There is no humor in him, no laughter, no playfulness, no gossip, no dishonesty. There is justness, strength, and an austere, impersonal kindness.
There is no humor in him, no laughter, no playfulness, no gossip, no dishonesty. There is justness, strength, and an austere, impersonal kindness.
Oh but there is a small bit of humor in O'Houlihan: a vengeful, terrible humor, a deep and secret vein of it, cast from beyond the grave. His jest shall slay, as he was slain.
O'Houlihan's Jest tells a tale of 18th century Ireland under the yoke of its British oppressor and of a fictional rebel leader and martyr, James O'Houlihan, who fought these interlopers and died - and who returned, in a way. He is a king among men, as beloved as one, and often just as removed. The novel recounts his battle with "The Man" - as the unnamed leader of British forces is simply known - and his love for the fairy-like Molly, who in turn loves a kind Welshman in The Man's army. It is told by his fey half-brother Mick, branded by The Man, and renamed: The Jackaleen. The story begins and ends with a wake.
It is lyrically written and compellingly told, mythic and magical and yet very much down to earth, wrathful and grim and humorous and romantic, weird and fearful and tragic and humane. It may be a slender novel, and a quick, intense, exciting read - but it has a spare majesty to it as well, like a myth being told for the first time. Slim but dense - thick with emotion, full of yearning and melancholy and poetry. The prose sings from the page. It was a resonant and beautiful experience, and everything I'd want in a book.
This was Rohan O'Grady's first and favorite novel, and an ode to her Irish heritage. She would only write four more after this. Born June Skinner, later a mother and wife in Vancouver, Canada (and nicknamed "Legs O'Grady" by her husband), she never received the recognition due to her. Perhaps because all of her books are virtually unclassifiable, resisting easy categorization or even summation: a hauntingly mythic historical novel; a creepy, anti-romantic gothic; a morbid children's adventure; an eerie, disturbing psychological mystery; and finally a sweet and vindictive coming of age tale. Perhaps it is because that while they stay true to their various genres, they move beyond them as well, playing with each model's form, and toying with reader expectations of what these genres should look and feel like. Her stories always go to places of surprising darkness, but ones leavened with an empathetic perspective and a light, subtle touch; often bleak stories suffused with macabre humor, that remain rooted by a perfect understanding of human nature - its beauty and ugliness and strangeness. Each one is a treasure....more
Poor John Montrolfe! Born with two club feet, a crooked neck that appears freshly gallows-hung, a monstrously towering stature, and a delic
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Poor John Montrolfe! Born with two club feet, a crooked neck that appears freshly gallows-hung, a monstrously towering stature, and a delicate appetite that only allows for water, gruel, and a dozen raw eggs for breakfast. Egads, what a life! This grumpy nuclear scientist inherits Montrolfe Hall and finds that the empty, cavernous interior and melancholy, haunted atmosphere mirrors his own state of being. 'Tis a good place for a moody fellow to get lost in. 'Tis even a better place for such a gentleman to find an enchanting little spirit, and then her hypnotically absorbing journal.
Poor little "Pippin"! Born with a mischievous spirit, a brilliant mind, a brave heart, a certain talent for lying, and an almost complete lack of conventional morality, this 15-year-old is whisked away from the seaside inn where she drudges away and into a dreadful gothic adventure. Her partners in crime: a stridently moral farmer, a beast in human form nicknamed The Dozer, and the cruel, charismatic, charmingly ardent nobleman called Max Fabian - who soon becomes the love of her short, tragic, but rather terribly exciting life. Together the four shall scour an abandoned tower for hidden treasure; they shall search until only half their number survives. And the gallows patiently waits for one of them...
Poor Pippin's Journal, or Rosemary is for Remembrance! Also known as The Curse of the Montrolfes, this compelling, often dryly humorous, and always hypnotically absorbing novel has a mere two reviews and is written by a shamefully under-appreciated author. The late June Margaret O'Grady Skinner wrote four novels under her pen name Rohan O'Grady and one under the pen name A. Carleon (which happens to be the name of that novel's protagonist). She had talent to burn - but a curious, perhaps off-putting sort of talent. Pointedly sardonic, surprisingly empathetic, elegantly written, and laced with throbbing veins of a very human sort of darkness, the novels I've read by her feature children and teens (and one lonely housewife) placed in deeply disturbing circumstances, yet whose eerie adventures are told with an often disarmingly light touch. And she has a, well, let's say different approach to happy endings. I loved this riveting novel as I've loved each of her other works. June Skinner was surely as idiosyncratic as any of her fascinating protagonists. Rest in peace, delightful author!
A marvelous bonus: the edition I read includes a dozen wonderful drawings by the inimitable Edward Gorey. Here are six of them:
"A. Carleon" (aka author Rohan O'Grady) narrates a short period in her early teen years within the pageI wished it wouldn't end! Such a great feeling.
"A. Carleon" (aka author Rohan O'Grady) narrates a short period in her early teen years within the pages of her super private journal. Ann Carleon isn't the name given to her, but our narrator despises her birth name of Isabel, so if she wants to be called Ann Carleon - after her grandmother's maiden name - then so be it! Ann details her life and the people in it with verve, a sometimes spiteful wit, and a certain amount of cluelessness: her brilliant and lauded but quite unbearable father "He" and her equally brilliant older sister "Fatso" (who actually isn't - that's just Ann scoring some resentful points) and her mentally unwell mother "She"; her school mates, various other adults and relatives and crushes and a sweet dog who all play key roles in her various dramas, especially her malevolent elderly friend "The General." Ann is a quirky, entirely self-absorbed little thing and not exactly a spreader of love and joy. But she's lovable and certainly relatable to me, or at least the me that was once her age. Sometimes dreadfully maudlin, other times sardonic and wise to bullshit, at all times almost helplessly herself, Ann is both a unique and very familiar creation. It was a pleasure to be in her company.
And poor Ann needs some company! She's an often lonely and iconoclastic young lady (the latter adjective probably explaining the former) with an eccentric family including a mother who has become locked in the past over the horrifying death of her son in the Vietnam War, friends who want to form an exclusive club but perhaps without her, and an obsession with God that leads her to construct a hilariously horrifying pagan idol in an attempt to somehow attract His attention. Because she has some questions she'd like answered. She lives in a small seaside town in late '70s Canada, a town whose charms are rapidly crumbling away thanks to modern development. Ann hates these kinds of changes, really all changes in general, and she hates unanswered questions. Ann could use someone to talk to besides her dog and the misanthropic, flower-obsessed General down the block. Because things can get rather dark at times. Fortunately for her (and her readers), at least she has her journal.
Rohan O'Grady firmly rejects sentimentality but still revels in all of the highs and lows of childhood. Her heroine is vital and real; the way O'Grady so completely lived in her head amazed me. There are a good number of tragic and disturbing things that occur in Ann's life - some of which she barely even recognizes, and others that she purposely avoids thinking about (view spoiler)[but NO sexual abuse, thank God, in case you have challenges reading about that like I do (hide spoiler)] - but O'Grady doesn't make her story a remotely sad one. The book is bubbly, prickly, thoughtful, unpretentious, completely charming, fully alive.
"The May Spoon" is an odd little spoon found by Ann and her sister; Ann recalls the afternoon the spoon was found with clarity, dreaminess, and a certain wonder. It is symbolic of a strangely surreal moment out of time, memorable yet indescribable; similar to déjà vu, but brighter, sharper. A sublime bit of time, one that you remember for no particular reason except the world seemed somehow different, somehow transformed into a beautiful place. I had a May Spoon experience reading this book....more
"Boys and girls, come out to play/ The moon doth shine as bright as day"
she longs for children, and finds them: little ghosts, once slaughtered, no
"Boys and girls, come out to play/ The moon doth shine as bright as day"
she longs for children, and finds them: little ghosts, once slaughtered, now crying and laughing and being children again, all around her. less of a haunting and more of a terrible kind of wish fulfillment. the novel abounds in such sorts of wishes come true: a house bought and made into her own, a house that is new but strangely, inexplicably, made to look old... a distracted husband who becomes a yoke around her neck, a writer of surprising brilliance and unsurprising insensitivity... a manly young contractor, the perfect person to have a passionate affair with, but a man who doesn't respect any woman let alone her, a churlish ape who can somehow, horribly, read her thoughts and answer questions she hasn't asked out loud... new tenants and so a new community, a new extended family, a mother a son a sort of daughter, all become problems or rivals or threats - and one of whom has accidentally invited those ghost children back to haunt them all. the nourishing food of life loses its flavor, becomes ashes in the mouth.
Bleak November is a haunting book: in the story itself, in how it is told, and where it eventually goes. its protagonist is strong, sardonic, and wonderfully idiosyncratic; which makes her gradual breakdown all the more startling and harrowing. this expertly written and often incredibly creepy novel is full of mysteries terrible and bleak. why would a new house be altered so that it appears to be old? who robbed that bank and where is the lost money? why must women constantly suffer at the hands of ego-driven men? why was that family of nine slaughtered? are those children real? what is that lonely dog, scratching at the door late at night? is our heroine truly going insane? what happens when a woman who is losing her mind is haunted? perhaps she will embrace that haunting, turn what is unreal into her reality. the children may leave her at last, and God bless their transition; her sanity may leave as well, because madness may be its own sort of blessing. and who will be pushed into the bear pit, and so slaughtered? ours is not to wonder why...
Actually, I keep wondering why I keep saying actually. Things are certainly actual enough in this life, aren't they?
I picked up my shovel and dug, searching for some buried treasure. After not too long, I found what I was looking for. It was a little box, brown and I picked up my shovel and dug, searching for some buried treasure. After not too long, I found what I was looking for. It was a little box, brown and gold and red, the colors of earth and sunlight and bloody deeds. I opened it up. It had everything I wanted to find in a little box!
⇨ A wicked uncle who needs to be murdered! Before he murders you first!
⇨ A cozy little island with a cozy little village and a tragic little history! An island with a lot of places to get lost in!
⇨ Haunting moments of melancholy and stray bits of strangeness!
⇨ Delicious food described in ways that made me eager to eat what I was reading! I made the baked oysters with cheese and vinegary tomatoes, and it really hit the spot!
⇨ A hungry cougar on the lam! We get to read his very grouchy thoughts!
⇨ Writing that is deceptively simple, ironic and elegant, whimsical and witty, nonchalant and full of charm... delightful prose!
⇨ Storytelling that is sweet without being cloying, dark without being grim; a deadpan and stylized satire, a sincere and empathetic slice of life; weirdly morbid yet full of light and tenderness... an enchantingly told tale!
⇨ A small number of reviews by readers who should probably be reading stupider books! I love sneering at dummies!
⇨ A bunch of reviews by readers with exquisite taste! Coincidentally, tastes that appear to be similar to my own!
⇨ An author unknown to me who has surely buried some other boxes of treasure, just waiting to be found! I will make her my secret friend!
⇨ A pair of unruly children whose rude exteriors hide lonely lives and a deep longing for friendship and love! Unruly children with a whole lot of pluck... the best sort of children!
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