The High Road (novel)
 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Edna O'Brien |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK) Farrar, Straus & Giroux (US) |
Publication date | November 1, 1988 |
| Publication place | Ireland |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 224 pages |
The High Road is a 1988 novel by Irish novelist Edna O'Brien. The novel follows an unnamed Irish protagonist as she recovers on a Mediterranean island.[1] It was O'Brien's tenth novel, published 11 years after Johnny I Hardly Knew You.[2]
Critical reception
Kirkus Reviews was mildly critical of the novel's style, concluding that it was "a novel governed (perhaps too strictly) by the impulse to lyricism, but one that peers into the coming of old age with fear, longing--and passion."[1] Publishers Weekly was similarly critical writing "the novel is fatally mired in symbolism and improbable events."[3]
Similarly, the Chicago Tribune reviewer Maura Boland thought the novel failed at developing plot and character, writing "lyrical prose and striking metaphors are not enough. The book sags under the weight of literary and religious allusions, and its episodic structure at times almost obscures the narrative."[2]
References
- ^ a b "THE HIGH ROAD by Edna O'Brien | Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
- ^ a b Boland, Maura (20 November 1988). "The Odyssey Of A Typically Love-obsessed Edna O`brien Heroine". The Chicago Tribune.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: The High Road by Edna O'Brien". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
Further reading
- Adachi, Ken (2014). "Edna O'brien Takes the High Road". In Alice Hughes Kersnowski (ed.). Conversations with Edna O'brien. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 49–52. JSTOR j.ctt2tvpgs.11.
- Thompson, Helen (1 January 2003). "Uncanny and Undomesticated: Lesbian Desire in Edna O'Brien s Sister Imelda and The High Road". Women's Studies. 32 (1): 21–44. doi:10.1080/00497870310083. ISSN 0049-7878.