As a native of
Northern Ireland and indeed spending a
greater part of my teens in battle ridden Belfast I am well versed with the
people and the country to appreciate or not Milkman by Anna Burns. I have to
admit at first blush indeed for the first few chapters I was intrigued by her intensive and somewhat claustrophobic
style. Here was a society built on
gossip, a suspicious people hardened by a bitter indoctrination an unnerving
belief in the supremacy of the catholic church or the teachings of such inflammatory
demagogues as the most Reverent Ian Paisley, Jerry Adams or indeed intimation
by the various sectarian groups UDA, IRA who viewed Belfast as their very own
battle ground.
The best way to describe
her style of writing is to think of a book and all the words that make up a
story....take those words throw them high into the air and upon retrieval start
reading....The experience is not quite right it's a jumbled and confusing
picture that is painted which quite neatly sums up Milkman. This is a story
where no one has a name and is narrated by middle sister who attempts to keep
her mother and family ignorant of her maybe boyfriend and her rumoured affair
with the Milkman. It is a story and language that tries to copy and show the
small minded approach of a hypocritical populace where to be the wrong religion
was a sentence of death, and where a strong opinion would leave you open to
persecution by the shadowy renouncers. It didn't work for me with few chapters
a total lack and use of paragraphs the whole experience was muddled and confused. If the intent of the author
was to get inside the mindset of the politically deranged "Ulsterman"
it failed miserably and was a great
disappointment to me personally.
