August is a Wicked Month

Product Information

I’m going to have to hunt through my London TBR (now safely arrived) to see what other O’Brien gems I squirrelled away. This novel might be made into an independent movie, but it could never be a mainstream Hollywood film with Julia Roberts. This is more of a precursor to the Charles Manson darkness with which that decade culminated than a celebration of excess.

The title is regularly mentioned to this day by commentators on topics ranging from business and politics to fashion and weather. when, suddenly, I spotted a black and white book cover featuring a snarky gal with a cigarette dangling from her mouth.The tight, bright book has no marks, bumps or writings over its 221 pages, apart from a small indent in the middle of the spine.

Notable works also include August Is a Wicked Month (1965), A Pagan Place (1970), Lantern Slides (1990), and The Light of Evening (2006). The next John Banville book on the agenda is "Nightspawn", his debut novel published in 1971, which I will review the last weekend of February.

O'Brien's protagonist is a young, divorced, mother, who decides to go on a frisky holiday for the week her child is away with his father. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Predators pounce as politicians dither: With the very survival of the euro in doubt, Ireland's fiscal position is heading in a very Italian direction warns Marc Coleman". She has also received, among other honors, the Irish PEN Award for Literature, the Ulysses Medal from University College Dublin, and a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Literary Academy.

It left me with very mixed feelings about Ellen, whilst she was in France I wanted to go up on her, shake by the shoulders and tell her not to be so stupid but whilst in the UK I wanted to give her a big hug. Nevertheless, there is a new level of ennui and resignation, of displacement and alienation that in some ways reminded me of—and anticipates—Joan Didion's early fiction: Play It as It Lays and Book of Common Prayer.This is not a book I will recommend to most people as many of my friends do not like unsavory characters and negative emotions.

August may be a wicked month for Miss Edna o'brien [sic] but it's one of the busiest in the calendar for local fashion watchers. When the dad takes the boy for a week long summer camping trip, Ellen decides to go on holiday herself. A week into her leave, a male friend she’s known for about a year drops by and kisses her in the garden. The copyright page states first published 1965 indicating the first edition, with copyright Edna O¿Brien 1965. After being brought as low as possible, Ellen does find her way back to herself and living her life.In my opinion O’Brien is a less happy and less moral Barbara Pym, she’s a MUCH happier and sexier Anita Brookner and for some reason I want to throw in W. Later she meets a group of wealthy party-goers who explore the Riviera, beaches, restaurants and a fabulous French mansion. The actor and his hangers on stop by their table at the bar and they’re swept into a party at someone’s mansion. A novel about thirty-something Londoner Ellen who, while estranged from her husband, has a meaningless vacation affair on the French Riviera.