Join webchat with award-winning author ANNE ENRIGHT and discuss May book of the month THE GREEN ROAD on TUESDAY 24 May, 9-10pm

[TillyMumsnetBookClub]

Winner of the Irish Novel of the Year 2015, our May Book of the Month THE GREEN ROAD was also longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa Award and is currently on the shortlist for the Baileys Prize (announced 8th June). This may all feel familiar to its author, Anne Enright, who won the 2007 Booker Prize with THE GATHERING and in 2015 was made the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction. Enright's novels are fantastically well-crafted, eloquent and funny - even when they are quite bleak in subject matter. She is also an expert in dissecting family dynamics, and at examining their constant pull of complex emotions. In THE GREEN ROAD, we meet four siblings from County Clare who are set on very different paths. Their stories are tracked over 1980s to present day, across different countries, until they are all called back for Christmas in the family home, by their overpowering and manipulative mother. She announces she will be selling the house, which propels them into a crisis. Each character is beautifully realised, and their difference from each other as adults is contrasted with the sudden immersion into childhood stereotype and ingrained patterns once they are all reunited. What is special about Enright's handling of the family saga is her gift for the perfect sentence. She finds unexpected adjectives, brilliantly exact description, the spot-on emotion. Her writing is lyrical but always unsentimental. There is pleasure in reading every paragraph, and an enormous wisdom throughout the pages.

To find out more, go to our book of the month page, where you can also apply for a free copy - just fill in your details on the book of the month page and we'll post here to let you know when the copies have gone. If you’re not lucky enough to bag one of those, you can always get a Kindle edition or paperback copy here

We are thrilled and delighted that Anne will be joining us to answer your questions about The Green Road, all her previous award-winning novels and her stellar career on Tuesday 24 May, 9-10pm. Please feel free to discuss the book here throughout the month and then come and meet Anne on the night, and ask her a question or simply tell her what you think of her books.

Hi Anne,

I was just thinking about one of your characters in The Green Road (is it Constance? Rosaleen?) thinking that she got a 'slightly sarcastic feeling off the ditches' and how I would recognise that sentence/phrase anywhere as being recognisably an Anne Enright one. Your style, which is so knowing, always seems to me to be the most fundamental thing about you as a writer, and I was wondering how you thought about this, especially in relation to characterisation and 'voice', and ideas about character voice? Do the two clash? Does it ever limit the kinds of plot and character you evolve?

Even looking back at The Portable Virgin and The Wig My Father Wore which are much more fantasical/magical realist, your style seems to have in essence been there from the start...?

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the descriptions and the way the language made me feel I was in Ireland. I'm looking forward to the conversation around it tonight.

i've got one question I would like to ask Anne already. It's one that I've been thinking about since I finished the book. I guess it's more of a technical question than a question about the plot.

Anne, up until the homecoming, we only get a small chunk of each characters life. Did you sketch out what they had been doing for their whole lives? If so, was it hard to edit it down to one period of time? And, did you have a favorite character? One that you were tempted to include more on?

I'm looking forward to "e-meeting you" later!

I wasn't looking forward to reading this, having read The Gathering, which I thought was one of the most depressing novels ever. Consequently, it took me a long time to get into this one. I particularly didn't like the beginning with the AIDS epidemic and wondered if the whole book was going to be about AIDS. But I was gradually drawn in so much so that I couldn't put it down. Didn't find most of the characters particularly gripping - could have done with fewer of the relations - but the pictures of the relationships between the siblings and between the mother and children were obviously drawn from experience. Loved the description of Rosaleen lost on the mountain but she was a pretty horrible character overall. Was she based on someone you know, Anne, and thank you for a good read.

Thank you for coming online tonight to speak to us. I love your book. I enjoyed how the characters who we meet individually in the first part of the book come together in the second part - and watching the way they interact with each other. I liked the diversity in the setting of the early sections and many of the touching and memorable moments eg Constance and her daughter on the trampoline, Hannah and her innocent vodka. Also the text could be quite stark and moving in places eg Isabelle on Dan 'she mourned him the rest of her life'. I haven't quite got to the end yet (almost) but my question is about the female characters of the book. To me they seem more unhappy , emotionally damaged and unstable than the men. Was this intentional or is this just the way I read it? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

I was the opposite to atrociouscook, I really liked The Gathering and was looking forward to reading The Green Road. I was not disappointed. Yes, the main characters were not nice people in many ways, but none of them was a complete shit, even Rosaleen, and I found something to sympathise with in each of them.

Why did you send Emmet to Segou? I get that it's far away from Ireland, but as an aid worker he could have gone lots of places. Why Segou in particular?

Hi Anne,

I've very much enjoyed reading your book (although I confess I'm not quite finished yet!) I love the way your writing really does evoke the senses. I have a particular interest in the way food is described in literature and I do think, The Green Road really captures, alongside many other things, what small events such as meals can mean to a person and family. I like this example:

In New York, Billy describes "the risotto effect... there are years of loneliness in a word like 'risotto'"

So my question is a bit of an odd one: is there a specific meal that reminds you of home? And (sorry one more!), why do you think the family interests you so much as a writing topic?

I was delighted to receive my copy of ‘The Green Road’. A truly brilliant read. The writing is so lyrical. I don’t normally pay much attention to descriptions in novels, but I was struck by the beauty of the writing, which did much to convey the various settings of the book’s episodes (though for me the New York episode was a bit uncomfortable for someone not used to reading about that sort of social milieu…) I felt that the book did well to convey the difficulties of adults to come to terms with a difficult mother and difficult childhood.

My question to the author is: how much are you intending your reader to read between the lines of the story? For example, are we to conclude that the relative lack of connection between the siblings is an outcome of their upbringing, or the natural outcome of people growing up and growing apart?

I really liked the way you combine humour with your drama. There are some really complex characters here and the description of family life draws comparison with many families I'm sure, mine included. Did you base any character on any one you know, or is there any of your own character within any that you depict?

Hi Anne
I was wondering about the different settings in the book - they're such different times and places and I thought they really impacted on the characters.

How did you choose them?
To what extent are the descriptions of setting based on your own experience, imagination and/or research?
If it's relevant, what kind of research did you do about the settings?

I guess I'm thinking mostly about Dan's New York, but I liked Emmet's Africa too. I'm not sure how, because most of the action there seemed to take place inside the house, but I was left with an impression of a huge amount of space and sky (which I liked )

Good evening, everyone...

Firstly, a big thank you to all those who have posted so far - I hope you are all able to be here with us tonight.

I’m delighted to welcome the stupendously talented Anne Enright to Bookclub this evening. Anne's Booker-prize winner The Gathering was a MN Bookclub choice back in 2007 and her novels are masterpieces of beautifully observed family life. I am thrilled that we have the chance to talk about them with her over the next hour.

Anne, thank you very, very much indeed for giving us your time tonight. And congratulations on the huge success of The Green Road, another outstanding novel and one that has stayed in my mind many months after I first read it.

We've already got a fair few questions to get through so I'll just add the standard Mumsnet ones that we like to ask all our authors...

What childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

What is the best book you’ve given someone recently?

And the best you’ve received?

Over to you...

Apologies if this posts twice, I seem to have lost the original.

I loved the book. Especially 80s NYC and the gay scene, and the terror of AIDS. What made you wrote about such a sad issue? And the family relationships were gripping, especially the complicated mother-child relationship. Where does that theme come from (if anywhere!) in your life?

Also, I've never seen a pic of you before. Love your hair!!

Hi all.

Great to talk to you all. Just to say, you can have no idea how slow a writer I am. And then there is the rewriting - on a good day I rack up - oh - a thousand words and I boil that down to a steady 200. So you will be getting the raw, dashed off, hopeful version and not what I consider the truth, which is a more careful thing. I retain the right to change my mind, disagree with myself and deny I meant what I said. I hope that’s ok with you.

@TillyMumsnetBookClub

Good evening, everyone...

Firstly, a big thank you to all those who have posted so far - I hope you are all able to be here with us tonight.

I’m delighted to welcome the stupendously talented Anne Enright to Bookclub this evening. Anne's Booker-prize winner The Gathering was a MN Bookclub choice back in 2007 and her novels are masterpieces of beautifully observed family life. I am thrilled that we have the chance to talk about them with her over the next hour.

Anne, thank you very, very much indeed for giving us your time tonight. And congratulations on the huge success of The Green Road, another outstanding novel and one that has stayed in my mind many months after I first read it.

We've already got a fair few questions to get through so I'll just add the standard Mumsnet ones that we like to ask all our authors...

What childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

What is the best book you’ve given someone recently?

And the best you’ve received?

Over to you...

Hi Anne,

I found the relationships between the siblings all too real and familiar – the way when you go back home you seem to step back into your childhood roles. There is a distance between them, and indeed from themselves in a way - they all seem to have an inner emptiness they are trying to fill. My question is, do you see any hope for them to heal themselves and improve their relationships with each other? Or are they doomed to “fall into the gap”, like Rosaleen?

Favourite book as a child

I was an early and avid reader. I think the first book I had that was my own (as opposed to a library book) was ‘When We are Six’ by A.A. Milne. I was very proud of the fact that I could read it even though I was only four. My favourite book when I was actually six was ‘Alice in Wonderland’ - especially the second part that went through the looking glass - which I read many, many times. This was a slight disappointment to my mother, who wanted me to love The Wind in the Willows, as she had done as a girl. I think this still causes me problems with readers - when people complain about his or that in a book I want to say: “Sorry, no fluffy animals here. You’re not on the riverbank, now.”

advice to writers

I have been watching writers for thirty or more years - I have seen talent fall by the wayside and hard work do very well. I think the most important thing, one way or the other, is tenacity. Keep going. Keep learning. Keep getting better.

giving books

I am shy about giving books - isn’t that terrible? One christmas there was a huge snow and I could only get to the bookshop and no further. I gave all the nephews and nieces books and they looked a bit disappointed. Then, years later, one of them said how much he enjoyed the Murakami I had chosen for him. A good book buyer is like a good match maker - I can do this - I will do more of it in future!

receiving books

And this question is sadder yet. I realise I get books all the time but only because people would like me to puff or review them, so it doesn’t feel like a gift so much as an ask, or an obligation. There was one exception recently, a pal gave me The Lonely City by Olivia Laing, just because she thought I might enjoy it. And, yes, I really really did enjoy it. Terrific book about New York, among other things.

@AnneEnright

Hi all.

Great to talk to you all. Just to say, you can have no idea how slow a writer I am. And then there is the rewriting - on a good day I rack up - oh - a thousand words and I boil that down to a steady 200. So you will be getting the raw, dashed off, hopeful version and not what I consider the truth, which is a more careful thing. I retain the right to change my mind, disagree with myself and deny I meant what I said. I hope that’s ok with you.

[quote TillyMumsnetBookClub]
Good evening, everyone...

Firstly, a big thank you to all those who have posted so far - I hope you are all able to be here with us tonight.

I’m delighted to welcome the stupendously talented Anne Enright to Bookclub this evening. Anne's Booker-prize winner The Gathering was a MN Bookclub choice back in 2007 and her novels are masterpieces of beautifully observed family life. I am thrilled that we have the chance to talk about them with her over the next hour.

Anne, thank you very, very much indeed for giving us your time tonight. And congratulations on the huge success of The Green Road, another outstanding novel and one that has stayed in my mind many months after I first read it.

We've already got a fair few questions to get through so I'll just add the standard Mumsnet ones that we like to ask all our authors...

What childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

What is the best book you’ve given someone recently?

And the best you’ve received?

Over to you...

[/quote]

@searchingforcalm

Hi Anne,

I found the relationships between the siblings all too real and familiar – the way when you go back home you seem to step back into your childhood roles. There is a distance between them, and indeed from themselves in a way - they all seem to have an inner emptiness they are trying to fill. My question is, do you see any hope for them to heal themselves and improve their relationships with each other? Or are they doomed to “fall into the gap”, like Rosaleen?

I think things will improve for them all, actually. I wanted a sense of a new dawn (after a stormy night) at the end of the book. The sense of things being possible again

Hi Anne! I feel so lucky to have The Green Road at home and after every chapter think and ponder about the characters.. Do you get inspired by other novels or novelists? What book that you have read lately made you stop and think?

@FoxInABox

I found Constance the most engaging too halfstar. I think her pieces are written the most sympathetically.

I am glad you responded to Constance. I hope there is someone in the book for every one. Some people think Dan in New York is exciting and moving and are disappointed to be stuck back in Limerick with a slightly overweight mother who has a boob issue, the others fall on Constance with great relief after all that ghastly gay sex. As I say: something for everyone.

@aginghippy

I was the opposite to atrociouscook, I really liked The Gathering and was looking forward to reading The Green Road. I was not disappointed. Yes, the main characters were not nice people in many ways, but none of them was a complete shit, even Rosaleen, and I found something to sympathise with in each of them.

Why did you send Emmet to Segou? I get that it's far away from Ireland, but as an aid worker he could have gone lots of places. Why Segou in particular?

This is a really good question, Anna - I tried and tried to make the daughters happier, their lives more... brilliant, but though Constance is happy - I mean she feels herself to be fulfilled (she is, in the supermarket ‘happy happy happy’) we all know this is because she has resigned herself to serving the needs of others. Actually though... em... unselfish people ARE happier, this is according to the statistics, and this is also my personal experience. Hannah is unstable, Constance just has the occasional blip, when she is taken too much for granted. Understandable, I would say.

sozz!! aginghippy answer you soon

@AnnaAsh

Thank you for coming online tonight to speak to us. I love your book. I enjoyed how the characters who we meet individually in the first part of the book come together in the second part - and watching the way they interact with each other. I liked the diversity in the setting of the early sections and many of the touching and memorable moments eg Constance and her daughter on the trampoline, Hannah and her innocent vodka. Also the text could be quite stark and moving in places eg Isabelle on Dan 'she mourned him the rest of her life'. I haven't quite got to the end yet (almost) but my question is about the female characters of the book. To me they seem more unhappy , emotionally damaged and unstable than the men. Was this intentional or is this just the way I read it? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

This is a really good question, Anna - I tried and tried to make the daughters happier, their lives more... brilliant, but though Constance is happy - I mean she feels herself to be fulfilled (she is, in the supermarket ‘happy happy happy’) we all know this is because she has resigned herself to serving the needs of others. Actually though... em... unselfish people ARE happier, this is according to the statistics, and this is also my personal experience. Hannah is unstable, Constance just has the occasional blip, when she is taken too much for granted. Understandable, I would say.

Hello Anne - thank you so much for coming to talk to us!

Reading your book is often like talking to Irish emigres - you see (IMO) Ireland and its people and stereotypes very clearly. I think when PPs have mentioned the humour which can seem "nasty" or "sarcastic", that is the same response I hear from the "leavers" - they might love Ireland and their families, but it's all a bit much to live with day by day. The communities are too claustrophobic, I guess? (I'm not Irish at all btw, I lived in Dublin for a while and have many friends there). Do you think this is fair - do you have the outsider's combination of warmth and horror when looking at Ireland?! Despite (as I understand anyway) living in Dublin?

Hi Anne,

I really enjoyed reading this book, and was struck by how different the four siblings are. I wondered if you have a favourite and which one you found easiest/most enjoyable to write about? Someone upthread has mentioned the relative lack of connection between the siblings, and I did wonder how they all ended up going in such different directions - were they all, in their own ways, trying to escape their upbringing?
The book focuses a lot on Rosaleen as a parent and the difficult relationship each of her children has with her, which is such a fertile and well trodden path - I just wondered if you have written in previous books or can imagine writing in such depth about father - child relationships?

@aginghippy

I was the opposite to atrociouscook, I really liked The Gathering and was looking forward to reading The Green Road. I was not disappointed. Yes, the main characters were not nice people in many ways, but none of them was a complete shit, even Rosaleen, and I found something to sympathise with in each of them.

Why did you send Emmet to Segou? I get that it's far away from Ireland, but as an aid worker he could have gone lots of places. Why Segou in particular?

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it. Emmet went everywhere before Segou - I needed a place which was Islamic, where dogs were seen as slightly (or very) unclean. I can't remember all the variations I tried before I settled just there. The Niger is wide and beautiful, the music is great. Em... and it was, when I started, relatively uncomplicated, peaceful. Then the fighting started, even as I typed..

Hi Anne,

Thanks for being here tonight. Did you have a favourite character in the book, and if so, who and why?

I do see that sense of a new dawn, Anne. Thank you.

@frogletsmum

Hi Anne,

I really enjoyed reading this book, and was struck by how different the four siblings are. I wondered if you have a favourite and which one you found easiest/most enjoyable to write about? Someone upthread has mentioned the relative lack of connection between the siblings, and I did wonder how they all ended up going in such different directions - were they all, in their own ways, trying to escape their upbringing?
The book focuses a lot on Rosaleen as a parent and the difficult relationship each of her children has with her, which is such a fertile and well trodden path - I just wondered if you have written in previous books or can imagine writing in such depth about father - child relationships?

i think, when you are young, you have a sense that yur REAL life is going to be elsewhere. We all come from small places. No, Ireland, n the 1980's was VERY small. There were no jobs, and it was morally claustrophobic, with the church at a peak (the Pope's visit) just before its decline. Many many of my peers left in those years. It was almost odd to stay. xanne