Journal Entry 1 by indygo88 from Lafayette, Indiana USA on Sunday, April 03, 2011

"Sebastian Barry 's novels have been hugely admired by readers and critics, and in 2005 his novel A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In The Secret Scripture, Barry revisits County Sligo, Ireland, the setting for his previous three books, to tell the unforgettable story of Roseanne McNulty. Once one of the most beguiling women in Sligo, she is now a resident of Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital and nearing her hundredth year. Set against an Ireland besieged by conflict, The Secret Scripture is an engrossing tale of one woman's life, and a vivid reminder of the stranglehold that the Catholic church had on individuals throughout much of the twentieth century."

Acquired through PaperBackSwap. (Unabridged on 8 CD's; read by Wanda McCaddon) 

Journal Entry 2 by indygo88 at Lafayette, Indiana USA on Thursday, September 29, 2011

It took a while for this novel to grow on me. Not until I finished it did I really appreciate the prose & the complexity of the storyline. Having listened to it on audio, the Irish brogue really became apparent & helped lend authenticity to the story and the setting. Told from alternating viewpoints, that of a 100-year-old woman in an Irish mental hospital and the doctor assigned to assess her as the hospital prepares to close its doors & reassign or "free" its patients, the reader is gradually emerged into the history of the woman and the acts and consequences that lead to her admittance into the hospital some 50+ years earlier.

I thought the story good to fair. It was slow to get going and I found the ramblings of the doctor, particularly in regards to his wife, long & unnecessary. This is a sad story, as seems to be the case with most novels I've read involving a setting in Ireland. The lyrical writing, and not so much the plot, is what saves this book from being just mediocre.