The Country Girls: Three Novels and an Epilogue: (The Country Girl; The Lonely Girl; Girls in Their Married Bliss; Epilogue) (FSG Classics)

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟Edna O’Brien’s “The Country Girls” is an absolute gem that captures the essence of youth, friendship, and the longing for freedom in rural Ireland. I was completely drawn in by the vivid portrayal of the main characters, Caithleen and Baba, whose contrasting personalities bring the story to life in the most delightful way. O’Brien’s writing is beautifully poetic and filled with rich, evocative descriptions that transport you right into the heart of their world.Having just finished this book, I am in awe of O’Brien’s ability to explore complex themes of love, desire, and societal expectations with such grace and honesty. It’s not just a story of two girls navigating their way through life’s ups and downs; it’s a poignant reflection on the challenges and dreams we all face. The humor, the heartbreak, and the resilience of these characters make this novel a timeless classic that resonates on so many levels.If you’re looking for a captivating read that is both heartwarming and thought-provoking, “The Country Girls” is a must! It’s a book that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Highly recommended!

I had first red these books several decades ago. At the time I felt that I had been given the chance to explore a world as foreign to me as any to be found in science fiction. This was the life lived by two poor Irish Girls as they moved from some tiny rural village into the city life and relative wealth. Their religion, sex, economic status and nationality were unknown terrain and reading Edna O'Brian was to be an explorer.Now it is 2014. Ms. O'Brian has published her memoirs  Country Girl: A Memoir . Re reading the Country Girls Trilogy is to be part of my preparation for reading the Memoirs. This edition:  The Country Girls Trilogy and Epilogue made iteasy to have them in one place, in the right order and complete with the epilogue. So far so good.Ms. O'Brian writes very strong images with great efficiency. She is deft at using words economically to establish character, moods and environments. This time however I felt the weight of her two Girls: Kate and Baba's hard won self-destruction. O'Brian's Ireland, and Irish experience is not the home of smiling Irish eyes.The Country Girls introduces us to our two protagonists. Kate is the only daughter of one of the town drunks. We are told he is abusive, but his wife dies, drowned and we never witness his violence. The fear he has instilled in his house is no bluff. Kate is,, we are told, smart, pretty and romantic, but suppressed, eager for love and readily mislead. Baba is a thieving bully from an apparently stable, well off home. The two will cleave together as a dark female version of some buddy flick. Think, Thelma and Louise without any real gumption. Baba will make Kate her special target for all that is good and bad in Baba.Between Book 1 and 2, The Country Girls and The Lonely Girls the two will be exposed to worlds of ever wider horizon, first as Convent School Girls and then as two independent spirits in the big city. Kate is the center of the narrative. We are told she is the brighter of the two, having won a scholarship, been head of her classes, always reading and so forth. Yet we find she has no wisdom, no culture, little religion, no conversation. Every drunken bar Irishman has an instinctive sense of Irish history and the reasons to hate invaders, yet Kate has no clue about any of this. She has an eye for older married men and no awareness that this may be a problem for her or her Irish Catholic community. Kate will spend increasing amount of time crying and being tragic. She is indeed a lonely girl.In book 3, Girls In Their Married Bliss we finally get to hear from Baba. Now that we hear her very different voice, we find that education has failed, indeed is a total wasted on her. She is sarcastic, bitter but at least has spirit and strength. She has an eye for men an unaccountable willing ness to put up with and out for Male oddities. Baba is admirable in ways Kate cannot be, yet she is superstitious, ignorant, defiant as a cover to her ignorance and manipulative.Men in these books range from drunken bullies to emotionally cold intellects. There may be some individuals who are truly sympathetic but they are either briefly portrayed or otherwise marginal. One husband is remote and judgmental and ultimately not that likable. The other husband is almost unknown to us as we only see him through his unhappy wife's eyes. However there is only money to make him attractive. If you are expecting any bliss in book 3 it's not there.The epilogue tells us the end of the tragedy. There are a few interesting turns, but in terms of adding to the existing narrative it is not that important. What lifts the Epilog is its homage to James Joyce. O'Brian's skill as a story teller is effectively joined to the stream of conscious style of Ulysses. Once you adjust to its deliberate disjointed construction, you become much closer to the mind of the narrator as she brings herself to terms with her life and marriage and the events of her lifelong friend. Lineal story telling would have been dull. This abrupt change is more like how a complex mind would think through the events of the day and of the last twenty years.These novellas relate unhappy stories. Of the three the first is the most readable and the second the least. On this point one has to be specific. The stories are sad and therefore demanding on your emotions. The story telling is eloquent. And again the term eloquent refers to the ability to explain and describe with a minimal of elaboration. I will be reading more O'Brian before I turn to her memoirs, but this is the place to learn what it is to be a skill writer.

Wonderful early book that she wrote early in her writing career

I have read some exerpts from Edna O'Brien's writings and was looking forward to reading this trilogy. I found all three books too wordy and the main characters too annoying to enjoy my reading, perhaps because I didn't relate to Ireland of the 1960s. The fact that the books were considered scandalous and were banned when published intrigued me but they just didn't hold my interest as anything more than period writing curiosity.

I like the book a lot. I had never heard of Edna O’Brien, but watched an interview that was recorded just before she passed… Decided to try one of her books. I wasn’t disappointed.

I bought this book as author died and all the news said she was a noted and excellent writer. She is a good writer. However, I didn't find her stories or characters that interesting. This is three books that follow the life of two women from beginning to end. I read the whole book but am not keeping it. Will donate it to the library as I only keep books I thoroughly enjoy which is still a lot.

As close to the reality of a pair of convent educated Catholic girls from the country, attempting to find themselves in the city in 1960s Ireland as can be imagined. The reality of girlish hero worship for an older and more worldly man who she believed wanted to help her grow intellectually when all he wanted was to maintain his position, of being worshipped and serviced by her like a Greek priestess. Sad and honest and sometimes hilarious.Beatifully written with moments of literary magic.

I wanted to read some Irish lit. The lists of great Irish books I found should have been called great Irish books by men. I swore off books written by men a few years ago because, like, what else do they have to say? Nothing to me. Anyway, I googled Irish books by women and this came up. I had no idea what I was about to read and was completely blown away by the first of these three novels. It’s is one of the best books I’ve ever read. If that had been it, it would’ve been enough. I read the other two because they were there. They’re both good, but not the same kind of good. By the time I got to the end of these three novels, I appreciate 2 and 3 more than I did while reading them. I’m bothered by the racism in the epilogue. I don’t know why it’s there, even though I think it fits the character. Still, I would say the first novel is a masterpiece and the rest of this book is worth reading. I can’t believe it’s been out there all my life and I only just found it.

Can't stop reading

I consider the content of this book to be trash. I deleted it from my kindle

Great book.

Great condition

The perfect book for vacation reading. Packing it to travel in Iceland and Norway. The story is so true to how life was back in the day in Ireland.