Wild Decembers [Paperback]

As so memorably demonstrated in "Down By The River"(1997), few limn Irish life as authentically as Edna O'Brien. Add tothat realism her singing prose, which frames each scene with the myths, mystery and madness of Eire, and the result is pure enchantment.

Ms. O'Brien is blessed with a cinematographer's eye and boundless original expression, whether she is bringing to life a dance, he is "steering her solemnly, as if she were an ocean liner in her peppermint green," or anger, "She is driving recklessly, her cabbage crown askew, the little bubble car like a cauldron because of her invective."

It is with such delicious narrative embellishments that the author introduces us to a rural Irish village, Cloontha, "a locality within the bending of an arm." It is here that "Fields mean more than fields, more than life and more than death too." Joseph Brennan and his much younger sister, Breege, live here and work the dairy farm their family has held for generations. Self-educated and proud of it, Joseph takes part in a battle of wits with the local school master and wins. He works hard, overcoming the vicissitudes of weather by dint of backbreaking toil. Yet, he would change nothing if he could because Cloontha is God to him. "God," he declared, "was not a bearded man in the sky but here....in Cloontha, especially at night, alone with nature."

But Joseph is not alone on his mountain for long because Mick Bugler, a shepherd from Australia, arrives to claim recently inherited acreage. It is land Joseph believed was his. There is, of course, a struggle between the two men as contretemps turns to barroom brawl and eventually escalates to a courthouse battle, in which solicitors are the primary victors.

This territorial dispute is exacerbated by Breege's attraction to Mick, an emotion that concerns, confounds, and, finally, overcomes her. She is also distressed by an awareness that her brother's obsession with driving Mick off "his mountain" may be the undoing of them all. "....she knew that he was entering a zone in which dreaming and waking, wrongs and semi-wrongs, would be translated and magnified into an enormity to suit the dark mad mould of his thinking."

Add to the fracas a dotty, unforgettable old derelict, Crock Hanrahan, who misses little and instigates much as he "goes his way, hopping and bopping across the fields, laughing his mirthless laugh......his body like a sack of potatoes inflating and deflating, depending on whether he was in hill or hollow." We also meet two of the most lascivious sisters to be found in literature - strumpets who sell their favors not for pounds but for land and livestock. Rita "was the brains and Reena the nymphet. She made the deals, bought and sold cattle, and harangued her friendly solicitor to write letters to make hell for this person or that who got in her way." Their seduction of Mick is one of the most risible and erotic scenes to be found. It's reminiscent of some of Joyce's finest rollicking moments.

Although the tale's conclusion is adumbrated from its beginning the masterful Ms. O'Brien casts it memorably. Edna O'Brien is a treasure. Wild Decembers is one more triumph.

- Gail Cooke

If you've never read an Irish novel, you'll love this book for its ability to distill the essence of the land and its people. If you love opera, melodrama, or soap opera, you'll love it for the passionate intensity of the characters. If you love language and poetry, you'll love it for its rich trove of vivid images. But if you are looking for a new vision of life in the Irish countryside, a set of characters different from the typical, devoutly family-oriented, self-sacrificing farm family, and a poetic style which is not described in terms of Joyce, Hopkins, Thomas, or Yeats, you may be a bit disappointed. It's an enjoyable book, and it's full of passion, but it's not unique.

When Mick Bugler arrives in the small town of his ancestors to claim his inheritance, his nearest neighbors are Joseph Brennan and his sister Breege. An expansive Australian with an insensitivity to his neighbor's deeply felt commitments to his farm, Mick invites the enmity which develops when he opportunistically pre-empts the fields Joe has rented over a long period of time and challenges him regarding ownership of land. The resentments come to a head when Joe senses and moves to prevent a relationship between Mick and Breege. Joe's history of mental instability, the arrival of Mick's possessive and almost equally unstable fiance, a jealous and meddlesome Crock, and a breakdown by Breege presage deep tragedies.

Unfortunately, there is little recognition by Joe, Breege, or the townspeople here that they have any responsibility for or control over the ultimate outcome. At the end of the book, all are still as irrationally motivated as they were at the beginning. None have taken charge of their lives, and there is no sense that anyone has learned anything significant. O'Brien could have used her setting and characters to more noble effect--raising this sad story to real significance, rather than just dramatic effect. She achieves such significance in Down By the River and House of Splendid Isolation. Mary Whipple

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  4.5 out of 5 stars