A Bit of a Scandal

On looking at the author's wiki, I was surprised by her prodigious output. Again, reminescent of Anne Tyler: she simply moves along, writing page after page and you're drawn into the time and place and the moment-to-moment concerns of the characters. On the surface it seems simple enough. However, when you've read the last paragraph and close the book slowly, you realize you've been in a whole 'nother place while immersed in this fictionalized memoir. You may not agree with the characters' behaviors, but like their creator you end up disinclined to judge them: the young protagonist, already a loyal caretaker of her alcoholic mother; the neurotic, narcisstic and goatish priest, not to mention the damp,pinched poverty of urban Ireland back then. As you read, you can almost smell the mildew. The novel is deceptively simple. The author's allusions to Heloise and Abelard give the young heroine some glory to hang on to in the midst of being treated shabbily -- a treatment she can't see until she's older and looking back on her younger self. Callaghan's plot twists are deft and comic. The neat little kink at the end is both an ambiguous surprise and a bit of cosmic justice served up with a Mona Lisa smile. This is a book to keep or to give. I think I'll keep mine and go back to it in a few months' time to pick up the little clues that I missed the first time around. It's that kind of story, one you know you'll go back to eventually. That's why I gave it the highest rating. Keepers always get Five Stars.