Milkman by Anna Burns

Paperback, read January 2019

“The truth was dawning on me of how terrifying it was not to be numb, but to be aware, to have facts, retain facts, be present, be adult.”

I am so happy this was my first book of 2019. I spent some time with it, with middle sister, with her turmoil and her numbness and her anger. It is a beautiful book, an important book with astute and compassionate and chilling observations from a narrator in 1970s Ireland whose astute, compassionate, chilling observations are unnervingly relevant for North America today.

I absolutely adored this book. I think Burns’s writing is spectacular, the Irish lilt so distinct but not in any way impeding the narrative, the story so far fetched and circular and spread out, a whirlpool of a story that draws you in and keep you, keeps you, churns you through and around in deep into it. I’m excited to see how many people love this book, unusual (maybe difficult) prose and all.