House of Splendid Isolation is a 1994 novel by Irish novelist Edna O'Brien. The novel depicts the relations of an Irish Republican Army[which?] terrorist and his hostage, an elderly woman.[1] The novel brings elements of the thriller genre to O'Brien's ongoing explorations of Irish society.[1] It is based on the life of Dominic McGlinchy, whom O'Brien interviewed while incarcerated in Portlaoise Prison.
 First UK edition (publ. Weidenfeld & Nicolson) | |
| Author | Edna O'Brien |
|---|---|
Publication date | June 1, 1994 |
| ISBN | 0-374-17309-5 |
Reception
editThe New York Times gave a mediocre review calling the novel both "a brave book, and if it does not altogether succeed, [and an] attempt nonetheless [that] merits praise."[1] The review notes that the novel is a "dramatic departure" from O'Brien's typical novels, and in that context of experiment "we see her audacity fail and her elegant prose run badly out of control."[1] The Independent was decidedly negative, writing "there could hardly be a neater illustration of O'Brien's fatal humourlessness, and of the extent to which too much posing as a tragedy queen has turned her deaf to her own bathetic effects."[2]
Publishers Weekly was slightly more positive, noting that the scenes about McGreevy the terrorist were unsuccessful, but describing the novel on a whole as "Powerful, however, is the elegiac voice on themes of womanly love, the tale's psychological acuity and the re-creation of a haunted landscape."[3] Kirkus Reviews describes it as successful, its "well worth reading as O'Brien's first concentrated treatment of the troubles--and the pain they visit on the Irish people."[4]
References
edit- ^ a b c d L'Heureux, John (26 June 1994). "The Terrorist and the Lady". New York Times Review of Books.
- ^ "BOOK REVIEW / Tears and terror in the wind: 'House of Splendid". The Independent. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: House of Splendid Isolation by Edna O'Brien". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ "HOUSE OF SPLENDID ISOLATION by Edna OBrien | Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
Further reading
edit- Harris, Michael (1 January 2006). "Outside History: Edna O'Brien's House of Splendid Isolation". New Hibernia Review. 10 (1): 111–122. doi:10.1353/nhr.2006.0023. ISSN 1534-5815. S2CID 144719971.
- King, Sophia Hillan (1 January 2000). "On the Side of Life: Edna O'Brien's Trilogy of Contemporary Ireland". New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua. 4 (2): 49–66. JSTOR 20557659.
- Lindahl-Raittila, Iris (1 January 2006). "Negotiating Irishness: Edna O'Brien's 1990s Trilogy". Nordic Irish Studies. 5: 73–86. JSTOR 30001544.