Publication
Plume (2002), 192 p.
Original publication date
1960
Collections
Genres
Awards
Irish Book Award (Winner — Non-Fiction — 2012)
Description
Edna O'Brien's wonderful, wild and moving novel shocked the nation on its publication in 1960. Adapted for the stage by the author, The Country Girls, the play, is a highly theatrical and free-flowing telling of this classic coming of age story.
User reviews
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien is a semi-autobiographical story of a young girl growing up in 1960’s Ireland. Caithleen Brady is the child of a violent drunkard father and a long-suffering mother. She is raised in poverty with their farm slowly being run into the ground. She is close to two
The two girls go to convent school together, although much of the time they are at odds. Caithleen is naive, a romantic dreamer while Baba is a realist, one who always looks out for herself. The girls eventually arrange to have themselves expelled and they then go to Dublin where Caithleen works in a market and Baba attends secretarial school. Baba wants freedom, to live the single party life while Caithleen, in her search for stability and love, gets involved with an older married man from her village. When each girl’s lifestyle falls apart, they must now learn to rely upon themselves.
The Country Girls is the first novel of Edna O’Brien and my first read by this author. I loved the story, although my own upbringing was very different, I found I could identify with Caithleen at times. Although written in straight-forward prose and an easy read, there is a lot going on underneath the simple language. Ireland of the 1960s was tightly controlled by the Catholic Church and it’s male dominated society. Women had very little freedom of choice, they were expected to marry or become nuns. This book touches on many subjects like alcohol abuse, repression of women and the hypocrisy of religion which caused quite an uproar when it was first published. Personally, I was totally engaged by this deceptively simple, quiet, coming-of-age story.
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females, her mother and her friend Baba. Tragically she is about to lose her mother and her friend is really jealous and mean spirited.The two girls go to convent school together, although much of the time they are at odds. Caithleen is naive, a romantic dreamer while Baba is a realist, one who always looks out for herself. The girls eventually arrange to have themselves expelled and they then go to Dublin where Caithleen works in a market and Baba attends secretarial school. Baba wants freedom, to live the single party life while Caithleen, in her search for stability and love, gets involved with an older married man from her village. When each girl’s lifestyle falls apart, they must now learn to rely upon themselves.
The Country Girls is the first novel of Edna O’Brien and my first read by this author. I loved the story, although my own upbringing was very different, I found I could identify with Caithleen at times. Although written in straight-forward prose and an easy read, there is a lot going on underneath the simple language. Ireland of the 1960s was tightly controlled by the Catholic Church and it’s male dominated society. Women had very little freedom of choice, they were expected to marry or become nuns. This book touches on many subjects like alcohol abuse, repression of women and the hypocrisy of religion which caused quite an uproar when it was first published. Personally, I was totally engaged by this deceptively simple, quiet, coming-of-age story.
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LibraryThing member otterley
This was an unexpected book. I'm not sure why I'd been expecting a comedy, but if this is a comedy, it's of the blacker kind. Cathleen grows up in rural Ireland and is drawn to the lights of Dublin and the lures of older, more experienced, more married men. O'Brien portrays Cathleen's naivety and
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unreliability as a first person narrator who clearly only sees scraps of what's going on and puts these together to make huge mistakes. The country and its people, the convent school and finally Dublin are portrayed in the harsh spotlight of a clever girl with the unconscious cruelty of youth and beauty. While she suffers, she survives. Others don't. Show Less
LibraryThing member nandadevi
Country Girls is the first of three novels following an Irish girl from childhood to middle age. It would be wrong to say that this is an autobiographical novel, but its portrayal of an impoverished country childhood, the convent school, and the first steps to independence in 1950´s Dublin could
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not have been written by anyone who hadn´t been there. The dialog and imagery reaches across half a century with the same expressive power that caused the book to be burnt in Ireland on its first publication. In fact, in todays terms it is not that startling. However it is testimony to the ability of O´Brien to recreate the ścene, that the reader can readily engage with the atmosphere of repression and the small acts of rebellion and liberalism. It has been said that Ireland´s greatest gift to the world is words, and O´Brien´s use of them is brilliant. She reminds me of Brendan Behan, that economical painting of character and scene, and lively dialogue. Altogether a great book, about Ireland, growing up, and young women. It is deservedly placed in more than a few of those lists of the best novels of all time. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mercury57
The Country Girls sent shock waves through rural Ireland when it was published in 1960. Across the sea, London was about to enter the Swinging Sixties but in Eire, sex was seldom mentioned openly and especially not when it involved unmarried girls. Edna O’Brien’s novel about two girls who leave
Reading the book now, the elements that were considered so startling in the 1960s, seem creepy rather than shocking.
This is essentially a coming of age story of Caithleen and Baba, two young country girls on the verge of womanhood who leave the sheltered environment of their convent school for the city in search of life, love and fun. Before they get to Dublin however we learn about their childhood, about drunken fathers, and impoverished families, of convent education and schoolgirl acts of rebellion and misbehaviour..
All of this would make for a novel that is nothing remarkable, those themes and events having been played out in many other works already. O’Brien signals that something is different however when she introduces a figure known only as Mr Gentleman. Although he is decidedly older and also married, he begins to take the 14-year-old Caithleen out in his large black car; first on a shopping trip to Limerick and then dinner where he encourages her to drink wine (she decides she prefers the taste of lemonade). Each time they meet, he edges across the barrier of acceptability, hand holding turns into kisses of her hand then all the way up her arm. By the time she’s in Dublin, they’re spending the whole night kissing and canoodling in his car watching the sun rise over the sea. Our Caithleen isn’t exactly reliable – there are lots of gaps in her accounts of what really happens between them – but it’s not difficult to fill in the blanks. Is she really as innocent as she seems? She’s an intelligent girl but she doesn’t seem to realise that she is slowly being groomed and that there really is no happy ending possible.
O’Brien brings the spirit of Eire vividly to life through two characters who make you laugh one moment and make you cringe the next as yet another example of their naivety is revealed. On the whole though I found it a bit so-so. The story of how O’Brien actually came to write this book and the repercussions on her marriage (as revealed in her 2013 memoir The Country Girl), is far more interesting than the book itself.
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their convent upbringing and small village life in search of life and love in city, was castigated for daring to break the silence. O’Brien, who was living in London at the time, found her novel banned in her home country and her parents so ashamed that they refused to speak to her.Reading the book now, the elements that were considered so startling in the 1960s, seem creepy rather than shocking.
This is essentially a coming of age story of Caithleen and Baba, two young country girls on the verge of womanhood who leave the sheltered environment of their convent school for the city in search of life, love and fun. Before they get to Dublin however we learn about their childhood, about drunken fathers, and impoverished families, of convent education and schoolgirl acts of rebellion and misbehaviour..
All of this would make for a novel that is nothing remarkable, those themes and events having been played out in many other works already. O’Brien signals that something is different however when she introduces a figure known only as Mr Gentleman. Although he is decidedly older and also married, he begins to take the 14-year-old Caithleen out in his large black car; first on a shopping trip to Limerick and then dinner where he encourages her to drink wine (she decides she prefers the taste of lemonade). Each time they meet, he edges across the barrier of acceptability, hand holding turns into kisses of her hand then all the way up her arm. By the time she’s in Dublin, they’re spending the whole night kissing and canoodling in his car watching the sun rise over the sea. Our Caithleen isn’t exactly reliable – there are lots of gaps in her accounts of what really happens between them – but it’s not difficult to fill in the blanks. Is she really as innocent as she seems? She’s an intelligent girl but she doesn’t seem to realise that she is slowly being groomed and that there really is no happy ending possible.
O’Brien brings the spirit of Eire vividly to life through two characters who make you laugh one moment and make you cringe the next as yet another example of their naivety is revealed. On the whole though I found it a bit so-so. The story of how O’Brien actually came to write this book and the repercussions on her marriage (as revealed in her 2013 memoir The Country Girl), is far more interesting than the book itself.
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LibraryThing member Dreesie
A tough one to rate. A very easy read, actual would be fine for high school.
This coming-of-age story features two girls, Caitleen and Baba. They have known each other for most of their lives, and Baba has always been a bit of a bully. When they go to a convent school together (Cait gets a
Cait is a hardworking, kind, sweet girl who is also not bright or brave enough to put Baba in her place. After the death of her mother and her father's selling of his inherited property, Cait stays with Baba's family.
I'm not sure why this book is seen as a classic. Perhaps these girls' lives--poor and not poor, the drinking of so many men, being from the country, educational opportunities for girls, and then their lives in Dublin--is so classic for Ireland at the time?
This coming-of-age story features two girls, Caitleen and Baba. They have known each other for most of their lives, and Baba has always been a bit of a bully. When they go to a convent school together (Cait gets a
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scholarship), Baba decides they are best friends. And she continues to Bully her friend into doing what she (Baba) wants.Cait is a hardworking, kind, sweet girl who is also not bright or brave enough to put Baba in her place. After the death of her mother and her father's selling of his inherited property, Cait stays with Baba's family.
I'm not sure why this book is seen as a classic. Perhaps these girls' lives--poor and not poor, the drinking of so many men, being from the country, educational opportunities for girls, and then their lives in Dublin--is so classic for Ireland at the time?
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LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
Caithleen and Bridget are best friends as girls in County Clare. It’s a volatile friendship that might at times be indistinguishable from bitter enmity. Bridget, known as Baba, is the daughter of the veterinary doctor, who is an important man in this rural community. Caithleen is the daughter of
O’Brien’s writing here is fresh and immediate. Caithleen is both naive and highly observant. Whole paragraphs present one clear-eyed observation after another in staccato fashion, lending the text an insistent though distanced tone. It’s as though Caithleen doesn’t dare settle for too long in her own mind with her own thoughts, which turn either to the horrors of her childhood or romantic notions of what will aid her escape from same. Caithleen is presented as put upon by her friend, her father, her teachers, and various older men, each of whom would like to have their way with her. Only her optimistic temperament serves as bulwark against the tide of despair. Such is the life of country girls, a life which is not made better by moving up to Dublin, the city.
Reading this novel 60 years after its first publication, it still feels vital. It’s a testament to O’Brien’s talent, fully justified by the many novels and stories she would go on to write in the years that followed.
Easily recommended.
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a feckless and sometimes violent man who has squandered his inherited wealth and land on drink and riotous behaviour. Caithleen and her mother live in fear when the man of the house is on a tear. It’s more than either of them can bear. When Caithleen’s mother returns to her family home, and tragedy strikes, it is accompanied by the utter loss of Caithleen’s father’s remaining wealth, as the bank repossesses the farm. Virtually destitute, Caithleen is taken in by Bridget’s family and together they are headed to a nunnery to further their education, and from thence on to their real lives.O’Brien’s writing here is fresh and immediate. Caithleen is both naive and highly observant. Whole paragraphs present one clear-eyed observation after another in staccato fashion, lending the text an insistent though distanced tone. It’s as though Caithleen doesn’t dare settle for too long in her own mind with her own thoughts, which turn either to the horrors of her childhood or romantic notions of what will aid her escape from same. Caithleen is presented as put upon by her friend, her father, her teachers, and various older men, each of whom would like to have their way with her. Only her optimistic temperament serves as bulwark against the tide of despair. Such is the life of country girls, a life which is not made better by moving up to Dublin, the city.
Reading this novel 60 years after its first publication, it still feels vital. It’s a testament to O’Brien’s talent, fully justified by the many novels and stories she would go on to write in the years that followed.
Easily recommended.
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LibraryThing member Kristelh
The story of a friendship between two country girls as they enter adolescence in Ireland in the time period after WWII. Kate Brady and Baba Brennen are friends. Kate’s father is an alcoholic and Baba’s father is a veterinarian. Kate is poor and earns a scholarship to a Catholic school. They go
I actually enjoyed this story. It reminded me of Angela’s Ashes for some reason. I listened to audio version, read by the author. She isn’t the best reader nor the worst and her accent gave the story “place”. This book was banned in Ireland because of the sexual content.
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together to school where there friendship is strained but then Baba wants them to get kicked out so they are expelled and leave for life in the city. I actually enjoyed this story. It reminded me of Angela’s Ashes for some reason. I listened to audio version, read by the author. She isn’t the best reader nor the worst and her accent gave the story “place”. This book was banned in Ireland because of the sexual content.
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LibraryThing member mahallett
I love Ireland
LibraryThing member k6gst
The Country Girls was her first book, based on her girlhood, and it made her reputation. It was publicly burned in Ireland, including in her home town. Archbishop McQuaid said that it was filth and should not be allowed in any decent home. The problem was basically that it does mention that the
The plot follows the travails of two west Irish country girls in their teens from their village, to a convent school, to work as Dublin shop assistants. I very much enjoyed it, and I recommend it to you.
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rural Irish of the 1950s were not infrequently drunk, randy, and prone to hit each other, which they were rather hoping to keep a secret, I guess.The plot follows the travails of two west Irish country girls in their teens from their village, to a convent school, to work as Dublin shop assistants. I very much enjoyed it, and I recommend it to you.
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LibraryThing member browner56
In The Country Girls, author Edna O’Brien tells the story of Caithleen Brady and Bridget Brennan, two girls growing up in Ireland sometime after the end of the Second World War. As the first installment of a trilogy that follows the young women through adulthood, this novel focuses on their
I have to admit to being a little bit leery about reading this novel. Sometimes, when you pick up an Important book by an Influential author who is new to you, it can feel more like an effort to check a box on a list rather than a pleasurable experience. Happily, that was simply not true in this case. O’Brien did a masterful job of drawing her main characters—particularly Cait, around whom the story really centers—and the tale was engaging from beginning to end. Although much has been made of what this book represented to the cause of liberating women from the restrictive social mores in Ireland of the day, I found it to be equally compelling in painting a loving, yet unflinching portrait of what life was like in that long-ago time and place. (In that respect, this work compares to Willa Cather’s The Prairie Trilogy, another writer I greatly admire.) This is a novel that I can easily recommend for its superb writing and groundbreaking insights.
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adolescence, from fourteen to eighteen years of age. The story opens with Cait and Baba striving for a way out of their repressed lives in a small village near Limerick. Cait’s plight is particularly grim, with a violent, alcoholic father and a beloved mother destined to meet a tragic fate. The on-again, off-again friends soon escape to a convent boarding school, but that situation also proves to be stultifying and the pair conspire to get expelled in order to start over once again in Dublin. Once there, the girls take very different paths in their quest to find romance, true love, and meaning in their lives.I have to admit to being a little bit leery about reading this novel. Sometimes, when you pick up an Important book by an Influential author who is new to you, it can feel more like an effort to check a box on a list rather than a pleasurable experience. Happily, that was simply not true in this case. O’Brien did a masterful job of drawing her main characters—particularly Cait, around whom the story really centers—and the tale was engaging from beginning to end. Although much has been made of what this book represented to the cause of liberating women from the restrictive social mores in Ireland of the day, I found it to be equally compelling in painting a loving, yet unflinching portrait of what life was like in that long-ago time and place. (In that respect, this work compares to Willa Cather’s The Prairie Trilogy, another writer I greatly admire.) This is a novel that I can easily recommend for its superb writing and groundbreaking insights.
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LibraryThing member thewestwing
3.5 stars. I’m reading this trilogy as part of the Dublin : One Book One City initiative. Compared to modern day this book is very quaint when it comes to sex.
LibraryThing member skavlanj
A Book That Came Out The Year You Were Born
I could have categorized The Country Girls under "A Trilogy," and perhaps reading all three novels would have helped me appreciate this one more. Not being Irish, Catholic or a child of the '50s (much less female) prevented me from comprehending the
The Country Girls is the story of two young Irish girls, Caithleen and Bridget, who maintain a tenuous friendship through the death of Cait's mother and their "incarceration" in the convent they were sent to, ostensibly to be educated. During this time, fourteen-year-old Cait begins a highly romanticized affair with a much older married man, referred to as Mr. Gentleman due to her difficulty pronouncing his surname. She is ultimately expelled from the school her family cannot afford without the scholarship she earns after succumbing to the malignant influence of her purported friend. Whereupon the girls take up joint residency of a room in a lower-class boardinghouse in Dublin and their "education" continues.
Another book on all versions of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list, The Country Girls reads like a train wreck in the making, with the premonition of catastrophe awaiting in the subsequent volumes.
I could have categorized The Country Girls under "A Trilogy," and perhaps reading all three novels would have helped me appreciate this one more. Not being Irish, Catholic or a child of the '50s (much less female) prevented me from comprehending the
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groundbreaking nature of Edna O'Brien's story without the insights provided in the introduction (read after the novel and to be taken with a grain of feminist salt).The Country Girls is the story of two young Irish girls, Caithleen and Bridget, who maintain a tenuous friendship through the death of Cait's mother and their "incarceration" in the convent they were sent to, ostensibly to be educated. During this time, fourteen-year-old Cait begins a highly romanticized affair with a much older married man, referred to as Mr. Gentleman due to her difficulty pronouncing his surname. She is ultimately expelled from the school her family cannot afford without the scholarship she earns after succumbing to the malignant influence of her purported friend. Whereupon the girls take up joint residency of a room in a lower-class boardinghouse in Dublin and their "education" continues.
Another book on all versions of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list, The Country Girls reads like a train wreck in the making, with the premonition of catastrophe awaiting in the subsequent volumes.
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LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
I found this fairly boring. The bits that might have been shocking in 1960 just aren't today. That the girls get mixed up with several dirty old men is still par for the course, the more so because the girls were very ignorant. Neither girl is interesting.
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
9780452283435
Physical description
192 p.; 5.38 inches
Pages
192