Colm Toibin's latest novel, Nora Webster (#451) is, on the surface, a story about an Irish widow during the 1960s trying to adjust to her new life status and raise her four children properly. Not much happens in terms of plot, as she lives her ordinary life, yet Toibin has infused this work with such understanding and sympathy that Nora Webster rises far above its prosaic subject matter.
Nora doesn't always make the right decisions but slowly she begins to move forward into the future and become, really for the first time, her own person, whether or not those around her like it and approve of her actions, or whether they encourage her to push beyond her boundaries.
It's been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and when you read it, you'll have no trouble understanding why.
No comments:
Post a Comment