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The Country Girls Trilogy #3
Girls in Their Married Bliss
In the third volume in the acclaimed Country Girls trilogy, which began with The Country Girls and The Lonely Girl, Kate and Baba, two ambitious Irish country girls, take on the bright lights of Dublin as they find romantic misadventures, unexpected trials, and love. Reprint.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Edna O'Brien
97 books1,132 followersEdna O’Brien is an award-winning Irish author of novels, plays, and short stories, has been hailed as one of the greatest chroniclers of the female experience in the twentieth century. She is the 2011 recipient of the Frank O’Connor Prize, awarded for her short story collection Saints and Sinners. 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. Her 1960 debut novel, The Country Girl, was banned in her native Ireland for its groundbreaking depictions of female sexuality. Notable works also include August Is a Wicked Month (1965), A Pagan Place (1970), Lantern Slides (1990), and The Light of Evening (2006). O’Brien lives in London.
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November 9, 2023
AMICHE GENIALI
Kate e Baba sono cresciute, queste è il loro terzo e ultimo capitolo.
Hanno lasciato l’Irlanda, la vorrebbero ormai alle spalle, ma qualche tentacolo non molla mai.
Sono approdate a Londra, sono entrambe sposate, ed entrambe inseguono senza successo la felicità coniugale. Anche fuori dal matrimonio.
Sono diventate donne, adulte, ma non hanno perso la voglia, meglio dire la necessità, di ribellarsi, di non accettare una condizione che le relega in secondo piano, le considera esseri umani di categoria inferiore.
Le due ragazze sono ancora amiche, anche se passano insieme meno tempo di prima. Si sono sposate, entrambe con un uomo che definirei non alla loro altezza, non foss’altro quella emotiva.
Kate è perfino andata (tornata) a vivere in provincia, anche se si chiama periferia.
Le cose non vanno bene, non sono luminose come vorrebbero, devono ancora lottare, devono ancora stare attente a non soccombere ed essere schiacciate.
Parafrasando il titolo, ecco donne nell'infelicità coniugale.
Mi sedetti a pensare a quei diciotto mesi a Londra, a tutti gli uomini che avevo conosciuto e alla faticaccia di rammendarsi i collant sul tallone e di mantenere la pelle del viso ben idratata per quell’Uomo Giusto che doveva arrivare, prima o poi.
O’Brien sceglie di cedere il testimone della voce narrante ogni tanto e lo affida a Baba: quindi, terza persona e prima singolare si alternano nel corso delle pagine.
Chiaro che con un’autobiografia come questa – fuggita da un paesino irlandese insieme a un uomo sposato, col quale ha avuto due figli, per poi separarsi come conseguenza del grande successo “osceno” (e blasfemo) del suo primo romanzo, il primo di questa trilogia, Ragazze di campagna - è facile pensa re che queste due ragazze, Kate e Baba, condividano molto della loro creatrice.
La trilogia iniziò a uscire nel 1960 e fu subito scandalo. Questo terzo e ultimo romanzo apparve nel 1964: i Beatles erano in cima alla hit parade col loro secondo 33 giri e stavano per andare a conquistare l’America. Londra veniva definita “swinging” e le gonne si stavano per accorciare: con gioia di Kate e Baba Mary Quant stava per lanciare la minigonna. Anche la tanto attesa rivoluzione sessuale si stava avviando, grazie ai giovani. Grazie a ragazze come Kate e Baba.
Kate e Baba sono cresciute, queste è il loro terzo e ultimo capitolo.
Hanno lasciato l’Irlanda, la vorrebbero ormai alle spalle, ma qualche tentacolo non molla mai.
Sono approdate a Londra, sono entrambe sposate, ed entrambe inseguono senza successo la felicità coniugale. Anche fuori dal matrimonio.
Sono diventate donne, adulte, ma non hanno perso la voglia, meglio dire la necessità, di ribellarsi, di non accettare una condizione che le relega in secondo piano, le considera esseri umani di categoria inferiore.
Le due ragazze sono ancora amiche, anche se passano insieme meno tempo di prima. Si sono sposate, entrambe con un uomo che definirei non alla loro altezza, non foss’altro quella emotiva.
Kate è perfino andata (tornata) a vivere in provincia, anche se si chiama periferia.
Le cose non vanno bene, non sono luminose come vorrebbero, devono ancora lottare, devono ancora stare attente a non soccombere ed essere schiacciate.
Parafrasando il titolo, ecco donne nell'infelicità coniugale.
Mi sedetti a pensare a quei diciotto mesi a Londra, a tutti gli uomini che avevo conosciuto e alla faticaccia di rammendarsi i collant sul tallone e di mantenere la pelle del viso ben idratata per quell’Uomo Giusto che doveva arrivare, prima o poi.
O’Brien sceglie di cedere il testimone della voce narrante ogni tanto e lo affida a Baba: quindi, terza persona e prima singolare si alternano nel corso delle pagine.
Chiaro che con un’autobiografia come questa – fuggita da un paesino irlandese insieme a un uomo sposato, col quale ha avuto due figli, per poi separarsi come conseguenza del grande successo “osceno” (e blasfemo) del suo primo romanzo, il primo di questa trilogia, Ragazze di campagna - è facile pensa re che queste due ragazze, Kate e Baba, condividano molto della loro creatrice.
La trilogia iniziò a uscire nel 1960 e fu subito scandalo. Questo terzo e ultimo romanzo apparve nel 1964: i Beatles erano in cima alla hit parade col loro secondo 33 giri e stavano per andare a conquistare l’America. Londra veniva definita “swinging” e le gonne si stavano per accorciare: con gioia di Kate e Baba Mary Quant stava per lanciare la minigonna. Anche la tanto attesa rivoluzione sessuale si stava avviando, grazie ai giovani. Grazie a ragazze come Kate e Baba.
June 16, 2021
This novel, the third in Edna O'Brien's trilogy, is my least favourite of the three. The consolation is that it has, by far, the best title.
Lately, I've been reaching for "sure things" in my reading life. Edna O'Brien is part of that. The Country Girls and The Lonely Girl are two delicious, delightful literary treats. I was thrilled by the natural ease in which they are written, and was taken in by the compelling journey of two best friends making their way through life in 1950s Ireland. So when I reached for Girls in Their Married Bliss it was with a knowing smirk. Oh, to be in Kate and Baba's world again, what a salve!
Right away though, I sensed something was different. Baba starts off as narrator, which is a notable switch. She's the irreverent, thick skinned rebel of the two, the one you love to hate, or is it the other way around? Anyway, I sure did enjoy seeing things from her point of view for once, right from the first sentence:
Not long ago Kate Brady and I were having a few gloomy gin fizzes up London, bemoaning the fact that nothing would ever improve, that we'd die the way were were - enough to eat, married, dissatisfied.
However, when I noted the decidedly dark direction this was going, it became apparent to me that O'Brien might have had other reasons for using bad-girl-Baba as the main narrator. And I knew, with a sinking heart, this wasn't the sure thing I hoped it would be. Oh, dear.
There was no Mr. Gentleman. No harmless flirtations going on to amuse and interest. Instead, this story, in a decidedly minor key, tells the carnage of marriage and infidelities. That moment when you realize your spouse is your deepest disappointment, and the knowledge that you are theirs. The point of no return. A child, used as a weapon.
I felt disappointed because in the first two books, Kate and Baba broke the mold of what was expected from good Catholic girls in the 1950s. It's not that I expected them to come through intact and unscathed, and that I could read this book while laying on the beach, giggling and sipping a margarita (ha!)... but I did have expectations of their countering what they were up against. Maybe not winning the battle, but forging their own ways, or at least trying. Instead, the conclusion to this otherwise balanced series was extremely dark and pessimistic.
O'Brien does a good job of depicting marriage as more of a religious and societal construct than a loving partnership. The couples barely even know one another, are unspeakably cruel at times, and at best, tolerate each other. While Baba's brash perspective does provide some levity, the story plunges into depths (melodrama?) I hadn't bargained for. The fates are far grimmer, the outlook far bleaker than O'Brien had led me to expect. What is going ON here, I wondered, in puzzled disappointment, turning the pages of the darkly depressing epilogue. This is The Country Girls trilogy, for goodness' sake, not The House of Mirth (another ironic title!).
Sigh. Edna O'Brien created two lovely, curious, spirited characters in Baba and Kate. Frankly, I expected more of them.
Lately, I've been reaching for "sure things" in my reading life. Edna O'Brien is part of that. The Country Girls and The Lonely Girl are two delicious, delightful literary treats. I was thrilled by the natural ease in which they are written, and was taken in by the compelling journey of two best friends making their way through life in 1950s Ireland. So when I reached for Girls in Their Married Bliss it was with a knowing smirk. Oh, to be in Kate and Baba's world again, what a salve!
Right away though, I sensed something was different. Baba starts off as narrator, which is a notable switch. She's the irreverent, thick skinned rebel of the two, the one you love to hate, or is it the other way around? Anyway, I sure did enjoy seeing things from her point of view for once, right from the first sentence:
Not long ago Kate Brady and I were having a few gloomy gin fizzes up London, bemoaning the fact that nothing would ever improve, that we'd die the way were were - enough to eat, married, dissatisfied.
However, when I noted the decidedly dark direction this was going, it became apparent to me that O'Brien might have had other reasons for using bad-girl-Baba as the main narrator. And I knew, with a sinking heart, this wasn't the sure thing I hoped it would be. Oh, dear.
There was no Mr. Gentleman. No harmless flirtations going on to amuse and interest. Instead, this story, in a decidedly minor key, tells the carnage of marriage and infidelities. That moment when you realize your spouse is your deepest disappointment, and the knowledge that you are theirs. The point of no return. A child, used as a weapon.
I felt disappointed because in the first two books, Kate and Baba broke the mold of what was expected from good Catholic girls in the 1950s. It's not that I expected them to come through intact and unscathed, and that I could read this book while laying on the beach, giggling and sipping a margarita (ha!)... but I did have expectations of their countering what they were up against. Maybe not winning the battle, but forging their own ways, or at least trying. Instead, the conclusion to this otherwise balanced series was extremely dark and pessimistic.
O'Brien does a good job of depicting marriage as more of a religious and societal construct than a loving partnership. The couples barely even know one another, are unspeakably cruel at times, and at best, tolerate each other. While Baba's brash perspective does provide some levity, the story plunges into depths (melodrama?) I hadn't bargained for. The fates are far grimmer, the outlook far bleaker than O'Brien had led me to expect. What is going ON here, I wondered, in puzzled disappointment, turning the pages of the darkly depressing epilogue. This is The Country Girls trilogy, for goodness' sake, not The House of Mirth (another ironic title!).
Sigh. Edna O'Brien created two lovely, curious, spirited characters in Baba and Kate. Frankly, I expected more of them.
January 4, 2014
If ever there was a sarcastic book title – this one is a winner.
After reading the last book in the trilogy, it seems that Edna O’Brien read a lot of Thomas Hardy growing up. Already from the very first page, as a reader you think ‘Not again!’ and you doubt this will end well.
It is still a well written book (I wouldn’t expect anything else from Edna O’Brien), but I do think it’s the weakest book in the series. The main reason for liking this book less is that I constantly wanted to shake the main character Kate, how many stupid choices can a girl make in just a few years’ time? How many times will she stumble over the very same ‘Eugene’ stone?
Stylistically this book is different from the previous in the series. No first person narrator anymore, but two swapping third person narrators: Kate and her friend Baba. Perhaps this is the reason why I felt much more distant from this book?
The other element that contributed I think, is that out of the three novels this one is the hardest to place into its historical context. It certainly must have been another scandalous book when it was released at the time, but it’s harder to place it.
After reading the last book in the trilogy, it seems that Edna O’Brien read a lot of Thomas Hardy growing up. Already from the very first page, as a reader you think ‘Not again!’ and you doubt this will end well.
It is still a well written book (I wouldn’t expect anything else from Edna O’Brien), but I do think it’s the weakest book in the series. The main reason for liking this book less is that I constantly wanted to shake the main character Kate, how many stupid choices can a girl make in just a few years’ time? How many times will she stumble over the very same ‘Eugene’ stone?
Stylistically this book is different from the previous in the series. No first person narrator anymore, but two swapping third person narrators: Kate and her friend Baba. Perhaps this is the reason why I felt much more distant from this book?
The other element that contributed I think, is that out of the three novels this one is the hardest to place into its historical context. It certainly must have been another scandalous book when it was released at the time, but it’s harder to place it.
August 28, 2019
I liked this better than the second one for one reason only; Baba’s electrifying narration. Finally got a glimpse into the person behind the frequently nasty facade and it’s hilarious, brilliant and much-needed as Cait-then-Kate was beginning to wreck my head.
March 17, 2023
This is the third in The Country Girls trilogy which I read together in a combined volume so there was also a 30-page epilogue, updating the reader on what happened 'afterwards' (up to some 20 years after the end of the third book). Don't know if this is present in the third volume when read as individual books but found it gave comprehensive closure on the characters Kate and Baba. Interestingly, the third volume is written with Baba as narrator rather than Kate, who narrated the first two. The title is a bit of a misnomer as 'Married Bliss' is certainly not what either Kate or Baba experience in their relationships - enough said, without having to designate this one as containing spoilers, which I could not resist with the first two books. Although I only rated the first two books as 3 stars, the 4 star rating for this one is for the series overall, which was entertaining even though the characters showed some annoying and self-punishing traits through much of the series. I also feel that perhaps the series is targeted at a female readership and that consequently those readers may feel more sympathy with the characters, although, having said that, I found myself rooting for Kate virtually throughout (not so much for Baba, although I got more of an understanding of her when she was narrating). So, 8/10 overall for me and would certainly read more by this author, indeed I have The Little Red Chairs on my bookshelf!
August 15, 2022
Has there ever been a more ironic title for a novel? In the third book of O'Brien's 'Country Girls' trilogy we pick up with Cait and Baba to discover they have separately married. Despite the prospect of her independence in London at the end of “The Lonely Girl”, Cait has actually married the problematic older man Eugene, given birth to his child and is in the midst of an affair when the novel begins. Baba has also married a prosperous but dull-witted man who is a poor match for this highly social and sexually forward woman. Neither of these women are content with their lives, let alone feeling anything close to bliss. Along with learning about the developments in these girls' lives which occurred between the novels the most striking thing about this latest instalment is that O'Brien has changed the narrative so it alternates between Cait and Baba's perspective. (Previously, we've been firmly locked in Cait's point of view.) It's quite emotional following the dramatic events of this novel as I've grown to closely know and care about both these girls as they've struggled to achieve their desires while developing into independent women.
At first it's a great novelty getting Baba's brashly unfiltered perspective. However, it soon feels a bit too chaotic as events unfold and it ultimately detracted from my enjoyment of following a story which had previously engrossed me.
Read my full review of Girls in their Married Bliss by Edna O'Brien at LonesomeReader
At first it's a great novelty getting Baba's brashly unfiltered perspective. However, it soon feels a bit too chaotic as events unfold and it ultimately detracted from my enjoyment of following a story which had previously engrossed me.
Read my full review of Girls in their Married Bliss by Edna O'Brien at LonesomeReader
September 21, 2022
Review written but didn’t stick. Short recap: The title is ironic. No bliss in their marriages. Foolish choices made. Their spark for life has been weakened. Cait might lose her child. Edna O’Brien again depicts Irish women’s lives in 1964 with a keen eye and wonderful writing. It’s dark.
December 30, 2015
Hmmm. This certainly ties up the tales of Baba and Caithleen (referred to as Kate in this book), but I found this not as entertaining, a bit of a drag and a bit deflated and depressing. I guessed that the title referring to Married Bliss may well have a touch of the sarcasm about it, given the reality of women and relationships in the previous two books. But even so, this is disillushionment of the highest order.
The first two books were told in the first person by Caithleen. In this, the shortest of the three, we alternate viewpoints. When we're with Baba, it's the first person, and when we're with Kate, it's in the third person. Baba's still got her sharp wit about her, but she isn't vile or hateful at all as she had been in previous books. So I guess she grew up into a proper friend for Kate? Kate herself is very tiresome in this book. In the first one her romantic nonsense was typical of teenage girls. In the second she's only 20 so she's not yet grown into herself, and hey, who of us were the finished article at 20. But she's older now, married, has a kid and the hysteria and the boo-hoos are just ramped up. I'm surprised Baba manages to put up with her as well as she does.
So, the girls are now living in London. Kate made the almighty mistake of not learning from her mistakes, and getting back with Eugene. They have a child. Neither is perfect. She's still insecure and has her head in the clouds about love and romance. Eugene is still full of his own superiority and Kate's failings - living with someone putting you down all the time will never give you chance to blossom. So he ends up cold and hating her, she sort of has an affair and it all falls apart. Baba's got herself into a loveless marriage. She's married a rich builder, who's insecure over his lack of education and class and tries to make up for it in all sorts of cringeworthy ways, which only go to emphasise what he considered the original problem in the first place. She has an affair as well. The affairs don't rescue them. Their men are no good for them, even after all their troubles. In the end it would seem, all you can really rely on is your best girlfriend.
I feel deflated.
Never did find out who sent that anonymous letter in the second book either.
The first two books were told in the first person by Caithleen. In this, the shortest of the three, we alternate viewpoints. When we're with Baba, it's the first person, and when we're with Kate, it's in the third person. Baba's still got her sharp wit about her, but she isn't vile or hateful at all as she had been in previous books. So I guess she grew up into a proper friend for Kate? Kate herself is very tiresome in this book. In the first one her romantic nonsense was typical of teenage girls. In the second she's only 20 so she's not yet grown into herself, and hey, who of us were the finished article at 20. But she's older now, married, has a kid and the hysteria and the boo-hoos are just ramped up. I'm surprised Baba manages to put up with her as well as she does.
So, the girls are now living in London. Kate made the almighty mistake of not learning from her mistakes, and getting back with Eugene. They have a child. Neither is perfect. She's still insecure and has her head in the clouds about love and romance. Eugene is still full of his own superiority and Kate's failings - living with someone putting you down all the time will never give you chance to blossom. So he ends up cold and hating her, she sort of has an affair and it all falls apart. Baba's got herself into a loveless marriage. She's married a rich builder, who's insecure over his lack of education and class and tries to make up for it in all sorts of cringeworthy ways, which only go to emphasise what he considered the original problem in the first place. She has an affair as well. The affairs don't rescue them. Their men are no good for them, even after all their troubles. In the end it would seem, all you can really rely on is your best girlfriend.
I feel deflated.
Never did find out who sent that anonymous letter in the second book either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2015
This is yet another truly fantastic piece of literature from Ireland's doyenne of fiction. 'Girls in their Married Bliss' is the third installment of Edna O'Brien's 'Country Girls' trilogy bringing the story of young, Irish friends Baba and Kate to a conclusion. I have to say that I don't think this book is the best of the series, I think the previous two were better, with the first being exceptional, in terms of the author's language and style, but, nevertheless, 'Girls in their Married Bliss' should not be missed. It is still vintage O'Brien - a writer I have become to love.
In terms of the plot and the story, 'Girls in their Married Bliss' describes the sad, stilted married lives of the two protagonists and, of course, the title is ironic in that there is not a lot of bliss to be found anywhere. In fact, the story itself is very depressing and I am not surprised other readers (from other reviews I have come across) have become alienated by it as a result. However, the themes of love, loss, marriage, family, sex, destiny and hope are still very much present as they are in the two previous parts of the trilogy and O'Brien has an unbelievable skill in being able to tell it as it is. There is no wonder her writing of this kind was censored and banned in the 1960s upon publication in Ireland because of the author's frank and uncompromising nature to deal with such sensitive and controversial topics. Her writing and style of prose, although very different in this book as it switches between first and third person (the former being from Baba's perspective), is a joy to behold.
I encourage all those not just with a passion for Irish literature and Irish affairs but anyone who wants to read an honest novel with real characters and amazing storytelling to read Edna O'Brien. Here is a writer who bears all on the written page, a writer who is fierce in her desire to narrate and create a memorable story. I will end with a quote from Philip Roth which graces the cover of the 2007 Phoenix edition: "The most gifted woman now writing fiction in English".
Read Edna O'Brien and be changed, for this is a writer who really does matter!
AJP 07/01/2015
In terms of the plot and the story, 'Girls in their Married Bliss' describes the sad, stilted married lives of the two protagonists and, of course, the title is ironic in that there is not a lot of bliss to be found anywhere. In fact, the story itself is very depressing and I am not surprised other readers (from other reviews I have come across) have become alienated by it as a result. However, the themes of love, loss, marriage, family, sex, destiny and hope are still very much present as they are in the two previous parts of the trilogy and O'Brien has an unbelievable skill in being able to tell it as it is. There is no wonder her writing of this kind was censored and banned in the 1960s upon publication in Ireland because of the author's frank and uncompromising nature to deal with such sensitive and controversial topics. Her writing and style of prose, although very different in this book as it switches between first and third person (the former being from Baba's perspective), is a joy to behold.
I encourage all those not just with a passion for Irish literature and Irish affairs but anyone who wants to read an honest novel with real characters and amazing storytelling to read Edna O'Brien. Here is a writer who bears all on the written page, a writer who is fierce in her desire to narrate and create a memorable story. I will end with a quote from Philip Roth which graces the cover of the 2007 Phoenix edition: "The most gifted woman now writing fiction in English".
Read Edna O'Brien and be changed, for this is a writer who really does matter!
AJP 07/01/2015
March 11, 2010
This third and final installment in "The Country Girls" trilogy was a real change of pace. Whereas the first two books were first-person narrations by Caithleen Brady, this one alternated between third-person and the voice of Baba, Kate's friend. The story leap-frogged over Kate's marriage to the demonic but fetching Eugene and the birth of her son, to its dissolution. But we also learn of Baba's wedding to an unsophisticated Irish builder. And despite his rough-and-ready ways, her Frank is a "daycent fellah". Perhaps impotent (certainly not worldly in the ways of sex—though none of them are really), Frank forgives Baba's indiscretions, one of which results in her own pregnancy.
With Kate reduced to once again living in a cold-water bed-sit, Eugene spirits their child abroad; good-hearted Frank has Baba invite her to live with them.
I'd be tempted to think that Edna O'Brien was yet another contributor to the unusual genre of "misery-lit" if it weren't for the humour of Baba's character.
With Kate reduced to once again living in a cold-water bed-sit, Eugene spirits their child abroad; good-hearted Frank has Baba invite her to live with them.
I'd be tempted to think that Edna O'Brien was yet another contributor to the unusual genre of "misery-lit" if it weren't for the humour of Baba's character.
September 29, 2019
One of the most enjoyable novels (the whole trilogy, in fact) that I have ever read. In my search to really understand the soul, character, and personality of women, Edna O'Brien is a lucky find for me. She is a master, not only in this novel but of every piece she's written practically. One cannot go wrong in picking up any book written by her. They will learn, feel and appreciate. Her works stay with you.
September 20, 2023
3.5 stars. An entertaining, humorous, sad novel about two young married women not living in married bliss! Kate is driven to indiscretions that her husband eventually finds out about. A pregnancy causes complications!
Here is an example of the author’s writing style:
“Come on,” I said putting the sou’wester on and getting all lovey dovey. He put the cigarette out and we got down to business. “Is it big enough for you?” He said. Men worry about that a terrific lot. “Enormous,” I said. “You’re a bright girl,” he said. Men are pure fools. Then the hip-bone bit came, which I took to be a mere preliminary and when I said he was welcome to press all, he said, “It’s gone to sleep.” They worry about that a terrific lot too.”
I am an Edna O’Brien fan and have enjoyed all of the novels I have read by her. This book is the last book in a trilogy, beginning with ‘The Country Girls’, then ‘Girl with Green Eyes’. These books can be read as standalone.
The first two books in the trilogy are a little more upbeat, with the first book being a coming of age story of a young girl, from age 14 to 18.
This book was first published in 1964.
Here is an example of the author’s writing style:
“Come on,” I said putting the sou’wester on and getting all lovey dovey. He put the cigarette out and we got down to business. “Is it big enough for you?” He said. Men worry about that a terrific lot. “Enormous,” I said. “You’re a bright girl,” he said. Men are pure fools. Then the hip-bone bit came, which I took to be a mere preliminary and when I said he was welcome to press all, he said, “It’s gone to sleep.” They worry about that a terrific lot too.”
I am an Edna O’Brien fan and have enjoyed all of the novels I have read by her. This book is the last book in a trilogy, beginning with ‘The Country Girls’, then ‘Girl with Green Eyes’. These books can be read as standalone.
The first two books in the trilogy are a little more upbeat, with the first book being a coming of age story of a young girl, from age 14 to 18.
This book was first published in 1964.
September 23, 2023
Il più struggente e il più contemporaneo della trilogia delle "Ragazze di Campagna". Un libro in cui non succede effettivamente nulla, ma che riflette riga per riga sulla condizione della donna negli anni '60 tra emancipazione e dipendenza dalla figura maschile. Le ultime pagine sono durissime e attualissime. È una sofferenza abbandonare Kate e Baba!
July 19, 2020
I did not see the end coming. It was quite different. So I'm still wondering how else it could have been closed, the trilogy, that is.
Though I waited a bit to get my hands on this last book, I could connect where it has been left off in the earlier book. I couldn't believe that the old character, the smug Eugene is back! How blind one can be to love him again? But then that's what happens in real life. People are blind. Women are blind though they see things happening.
Kate and Baba are in the big city, London, settled in their household after marriage. Baba married Frank, a slob and thickheaded person she doesn't like but he has money, Kate marries Eugene ( oh no!) Kate has baby out of wedlock, Baba, from someone else.
As stupid as she can be, Kate dates someone and gets caught and the cold hearted husband makes elaborate plans and takes their son away from her. It breaks Kate. The story goes on about how she made up with life and how Baba confronted but surrendered to her husband, not by force but by dependence, weakness.
The trilogy is about the lives of these two women, the later part is jumped by years in epilogue. Placed in sixties, talking of sexual lives of women is bold. Around me, it's still a taboo. And disgraceful. I am happy to find the book, definitely it has helped many women to find their place in their house and society by themselves.
For me the shocking part was the narrator. It's Baba who has narrated the story. The earlier two books were from third person perspective. Also the end was anything than what I could imagine. It's sad, yes, but it's not dramatic. You cannot dismiss the book saying another romance book after reading the end. Definitely no one can project the end from first two books.
I loved the child parent relationship the author portrayed. Keeping up with her fantastic storytelling style, the simple and effective language, O'Brien keeps reader glued till the end. I searched online. The book is drawn on her own life incidents a lot many times. I'm curious to read her memoir, Country girl. Also, not sure how many of her books I'll read. They are based on real life crime, something I do not have intentions to read. Feels so bad when the author you love to read, writes a genre you don't want to read.
Though I waited a bit to get my hands on this last book, I could connect where it has been left off in the earlier book. I couldn't believe that the old character, the smug Eugene is back! How blind one can be to love him again? But then that's what happens in real life. People are blind. Women are blind though they see things happening.
Kate and Baba are in the big city, London, settled in their household after marriage. Baba married Frank, a slob and thickheaded person she doesn't like but he has money, Kate marries Eugene ( oh no!) Kate has baby out of wedlock, Baba, from someone else.
As stupid as she can be, Kate dates someone and gets caught and the cold hearted husband makes elaborate plans and takes their son away from her. It breaks Kate. The story goes on about how she made up with life and how Baba confronted but surrendered to her husband, not by force but by dependence, weakness.
The trilogy is about the lives of these two women, the later part is jumped by years in epilogue. Placed in sixties, talking of sexual lives of women is bold. Around me, it's still a taboo. And disgraceful. I am happy to find the book, definitely it has helped many women to find their place in their house and society by themselves.
For me the shocking part was the narrator. It's Baba who has narrated the story. The earlier two books were from third person perspective. Also the end was anything than what I could imagine. It's sad, yes, but it's not dramatic. You cannot dismiss the book saying another romance book after reading the end. Definitely no one can project the end from first two books.
I loved the child parent relationship the author portrayed. Keeping up with her fantastic storytelling style, the simple and effective language, O'Brien keeps reader glued till the end. I searched online. The book is drawn on her own life incidents a lot many times. I'm curious to read her memoir, Country girl. Also, not sure how many of her books I'll read. They are based on real life crime, something I do not have intentions to read. Feels so bad when the author you love to read, writes a genre you don't want to read.
September 13, 2017
Mai titolo fu più fuorviante. Cathleen diventa Kate e Baba diventa seconda narratrice, con un punto di vista ironico e pungente. I giorni dell'infanzia sono ormai lontani per entrambe, che devono solo pensare a sopravvivere. Kate compie un passo indietro rispetto al libro precedente: è troppo vulnerabile, troppo bisognosa di amore. Le sue azioni avranno conseguenze catastrofiche (sigh, devo ancora riprendermi dal finale). Baba, invece, è più forte, una sopravvissuta che riesce a volgere a suo favore anche le situazioni più disperate. Gli uomini che "scelgono", cercano di controllarle in tutto, impedendo loro di essere libere, avere aspirazioni o sogni e, soprattutto, di essere felici. Il dolore, spiegato in maniera tanto cruda, risuona in tutte le odierne "casalinghe disperate", infelici nella loro vita coniugale e sessuale, prive di speranza in un futuro migliore. Ho adorato la trilogia, anche se mi ha scossa parecchio e credo che prima di rileggerla ci vorrà un po'.
September 17, 2018
Questo è l'ultimo libro della trilogia di Edna O'Brien ed è il più disincantato. La felicità coniugale del titolo è un miraggio, qualcosa che si insegue vanamente, che le donne degli anni '60 erano difficilmente nella condizione di realizzare. In un rapporto in cui c'è uno squilibrio di diritti, una parte si trova in soggezione rispetto all'altra. Questo genera un conflitto impossibile da risolvere. Ne è pienamente consapevole Baba, che vive la sua vita coniugale con disillusione e concretezza. Kate, invece, è destinata a inseguire un sogno di felicità che ha l'aria di essere un'oasi nel deserto. Una triste conclusione per questa bella trilogia.
April 20, 2019
"Far away and lost, all those moments. Part of her had died in them."
This is the third novel in The Country Girls trilogy and, despite the ironic title Girls in Their Married Bliss , the most depressing of the three. Here we see both Caithleen (now solely referred to as "Kate") and Baba all grown up in lifeless marriages. Both women appeared to be stuck in lives they have settled for, the book chronicling their misery and various attempts at filling the void, as well as the consequences of their thoughtless actions. Maybe not the best read to pick up if you want something cheerful, but it is very raw, real, and possibly even relatable to the modern reader.
This is the third novel in The Country Girls trilogy and, despite the ironic title Girls in Their Married Bliss , the most depressing of the three. Here we see both Caithleen (now solely referred to as "Kate") and Baba all grown up in lifeless marriages. Both women appeared to be stuck in lives they have settled for, the book chronicling their misery and various attempts at filling the void, as well as the consequences of their thoughtless actions. Maybe not the best read to pick up if you want something cheerful, but it is very raw, real, and possibly even relatable to the modern reader.
July 26, 2021
That title is an exercise in sarcasm, because life doesn't even come close to living up to Kate's and Baba's dreams. Quite the contrary. Baba's piercing voice and insight dishes out unpleasant truth after another about men, women, Ireland and life, which even brings out a few black laughs. What an ending to a trilogy. If you come looking for a Hollywood ending, move along swiftly. Otherwise, enjoy the sharp insights and marvellous writing.
March 16, 2020
My favorite of the trilogy, perhaps due to the change in narration. Can be best summed up with the quote: “Oh Kate, why did you let the bastards win... why buckle under their barbaric whims?”
January 30, 2023
What a way to end this wonderful trilogy. O'Brien mixes up the narrative voice in this one to spectacular effect. Rather than getting Caithleen's narration like the first two, she switches to having Baba narrate some parts and a third person omniscient narrator for the Caithleen-focused parts. This book focuses on Caithleen and Baba's respective married lives. The title, as you might guess, is deeply ironic.
Baba's narration is riotous. Truly one of my favorite narrators I have ever read. I laughed out loud on nearly every page of her sections. Switching to Baba's perspective also casts Caithleen's struggles in a totally new light (retrospectively, too, I might add). Baba has a hilarious way of making Caithleen seem like a silly, romantic fool who is hemming and hawing about nothing.
Regardless of narration, this is the book where things get fairly dark. Both Baba and Caithleen's lives are....well, not that great. They're both unsatisfied with husbands who are brutish in their own ways and cannot seem to make their lives work. It's a fantastic illustration of the caging nature of social norms on women in Irish society at the time (and I have no doubt to this day in other ways).
I read the version with the epilogue, which I would highly recommend reading. It wraps the whole narrative up very nicely (as well as brutally and poignantly). We also get about 30 more pages of Baba's narration, which I was thankful for.
All told, this trilogy was phenomenal. I was totally blown away by it and I am excited to explore more of O'Brien's work from here on.
Choice quote:
"Don't ask me to say crime does not pay because I'll say it, but I'll also say virtue does not pay, it is all pure fluke, and our lives prove it. Kids, I thought. God help them, they don't know the bastards they're born from."
Baba's narration is riotous. Truly one of my favorite narrators I have ever read. I laughed out loud on nearly every page of her sections. Switching to Baba's perspective also casts Caithleen's struggles in a totally new light (retrospectively, too, I might add). Baba has a hilarious way of making Caithleen seem like a silly, romantic fool who is hemming and hawing about nothing.
Regardless of narration, this is the book where things get fairly dark. Both Baba and Caithleen's lives are....well, not that great. They're both unsatisfied with husbands who are brutish in their own ways and cannot seem to make their lives work. It's a fantastic illustration of the caging nature of social norms on women in Irish society at the time (and I have no doubt to this day in other ways).
I read the version with the epilogue, which I would highly recommend reading. It wraps the whole narrative up very nicely (as well as brutally and poignantly). We also get about 30 more pages of Baba's narration, which I was thankful for.
All told, this trilogy was phenomenal. I was totally blown away by it and I am excited to explore more of O'Brien's work from here on.
Choice quote:
"Don't ask me to say crime does not pay because I'll say it, but I'll also say virtue does not pay, it is all pure fluke, and our lives prove it. Kids, I thought. God help them, they don't know the bastards they're born from."
March 12, 2023
This is the final novel in Edna O'Brien's highly regarded Country Girls Trilogy, and though it was my least favorite of the 3, I still really enjoyed it. (Reminds me of Richard Linklater's Before trilogy on film where the last film was a bit intense and hard to take). This is a brutal depiction of life for young Irish women living in London in the 1960s. There is a very feminist outpouring to this novel, preceding the women's liberation movement by years. The title is, obviously, totally ironic, and there is essentially no "married bliss" for these young women. O'Brien deftly shows how difficult it was for young women to deal with the masochistic environment and having to take menial jobs if they didn't want to be with these overbearing and selfish men.
This time the narrator is Baba, the more wild and carefree of the two. Kate and her are both living in London. Baba is married to a rather wealthy clunk of a husband, while Kate is working at a Deli and has married Eugene, the documentary filmmaker she obsessed over in the previous novel. It doesn't go into how they got back together, but they have married and have a preschool aged son. Eugene is very controlling and doesn't show Kate much love, and she ends up having an affair. Baba also has affairs, and this seems to be a cry from these women for a sense of self and some power.
Eugene and Kate fight over custody of their young son, and Kate becomes more and more mentally unstable as the novel evolves. Kate leaves her husband, and Baba wants to but cannot manage to go through with it. There is very little joy here, though there is O'Brien's biting wit throughout. It is definitely a depressing read, but I found so much in it. Not her best, but noteworthy nonetheless.
This time the narrator is Baba, the more wild and carefree of the two. Kate and her are both living in London. Baba is married to a rather wealthy clunk of a husband, while Kate is working at a Deli and has married Eugene, the documentary filmmaker she obsessed over in the previous novel. It doesn't go into how they got back together, but they have married and have a preschool aged son. Eugene is very controlling and doesn't show Kate much love, and she ends up having an affair. Baba also has affairs, and this seems to be a cry from these women for a sense of self and some power.
Eugene and Kate fight over custody of their young son, and Kate becomes more and more mentally unstable as the novel evolves. Kate leaves her husband, and Baba wants to but cannot manage to go through with it. There is very little joy here, though there is O'Brien's biting wit throughout. It is definitely a depressing read, but I found so much in it. Not her best, but noteworthy nonetheless.
Read
November 15, 2022Maybe my favourite of the trilogy?
January 12, 2023
I posted this review under The Country Girls too, for reasons that will be apparent)
O’Brien’s The Country Girls is also the name of a trilogy published in 1986 of three of her novels from 1960-64, The Country Girls, The Girl With Green Eyes/ aka The Lonely Girl, and Girls in their Married Bliss. The trilogy follows Cait (aka “Kate” ) and Baba, who are followed from the Irish countryside to Dublin and then on to London. The span of the novels covers their coming of age and subsequent dissatisfaction with marriage, motherhood, and the standards to which women were held in the 1950s/1960s world of the action.
O’Brien memoir of 1976 (which I read alongside these) records that when she herself left her County Clare home and moved to Dublin as a young woman she found “everything in the city different. The city had numerous delights — clothes, cafés where ice cream was served in long-stemmed glasses and three distinct kinds of coffee.” The lovely naive tone regarding pleasure and indulgence darkens by the third novel, set in London: "Not long ago Kate Brady and I were having a few gloomy gin fizzes up London, bemoaning the fact that nothing would ever improve, that we’d die the way we were – enough to eat, married, dissatisfied…. over a period of eighteen months, we got asked out to about three good dinners apiece, which meant six meals for both of us."
If you like that passage, go read all three O'Brien's and the memoir too, which is called Mother Ireland.
O’Brien’s The Country Girls is also the name of a trilogy published in 1986 of three of her novels from 1960-64, The Country Girls, The Girl With Green Eyes/ aka The Lonely Girl, and Girls in their Married Bliss. The trilogy follows Cait (aka “Kate” ) and Baba, who are followed from the Irish countryside to Dublin and then on to London. The span of the novels covers their coming of age and subsequent dissatisfaction with marriage, motherhood, and the standards to which women were held in the 1950s/1960s world of the action.
O’Brien memoir of 1976 (which I read alongside these) records that when she herself left her County Clare home and moved to Dublin as a young woman she found “everything in the city different. The city had numerous delights — clothes, cafés where ice cream was served in long-stemmed glasses and three distinct kinds of coffee.” The lovely naive tone regarding pleasure and indulgence darkens by the third novel, set in London: "Not long ago Kate Brady and I were having a few gloomy gin fizzes up London, bemoaning the fact that nothing would ever improve, that we’d die the way we were – enough to eat, married, dissatisfied…. over a period of eighteen months, we got asked out to about three good dinners apiece, which meant six meals for both of us."
If you like that passage, go read all three O'Brien's and the memoir too, which is called Mother Ireland.
Read
April 8, 2023The final book of the trilogy flips the narrative script a little. For one, the narrative is no longer told from Caithleen’s perspective and that difference is everything. It actually causes you to doubt a lot of the truth from the first two books, at least in terms of scope and intensity. Now we have Baba (Barbra) telling us what happens alongside a third person voice later in the novel. The other change that I found interesting is the switch from Caithleen being called “Cait” in her own voice, to being called “Kate” in Baba’s and the other narrator. This also further creates a sense of doubt in the trustworthyness of the first two novels.
The other big difference is the irony of the title. It’s deeply ironic, but it’s not funny. This is not a funny book. It reads much more like a Patrick Hamilton novel than the first two did. It’s a little cynical and sardonic, as opposed to humorous, and the themes and situations are darker. Where England and America might kind of promise a kind of agency for “liberated women” the women here, both chained to and coming from a suppressive society find their own consciousnesses weaponized into their own repression at times. They are lied to about the possibilities out there for them, and so when they go for them at all, they are coldly cast back into reality. And the implications and consequences are severe and striking.
Epilogue
The follow-up catches us back up a little, but it’s only a taste. It’s interesting but like most epilogues written well after the fact, it’s more an exercise for the author than the read.
The other big difference is the irony of the title. It’s deeply ironic, but it’s not funny. This is not a funny book. It reads much more like a Patrick Hamilton novel than the first two did. It’s a little cynical and sardonic, as opposed to humorous, and the themes and situations are darker. Where England and America might kind of promise a kind of agency for “liberated women” the women here, both chained to and coming from a suppressive society find their own consciousnesses weaponized into their own repression at times. They are lied to about the possibilities out there for them, and so when they go for them at all, they are coldly cast back into reality. And the implications and consequences are severe and striking.
Epilogue
The follow-up catches us back up a little, but it’s only a taste. It’s interesting but like most epilogues written well after the fact, it’s more an exercise for the author than the read.
June 9, 2019
O libro (a triloxía) é unha lectura deliciosa, con amargura e sentido humor, escrito dunha maneira absolutamente brillante (aos pés da señora O'Brien: chapeau!). "Chicas felizmente casadas"... é difícil atopar un titulo máis irónico que este. O terceiro libro da triloxía de "Las chicas del campo" é para min o mellor, a amarga culminación da busca da felicidade que Kate e Baba emprenderon 700 páxinas antes nunha aldea irlandesa. Os personaxes cobran aquí todo o seu sentido: encántame que neste libro Baba teña máis protagonismo e sexa narradora de varios capítulos porque disfruto da súa acidez e da súa maneira dura de ser a mellor amiga repunante do mundo. Pero ata agora pensaba que era a miña favorita desta historia, porque é difícil querer a unha personaxe tan pusilánime como Kate. Agora doume conta do enorme valor de Kate como protagonista: probablemente un dos personaxes de ficción máis desgraciados que me atopei. O seu camiño, desde a primeira páxina da primeira novela, na que está asustada na cama intuíndo a chegada do seu pai borracho, ata a última desta terceira, é o camiño dalguén que pasa toda a súa vida buscando o amor: un amor idealizado, quizais imposible, que trata de alcanzar con torpeza aferrándose a sucedáneos, cada vez máis lonxe do seu obxectivo. Esa viaxe errática ten o seu momento cume (ou sima) cando renega do recordo da súa nai e se lle aparece como unha persoa odiosa. Kate e Baba, gárdovos un sitio entre os meus personaxes de ficción máis queridos.
November 5, 2017
Fifty years later, a whole world of experience is not only unfamiliar to many readers but also inexplicable, and that is the world in which women's attempts to peer beyond the boundaries of their relationships with men are either so terrifying or so transgressive that they are lost in the translation. The first books in O'Briens' series condemn Irish social strictures, but the final volume turns its snout on the hopeless quest of so-called enfranchised women to find a way past their cunts and wombs to real agency, and it turns out that subjectivity begins and ends with the women we've always known. Gritty, awkward, insouciant, and sad as hell. The epilogue (written in the eighties and surely unpublishable before that) will hurt you into caring, if nothing else did.
August 22, 2018
How did I not know of Edna O’Brien before this? This trilogy definitely stole my heart. It’s impossible to describe the writing style - both fast and full of seemingly simple sentences that break your heart. The flawed nature of the characters and the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) suffering they undergo, often with razor sharp humor and sarcasm, made this even more real. The description of so many examples of disenfranchisement (many of them simple, subtle) while only written in the 60s, felt far too close for comfort. When I learned of how the book was banned in Ireland initially and the author shunned, I realized - of course! “they didn’t want us to read this!” you know, back in 1980s Dorset. Can’t stop us now...:)
November 14, 2019
Riesco a fare solo recensioni negative, io, mentre con i libri che mi piacciono tanto non riesco a dire niente. Quest'ultimo capitolo della trilogia è in linea con gli altri due: triste come sanno essere tristi solo alcuni libri irlandesi (Paddy Clarke, Le ceneri di Angela).
L'epilogo, scritto molti anni dopo, varrebbe da solo tutta la storia. Insomma, da leggere assolutamente. E non vedo l'ora di trovarlo da comprare.
L'epilogo, scritto molti anni dopo, varrebbe da solo tutta la storia. Insomma, da leggere assolutamente. E non vedo l'ora di trovarlo da comprare.
January 8, 2020
In the final part of the trilogy, we hear more from Baba than from Kate, as the pair realise that there are always consequences to their actions.
O'Brien's writing is beautiful, haunting, and becomes gradually darker as time goes on. The trilogy was a massive tome, at nearly 800 pages, but I just flew through it and finished the whole thing in less than a week. But there are episodes in the stories that will keep returning to me.
O'Brien's writing is beautiful, haunting, and becomes gradually darker as time goes on. The trilogy was a massive tome, at nearly 800 pages, but I just flew through it and finished the whole thing in less than a week. But there are episodes in the stories that will keep returning to me.
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