Milkman

This book by Anna Burns was the first Northern Irish book to ever win the Man Booker Prize (2018). The author was so poor and in so much pain while writing that she moved from one house sitting gig to another and used food banks to survive.

Set in what is probably Belfast during the "Troubles" of  the 1970's, the town is never named and neither are any of the characters--with one exception. Rather we know the narrator and those around her only by a description of their relationships to one another, e.g., Ma, maybe-boyfriend, wee sisters. second brother, etc. In an interview with The Guardian, Burns states, “Although it is recognisable as this skewed form of Belfast, it’s not really Belfast in the 70s. I would like to think it could be seen as any sort of totalitarian, closed society existing in similarly oppressive conditions...I see it as a fiction about an entire society living under extreme pressure, with longterm violence seen as the norm.”

Violence is so pervasive, that the paramilitaries or Renouncers never hesitate to claim responsibility for beatings and murders. Everything is so politically charged that even certain names associated with the other side are forbidden in the community. People watch and gossip and make up stories and one's life is never totally one's own. When the 18-year-old narrator, middle sister, tries to go against these norms--she doesn't want to marry or refute the rumors that are circulating about her--she escapes by walking and reading. As a result, she becomes a sort of pariah of the community. Her father is dead by natural causes, but her brother has been killed by politics and one of her sisters is banished, also because she crossed one of the many invisible but potent political divides. An adopted brother hasn't been heard from in years as he is also being sought by the authorities for his anti-government activities. When a man, who everyone refers to as Milkman, starts stalking middle sister, her life truly spins out of control. The rumor is she's having an affair with him, a married man. Morever, he is a leader among the paramilitary resistance movement and her supposed association with him, in spite of all her denials, leads to the community kow-towing to her out of fear.  No one, not her mother, not even her longest friend believe that she has had no involvement with him other than to be the target of his psychological campaign to intimidate her until she gives in. She has been sort of dating maybe-boyfriend, an avid car mechanic, for over a year, and when Milkman starts talking about car bombs, she becomes fearful for maybe-boyfriend's safety. That relationship, which had been a haven from her crazy mother and the oppressive community mores, also starts to sour. She feels trapped and alone, without resources. Also in The Guardian interview, Burns emphasizes that the book is about power, “how power is used, both in a personal and in a societal sense.”

The style of writing was definitely a challenge for me as she talks about things in lengthy series, for example when she lists ALL the names that are not allowed on their side. And there is a great deal of Irish slang that defies attempts to clarify with a dictionary. Most of all, though, this narrative is all so internal, even though big things are happening in the outside world--the story feels largely like one long stream of consciousness. Or as The Guardian puts it, her style "makes reading her an immersive, sometimes maddening, experience."

The New York Times also interviewed Ms. Burns shortly after she won the Man Booker and she denies that middle sister is autobiographical, although they shared the habit of reading while walking. But she was raised in a district of Belfast where there was constant violence at all levels and where she and her family were evacuated from their home to a refugee camp in the Republic of Ireland when houses in the area were being burned. She said they had plenty to eat there, for a change, and she was disappointed when she had to return home to school.

The LA Times takes issue with those who imply the book is too difficult, noting "Don’t let this do anything but persuade you to read and absorb it. The difficulty is only in settling into a fresh voice and style that are dense, yes, but that would not work or be anywhere near as revelatory or transporting in any other format. It should go without saying that a novel with the setting of Northern Ireland in the late 20th century should not be an “easy” read. It would be a dishonest book and a failure. There is too much to contend with."

NPR calls it "brutally intelligent" and concludes "At its core, Milkman is a wildly good and true novel of how living in fear limits people."

Read it and decide for yourself.