He is Francis' brother and Annie's father and a grandfather many times over, but his behavior suggests pubescent machismo. He tells an absurdly funny story about hoisting a huge granite bathtub into a castle, but his talk is always vulgar, lewd and boastful. Conor, a widower, is the father of 13 children, many of them alcoholics, five of them producing "children born before marriage." Francis is the archetypal Irish virgin-man. Annie, a young married woman, is a falling-down drunkard. And there is anger.Īnnie and Conor and Francis and the whole unforgettable clan of MacNamaras are typical of the contemporary dysfunctional family. Yet their fates are inextricably entwined.Īt the heart of this book are characters coping with the horrors of family life in close quarters. The men and women here seem to inhabit separate spheres they speak their own languages. Mahoney is struck by the fact that the women do not mention men. In her discussions with the middle-aged women of the Irish branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and with the elderly and widowed women of the Irish Housewives Association, Ms.
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