"Actress," by Anne Enright

I first “discovered” Irish writer Anne Enright when I read her wonderful 2007 novel “The Gathering” (before I started this blog, or I would have definitely posted about it!). I went on to read more of her books, most notably the 2015 novel “The Green Road” (which I posted about here on 7/3/15). Enright has become one of the preeminent Irish writers today, and was appointed the inaugural national laureate for fiction in 2015. Her writing is about relationships, sex, marriage, and families, with the emphasis on the perspectives of women. She has been clear about her experiences of misogyny in Ireland and in particular in the literary world. Her writing is fresh, sharp, crisp, original, and compelling. So when I heard about her new novel, “Actress” (W.W. Norton, 2020), I was excited, and bought a copy as soon as possible. This is an indelible portrait of two women: the actress Katherine O’Dell and her daughter Norah. The story is told mostly from the perspective of Norah, who constantly struggles to figure out who her mother is, what her secrets are, and what her inner world is like. There is great love between them, but also much misunderstanding, semi-estrangement at times, and profound mystery. Katherine is intensely gifted but also insecure, both idolized and underestimated, even mocked at times. She suffers as so many actresses have over the years with losing parts and attention as she got older. She seems, much of the time, to be performing her life, as much as she performs on stage. Norah, of course, has her own life, her own needs, her own secrets. It is both an honor and a burden for her to be the keeper of her mother’s legacy. This is a book that pulls the reader in, with its dense exploration of the mother-daughter connection, the life of a performer, the context of Ireland, and the secrets all the characters carry. Enright never disappoints; I consider her one of the great writers of our day.