Book Review: Nora Webster

Nora Webster, by Colm Toibin

I like Toibin as an author. He's a great writer, and usually has a good story to tell about ordinary people. I enjoyed some of his previous books, such as The Blackwater Lightship, The Testament of Mary, and Brooklyn.

I will confess though, that I disliked some of his books. The Master comes to mind. I found it particularly dull, and put it aside before finishing it, something I rarely do.

This book is kind of in the middle. It's certainly readable, and kept me going to the end. The writing was excellent. But, it wasn't a book that held my interest, and I never felt much more than frustration with the characters and setting.

The book is set in County Wexford, Ireland, in the 1970s. It's a time of great change in the country, and the stirrings of violence in the North, which will affect several generations. But it seems those changes and violence are mentioned only to set a time and place, and have little impact on the characters.

Also, I found the title character to be, quite frankly, unlikeable. Nora, you see, is trying to recover after the unexpected -- and unexplained -- illness and death of her beloved husband. She's dealing with family, friends who insist on pitying her, and children who are having their own worries and problems.

But Nora seems preoccupied with concerns about how people are judging her, thus questioning every moves she makes or wants to make. That causes her to fear standing up for herself, to tell people what she wants and needs, or to make decisions she thinks are in hers and her children's best interests. She is the very image of an Irish Catholic mother, seeming to prefer being a martyr. She's also afraid of new things, or things she doesn't understand. She wants problems to go away.

One of her sons, for instance, developed a stutter after his father's death. He also has discovered a love of photography. But I was irked because Nora neither tried to solve her son's speech problem -- instead hoping that ignoring it would make it go away -- or encourage his newfound skills because she found them confusing.

But she does grown some during the book, and starts taking stock of and moving on with her life.

It's worth a read. But I'd recommend several other books before picking up this one.