Good Behaviour by Molly KeaneMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Grief possessed me, but I would and must behave. No mourning. No whining."
What manner of book nearly wins the Booker but loses to Salman Rushdie in 1981?
A most unique one! So beautifully written it's almost painful to read. ("Leaving the sea at evening is a death – a parting of worlds." and "I was resistless in the strength of a river that had no source and reached no sea.")
This book has several different interpretations, depending on how observant the reader, and how cynical or innocent their view of the world is.
Our Unreliable Narrator is a single plus-sized lady (these details MATTER) who lives in a bygone era of genteel poverty in rural Ireland. We begin with the death of her mother. Murder? Accident? Who can say?
She then recounts what leads to this most horrific beginning, taking us to a childhood and adolescence filled with hazy misrememberings, and trauma hidden beneath the veneer of Good Behavior.
"I don’t need to have everything spelled out. I know how to build the truth."
When you've finished, let's compare and see if my version of events matches yours. But let's not argue, oh no. Instead let us mutually admire this masterpiece of the English language, its exactitude and nebulousness, its beauty and vulgarity.
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