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Title: The Forgotten Waltz
Author: Anne Enright
Narrator: Caroline Lennon
Format: Unabridged
Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
Language: English
Release date: 06-24-16
Publisher: Isis Publishing Ltd
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
If it hadn't been for the child then none of this might have happened. She saw me kissing her father. She saw her father kissing me.
The fact that a child got mixed up in it all made us feel that it mattered, that there was no going back.
Members Reviews:
... likable characters are one of your criteria for a good book, then this one isn't it
If likable characters are one of your criteria for a good book, then this one isn't it.
There are some interesting things about the book: It is a first person narrative by Gina Moynahan, a 32 year old, childless, married woman who embarks on an affair with a married man who does have a child....a rather special child, Evie.
The narrative is rambling, contradictory, and doubles back on itself as you hear Gina's side of a story complete with her perceptions and judgments of other people and their motives. These perceptions and judgements change like quicksilver, sometimes within the same sentence.
At times, the narrative is like overhearing one side of a conversation in a coffee shop, or a cellphone conversation of a woman whose time would be better spent on a therapist's couch. Gina is shallow, self-centered, has few scruples, and is motivated by the trappings that money can buy.
The setting is Dublin during the boom time of the early 2000's, heading into the crash of 2008. So money and housing are very important to the story...as are booze, cigarettes, and lust.
And the one thing...actually person...that Gina's story hinges upon is dealt with very peripherally at the beginning and end of her story. And that is Evie, the daughter of Gina's lover, Sean. But this is characteristic of the way Gina deals with life.
The writing is very well done, even if the story is a bit worn and without much plot. Because of the economic boom and bust theme of the book, I can't help wonder if this is a bit of allegorical tale of Ireland.
A complete package
The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright (259 pages)
Winner of the Man Booker Prize, this novel, set in Ireland, was called the "best fiction book of the year" by the Wall Street Journal and "best book of the year" by Vogue. The story of an adulterous affair, it is narrated by the egocentric "other woman" in a poetic stream-of-consciousness style, mostly in flashbacks that jump between then and now, with hints of what is to come. At first, I thought it was the writing that won the praise. I had trouble relating to the narrator - an IT worker in her 30s with, apparently, no moral qualms about acting on the compelling attraction she feels toward a man who has both a wife and a young daughter. But I was intrigued by her writing style. Toward the end of the book, I decided that entire package - the characterizations, relationships, storyline, writing style, moral implications - has earned the praise and awards that have been won by this book. I don't want to say much about it in case someone who reads this will want to read the book, as the enjoyment is in discovery, in the shedding of illusions. It's an extremely interesting book, especially by the time you reach the end.
Absorbing novel--drifts at the end
Ann Enright is a gifted writer, and this book again demonstrates her skill. The characters are well drawn and the novel holds your interest. It took me a while to catch on to the rhythm of the book, presented from the point of view of the main character.
