Milkman by Anna Burns

'Hold on a minute,' I said. 'Are you saying it's okay for him to go around with Semtex but not okay for me to read Jane Eyre in public?'

~p. 200

The unnamed heroine known only as Middle Sister in Milkman by Anna Burns is a teenager living in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. She has a boyfriend of sorts, although nothing official, so she refers to him as Maybe Boyfriend. And, she has a job, to which she often walks while reading. After Maybe Boyfriend receives a car part from Over the Water (I think that's right . . . meaning the UK), he's accused of being a sympathizer with the English cause. Shortly after, someone begins following our heroine around and trying to lure her into his vehicle, offering her a ride and noting that it's dangerous the way she walks with her head in a book. 

From there, things escalate. The man who offered her the ride is known as the Milkman. But, he's not the Real Milkman who delivers milk. In fact, nobody's quite sure why he's called Milkman. He begins to show up wherever she goes. Clearly, he's watching her, and as he continues trying to talk her into going with him, he also begins to subtly threaten Maybe Boyfriend with comments like, "A guy who works on cars might easily find himself the victim of a car bomb, yes?" (Not a direct quote)

No matter where Middle Sister goes — work, school, the park to run with her brother-in-law — either the Milkman shows up or she hears clicking noises, indicating that someone is taking her picture. 

As the incidents increase and the most negative spin possible is made on everything she does, even by her family members, Middle Sister begins to believe that it's not just Maybe Boyfriend who's in danger. Who will survive the escalating tensions caused by the Milkman?

Highly recommended - Milkman is funny, tense, complex, and utterly exhausting because of its lack of paragraph and chapter breaks (there are 7 chapters in approximately 350 pages and the pages are dense, with little white space) but it is a mindblowing, unique and exceptional read. I liked Middle Sister and hoped Milkman wouldn't harm her. 

I didn't always understand the subtleties because I found the vast number of factions perplexing. I just don't know enough about the Troubles to know a renouncer from a paramilitary from a hole in the head, although at times I felt like I was getting it. To that end, I'm hoping to read more about The Troubles in the near future (probably 2022 because I can't rush out to buy books about Northern Ireland, right now). Suggestions for books that will help untangle exactly who all the actors were and what they believed, their goals and demands, etc., during the Troubles are welcome. 

As I was finishing up the reading, there were some riots in Northern Ireland, the cause of which I known nothing about, but I found it interesting that the news said a gate was destroyed and that gate was in a literal wall that still exists between the Catholic and Protestant sides of the town where rioting occurred. That surprised me. I had no idea those divisions still existed but it makes the book feel even more meaningful. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Having never loved or been loved in that previous place, they were frozen here in a youthful state of perpetual emotional vacuity; interested only in freedom, profligacy, and high-jinks, railing against any limitation or commitment whatsoever. 

~from. p. 118, description of three young male ghosts

Well, what of it. 
No one who has ever done anything worth doing has gone uncriticized. As regards the matter at hand (as regards him), I am, at least, above any--
Thus thought Mr. Lincoln.
But then his (our) eyes shut, in a slow remembering sorrow-wince. 

~p. 236

Lincoln in the Bardo is a tale of life and death, ghosts and letting go. Willie Lincoln has just died and his father has taken him out of what the ghosts in the bardo call his "sick box" (his coffin). In his grief, President Lincoln attempts to will his son back to life. Now, Willie's trapped between life and whatever comes next. I had to look up the word "bardo" and found that it's a Buddhist term for the place between death and the next life. I'm not sure that's how Saunders uses the term. It feels more like a place to avoid heaven or hell, one in which it requires some effort to stay or into which one is thrown when someone refuses to let go (as in Willie's case).

I've heard people describe Lincoln in the Bardo as "weird, really weird" and that's true. It's certainly offbeat and unusual. But, Saunders is pretty much the King of Weird, in my opinion. His imagination is boundless, his use of the English language masterful, his storytelling strong, his use of metaphor mind-boggling (I'm thinking mostly of his other work when referring to metaphor), and his characterization beyond reproach. So, while the story may be an odd one, I always got the sense that Saunders knew exactly where he was taking the reader and why -- and he did it with flair.

Those last few pages definitely make it clear what the author was trying to say in his unique way: Life is grand, enjoy it while you can.

Highly recommended - I gave Lincoln in the Bardo 4 out of 5 stars because it was not a book that grabbed me and held on, but I can't take off more than a point. The writing is so skillful that it's hard to criticize anything about Lincoln in the Bardo beyond saying that it's weird and jumpy. If only for the fact that Saunders set his story in a place that required the creation of dozens of different voices, you have to admire the craftsmanship involved.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.