The story of Cait and Baba and their escape from countryside and convent to the alluring "crowds and lights and noise" of Dublin. The author also wrote "Johnny I Hardly Knew You", "The Love Object and Other Stories" and "A Scandalous Woman and Other Stories".
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Edna O’Brien is the author of 19 books. She was the winner of the 1993 Writers’ Guild Prize for Fiction. Her new biography of James Joyce was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in June 1999.
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Edna O'Brien, the author of "The Country Girls" Trilogy, "The Light of Evening," and "Byron in Love," is the recipient of the James Joyce Ulysses Medal, and an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in London.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just another story about a poor catholic childhood,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Country Girls (Misc. Supplies)
Caithleen Brady and Bridget(Baba)Brennan are friends in a poor rural area in Ireland. Written in the first person by Caithleen we see through her eyes a poignant portrayal of friendship, family, first love and disappointment. Edna O'Brien writes in what could only be described as a haunting manner. A gentle coming of age story which follows the girls through the death of Caithleen's mother, the shiftlessness of her father, a scholarship to a convent and their expulsion. The gentleness of Caithleen is a foil to the bright sharpness of Baba, who manages to mislead Caithleen against her better judgement; though she is her friend and anything they do they do together. There are numerous wonderful unique characters: the endearing Hickey, Baba's parents, Joanna the German boarding house proprietess and the enigmatic Mr Gentleman (though that is not his real name - he has a difficult French name so the neighbours changed it to Mr Gentleman). "The Girl With The Green Eyes" continues the adventures of Caithleen and Baba and is as good as "The Country Girls"
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
In youth is pleasure,
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This review is from: The Country Girls (Mass Market Paperback)
Written at a very young age, THE COUNTRY GIRLS established Edna O'Brien very early as an important Irish novelist, and in later books she would continue the adventures of her two heroines here, Caithleen (Kate) and Birdget (Baba), in their search for love and a place in the world. This comic novel is very much in the tradition of number of other much-loved comic Bildungsromans by other twentieth-century women novelists: I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith, THE PURSUIT OF LOVE by Nancy Mitford, and (perhaps surpisingly) GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES by Dorothy Parker. As in all those other novels, the central two characters are used as contrasts: Kate, the narrator, is bookish and romantic, while the hardedged Baba is out for experience and novelty. The settings of ruined country estate, convent school and Dublin boarding house add to the novelty of o'Brien's work (as does the simple lilting prose), but the greatest treat here is the character of Baba: pragmatic, mocking, alternately cruel and sentimental, she is one of the funniest characters in this subgenre of fiction , and one of the most memorable.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Relentlessly Grim Waste of Time,
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This review is from: The Country Girls (Mass Market Paperback)
The characters are either victims or bullies, and the story is so mercilessly, one-notedly grim that I wanted an anti-depressant after reading it. I actively hoped for the murder of one character, and prayed for the protagonist to grow a spine at some point, but she never did. I kept hearing about Edna O'Brien's humor, and searched for in these pages in vain. I can't share the litany of miseries Caithleen endures without spoiling the story for anyone who might want to read it, but I will settle for saying that I won't be bothering with the rest of the trilogy.
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First Sentence:
I wakened quickly and sat up in bed abruptly. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sister Margaret, Jack Holland, Miss Moriarty, Mein Gott, Billy Tuohey, Greyhound Hotel, Reverend Mother, First Communion, Blessed Virgin, Delia Sheehy, Mickey the Barber, Miss Brady New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
I wakened quickly and sat up in bed abruptly. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sister Margaret, Jack Holland, Miss Moriarty, Mein Gott, Billy Tuohey, Greyhound Hotel, Reverend Mother, First Communion, Blessed Virgin, Delia Sheehy, Mickey the Barber, Miss Brady New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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