the chapter "Dan" was so tiresome that I could not go any further in the book. the chapter was boring...maybe, if it had been published in 1982 , the subject of AIDS and male attraction would have been more interesting than it is today.

Enright is a remarkable writer – crisp, sometimes humorous, and beautifully controlled with the Irish drama as we follow the inter-family complexities. The author’s voice is so authentic as she switches locales and time periods, fleshing out each character and their intertwined lives over a thirty year period. Great storytelling. Emotionally charged.

I've just read 'the Green Road' and am impressed. Not with all. Not as a novel, and the climax was no such thing. But Rosaleen's `story' by itself was good poetry again and again, it brought me to tears more than once, and the strong sense that this was a real family with real connections to a real woman kept me in it, to the end.

Set in County Clare, this novel tells the story of a mother and her four children, each story told separately, almost like a short story. They come together as adults at Christmas. Each character is broken in some way, but is partially restored by his or her family. The backdrop to the novel is the negative impact of the "Celtic Tiger" on Ireland. Lovely to read, like all of Enright's books.

Liked this book a lot. I could feel each character so clearly and was able to give each a face and way of being. Loved the complete "Irishness" of the story and the land. Will look for another of her writings.

This book captured Irish life pretty well. The gathering of family at Christmas (for some out of obligation), the gathering of neighbours to help when help was needed. This is true to form. There were 2 parts they really stick out to me as typical Irish. The first was how well described it was for Constantine going through the supermarket buying food but forgetting something and feeling so guilty about it, she had to go back in among the throng. You already know she doesn't have time for this but it's easier than listening to everyone complain after. The second was how well Emmett, in seeing the bigger world view, described the world view of his mother (page 212-213). That was well described!

The only thing I didn't like was that I felt the treatment of boys v girls about 10-20 years behind the times e.g. girls cleaning up after dinner, but the boys allowed off to do what they liked. This would not have been typical of this generation.

Just grabbed this book off the "hot new books" or whatever its called shelf on the way out the door of the library. Ireland, family, homecoming, etc. Hmmm, sounds sweet....how could I go wrong?

My latest technique in reading books is flipping open to the middle somewhere and reading a paragraph or two. If it grabs, then its a go.

With this story, I open up to the page where someone named Dan is jumping into bed with some guy named Loco or Ludo (?)in an interestingly junk-filled house for masochistic sex. Which Dan, apparently, doesn't like.

Well, neither do I.

Back to the library it goes.

Excellent book. Captures the joy and heartbreak and nastiness and warmth of family relationships, especially those between mother and child.

Ho Hum.
The story is fine. I expected better writing: though I don't like when an author is labouring to impress the reader, I do like to read the occasional sentence that I think was well crafted and that I want to re-read and squeeze the loveliness or cleverness from. This never happened in The Green Road.

A wonderful story that spans thirty years and three continents as it follows the story of the Madigan family from County Clare Ireland. The story of family matriach Rosaleen, and her four children, Dan, Emmet, Hanna and Constance is rich, complex and beautiful. This new novel by Man Booker prize winner Anne Enright is a must read.