First edition
(publ. Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

The Light of the Evening is a 2006 novel by Irish novelist Edna O'Brien. The novel explores the relationship between one of O'Brien's archetypal defeated rural women, who on her deathbed is trying repair her relationship with her daughter, a writer.[1][2]

Reception

Reception of the novel was mixed. Anne Enright doesn't make a firm conclusion about the novel, but praises two features in her review for The Guardian: O'Brien's continued interest in the downtrodden, and a depiction of life that she calls "remarkable [for its] honesty".[1] Publishers Weekly was more positive about the novel noting that it "evokes the cruelty of estrangement while allowing her characters to remain sympathetic and giving them real voice."[3]

Slate reviewer Claire Dederer described the novel as challenging to start reading, but epitomizes O'Brien's focus on "the poetic and the sensational", while at times the "lyricism" and "sentamentalism" "get away from her".[4] Dederer concludes that the novel does two things: it "stands apart, refusing to give mere comfort."[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Enright, Anne (14 October 2006). "Murderous loves". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Edna O'Brien: The mother of invention". The Independent. 28 September 2006. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Fiction Book Review: The Light of Evening by Edna O'Brien, Author . Houghton Mifflin $25 (294p) ISBN 978-0-618-71867-2". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 Dederer, Claire (11 October 2006). "The Mother Load". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 5 March 2016.


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