The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright
'The Wren, the Wren' by Anne Enright revolves around the lives of three generations of the same family. Phil McDaragh was a famous Irish poet, and then there's his daughter Carmel, and her daughter Nell. Switching narratives between them, the book is a story about a mother/daughter relationship, and the influence of the father/grandfather.
The Green road and the Gathering
I've read and enjoyed Anne Enright's 'The Green Road' and 'The Gathrering' so I was delighted to get my hands on her latest. Yet again, you get pulled into the character's lives, along with that beautiful prose that sweeps you along. So intricate, so precise.
Phil McDaragh was a poet and a philander, who walked on his family. He's famous for his work about the natural world, including birds. Throughout the book, we get to read his poems (I read an interview with Anne where she met the poet Paul Muldoon in an airport and got him to read over the poems - perhaps another career move awaits if the literary fiction doesn't work out!)
We do hear one chapter from Phil, but his story is mostly told by his daughter Carmel. I probably enjoyed the chapter about Phil as much as I did any other in the book - it sheds light on his early life and indicates where his love of nature came from. But even when he's not there, his character and the result of his actions loom large in the book.
Nell and Carmel
Nell is out of university, trying to make a living writing social media posts for an influencer. She struggles in relationships, both with her current boyfriend and her mother. She's trying to find her way in the world and becomes interested in the work of her famous grandfather, now deceased.
Carmel is a tricker character, and as Nell tells us, she doesn't have much in the way of imagination. She's practical and matter-of-fact, and has a tricky relationship with Nell, as she struggles to show her love. We hear about her early years with her father and her ill mother Terry, whom Phil walked out on, and there's a traumatic early scene where he shows his complete disregard for her when she's ill in bed. Interestingly, it isn't the only time in the book when we see someone being abandoned when they are ill.
There isn't much in the way of plot, if that's what you're after - it's really about how the characters evolve, the relationship between Carmel and Nell, and both their relationship with Phil. It's very much a character-driven novel.
‘The connection between us is more than a strand of DNA, it is a rope thrown from the past, a fat twisted rope, full of blood.’
There is also one scene that caught me unawares, and as a reader, you'll know it when you come to it. Quite shocking but again, beautifully written. I also have to include a warning about animal cruelty, involving a dog and a badger, which also surprised me.
I'm not sure why, but 'the wren, the wren' didn't quite engage me as much as her previous work. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it - I really did. I liked Nell, though Carmel was harder to get a read on. She became more interesting as the book went on though. And there’s no doubting that Anne Enright is a master of her craft - I love the flow of her writing, and you just become immersed in the inner narrative of the characters so easily. They seem so natural.
It's a book about frayed family ties, about abandonment and trauma passing down through the generations, about mothers/daughter relationships, and love and loss. It's full of wry observations about families, and there isn't a dull sentence in the book - it's lyrical and moving throughout.
Thanks to Netgalley & Random House for the Advanced Reader Copy.
Pub Date 31 Aug 2023
208 Pages