Remembering Light And Stone (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
That Deirdre Madden has been compared to Jean Rhys gives you some indication of what to expect from this novel: soul-searching and angst. As Rhys so often did, Madden focusses here on a young woman, in this case Aisling, who, having left her native Ireland some years before, finds herself working as an interpreter and translator in a small town in Umbria. Madden draws you deeply into this world with her vivid, sensual writing; you'll learn more than perhaps you'd care to know about the sordid grubbiness underlying Umbria's picture-postcard surface, and the dichotomy between the Italy beloved of tourists and the real Italy. Ever the odd one out, Aisling veers between the outsider's inability to understand the peculiar world in which she finds herself, and the occasional flashes of insight that probably only a true outsider could ever have. There are a lot of disturbing reflections on life, love, sex and death, like this one: "The sun itself that made the fruit so ripe and big, that seemed to make the people bloom so early and so evidently, mercilessly pushed everything over into decay ..." - and this is just the very first page!As Aisling says elsewhere, "I'm not a person who has much talent for happiness." Well, you can say that again! This is actually one of the problems with this book: for a grown woman, Aisling spends an awful lot of time moaning like a teenager. Her sullen dislike of just about everyone and everything makes her trying company sometimes. After all, her life isn't so very bad: she lives in a beautiful place, and has a secure job and a kind-hearted, sweet-tempered, intelligent boyfriend, but none of these things seem to make her happy. There's a dearth of humour here, and a lack too of those little light-hearted moments and small consolations that help to make life bearable for most of us.However, and having said that, this is actually a pretty compelling read. The plot's quite thin, but this is really a novel about a woman's inner life, and Madden is so lucid, so intelligent, and so astute that the narrative not only carries you along but also makes the journey well worth your while. Indeed, a week or more after finishing the novel, I find it lingering in my mind, which is surely one of the measures of an author's success.Needless to say, if you want a light-hearted little read, this is not the book for you. But if you've a high tolerance threshold for weltschmerz, and want to read something a little more intelligent and challenging than your average blockbuster, why not try this? I can't promise that you'll enjoy it exactly, but I don't think you'll regret making the effort.
What do You think about Remembering Light And Stone (1994)?
