somebody McSomebody), the terrifying (Milkman), the horrific (the massacre of dogs), the tender (Maybe Boyfriend, Ma and the real milkman), the absurd (the Pious Women and the hospital arrests), and the laugh out funny (Wee Sisters).
I've read many books set in the 1970s Belfast 'Troubles' but nothing like this before. Burns' feminist viewpoint explores the layering of patriarchal oppressions against the wider pressures of a community both fractured and intimately bound. And there are some magnificent set pieces where the women come together to assert their power (the group outside the 'safe house' during the real milkman's 'trial').
I really don't want to say anything about the plot or even themes as I knew little other than the setting when I started this and enjoyed the sheer unexpectedness of the narrative.
Extraordinary, wholly original, nail-bitingly tense in that central section - brava Ms Burns!
-------------------------------------------------
5 stars... 6 stars... all the stars for this one! It's been a while since I've been so enamoured of a book that I blasted through the second half when I *really* should have been doing proper work stuff.
That voice! It's so intimate with its quasi-stream of consciousness style, replete with all the cadences of Belfast, in love with words for their own sake and the perfect vehicle for a story which veers from comedy (Ma's rear, the international ballroom dancing couple) through cynicism (the renouncers' groupies, the chip shop), to the sardonic (the fate of Somebody McSomebody), the terrifying (Milkman), the horrific (the massacre of dogs), the tender (Maybe Boyfriend, Ma and the real milkman), the absurd (the Pious Women and the hospital arrests), and the laugh out funny (Wee Sisters).
I've read many books set in the 1970s Belfast 'Troubles' but nothing like this before. Burns' feminist viewpoint explores the layering of patriarchal oppressions against the wider pressures of a community both fractured and intimately bound. And there are some magnificent set pieces where the women come together to assert their power (the group outside the 'safe house' during the real milkman's 'trial').
I really don't want to say anything about the plot or even themes as I knew little other than the setting when I started this and enjoyed the sheer unexpectedness of the narrative.
Extraordinary, wholly original, nail-bitingly tense in that central section - brava Ms Burns!
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Milkman.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Comments Showing 1-30 of 30 (30 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Kalliope
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
May 03, 2019 01:25PM
Contagious review.
reply
|
flag
Haha, I hope everyone 'catches' it!
Wonderful review! I didn't write a review of this myself for some reason, but I felt exactly the same about this spectacularly original novel.
Was sure you’d love it. So so good.
And phew, what a relief about Maybe Boyfriend - I didn't see that coming at all :)
I love your description of the trajectory of the story from comedy to absurdity, via terrifying, tender, sardonic and laugh out loud funny! That's the perfect summary of this book, RC!
Fab review R.C, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It seems that listening to it as an audio book added another layer to the experience.
Thanks, RC; great review as ever and it's now on my Kindle.xx
I love this book so much!
@ NatYes, the audio is brilliant as it captures that voice so perfectly, and navigates the complex stream-of-consciousness writing.
@ SidFingers crossed you love it as much as me - that voice is still in my head and I'm missing the world created, however grim and downright terrifying it is at times.
Thanks all! Did we all gulp and smile when we learnt that walking around with semtex is normal, walking around reading Gogol makes one a beyond-the-pale... ;))
Wonderful review, Roman. I love when books elicit such an enthusiastic response!
Blimey - I'm going to have to read it, aren't I?!
I'm late to this but I'm so glad you loved it! If you enjoy 'Troubles lit' I'd highly recommend Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe; Milkman was my book of the year last year and Say Nothing is still my reigning book of 2019 so far.
Thanks for the recommendation, Rachel - I've picked that book up a number of times in the bookshop and put it down again as I'm not always good with non-fiction... but if you rate it that highly I should reconsider :)
I'm not the best nonfiction reader in the world either but that one was SO engaging, I could not put it down!
You liked the same things I did. Great review of a brilliant book!
I've come across quite a few powerful reviews of this novel in last a few days and this one does no harm to its reputation. Perhaps it's time to add it to my bookshelf :)
@ Laura It's seems odd now that I haven't read anything that puts female experiences during the Troubles so much in focus.
@ GauravYou're right, it's a very powerful book while also being extraordinarily accessible and unputdownable.
Wow, already finished. it will take me around 1 month to finish it as i can only listen to 30 minutes per day. Glad you liked it more this time. it seems to be a novel suited for rereading.
Interesting, cause the first time I've listened to it and thought it had its moments. But the second time I've read it with my eyes and enjoyed it so much more. Maybe stream of conciseness works better this way for me because my brain picks up just the right speed
I love a Belfast accent so the audio was a pleasurable experience in a different way- but yes, brilliant book, whatever the format!
I've watched 3 seasons of Derry Girls and even liked that one by the end :) But the Dublin is the softest sound. I've watched all interview of Eimear McBride just to enjoy her voice! :)
Great book, great review!
Absolutely perfect review. I've just finished reading this book which you've just captured flawlessly: the characters, the themes, the terror and tenderness.Strangely, from the first, with Chef and Maybe Boyfriend, I sensed something extra and sweet.
But perhaps that's easy to say through the retrospectoscope.
If you haven't read Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe by now (as my comments are now years late) I, too, recommend it. I'm suggesting these two as a 'Troubles Bundle' for my partner to read.
Just don't know which he should start with.
Ha, your instincts were better than mine, Dianne, over Maybe Boyfriend - I was convinced he was going to get into trouble with either the British Army or the paramilitaries so was hugely relieved at where his story went. I have indeed now read Say Nothing and yes, it's fantastic factual background for anyone who didn't grow up in the UK during the Troubles.
I'd also highly recommend, if you haven't read it, Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty - outrageously shocking on the venality of that family and what they were allowed to get away with.
Roman Clodia wrote: "I'd also highly recommend, if you haven't read it, Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty - outrageously shocking on the venality of that family and what they were allowed to get away with."Yes, I probably should read that, but as the medical director of a homeless clinic in San Francisco's Tenderloin for a decade beginning in the late 90s, I may not.
I think "what they were allowed to get away with" is more than an indictment of just that family, but of the breathtakingly corrupt, pay-to-play, political system in the USA.
Like the Troubles reflect the whole world, the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma reflect the USA and its rotten-to-the-core institutional system, healthcare being, perhaps the worst representative (domestically). The stench of that system was one the main reason I decided to move so far away.
Huge respect to you for that role and yes, the exposure of 'the system' was one of my main takeaways. I wouldn't normally think of myself as politically naive but seeing it all written down with cool detachment really had an impact on me. Capitalism at its finest!
