The country girls door Edna O'Brien

General data

The title of this book is ‘The Country Girls’ and it is written by Edna O’Brien. Edna O’Brien was born in 1930, she is now 86 years old. ‘The Country Girls’ was Edna’s first novel and it got published in 1960 by Penguin Books.

Genre

The writer, Edna O’Brien, is a novelist so I assumed this would be a novel too. In the beginning I didn’t really think of it as a novel though. The first chapters were not about love or anything. It was about Caithleen’s situation at home and school etc. I understand that a story has to be introduced, but not seven chapters long… After those seven chapters it started getting a little more romantic. For example: Caithleen found out she had a crush on a man, but she actually could not be together with him, so they are sneaking around a little bit.

Summary

The main character, Caithleen, is 14 years old and lives in Ireland on the countryside. She is a very shy and sensitive girl. Her father neglects the farm a bit and is often drunk. He also has a lot of debts. Her mother is very kind and sweet but she definitely can't handle her husband. Baba, a friend of Caithleen goes to the same school as her. She wasn’t raised very well, and she also takes Caithleen for granted. She only is kind to her when she needs her. Since Caithleen can’t stand up for herself Baba starts commanding her and Caithleen does exactly what Baba want her to do. It is going very good at school and Caithleen likes to study. She gets a scholarship to go to a convent, a nuns boarding school. At the farm at Caithleen’s also lives Hickey, kind of a helper from her parents. He helps them running the farm. Caithleen’s  mother drowned after she got in to a boat crash during the holidays. The police could not find her in the water. Caithleen was devastated. It also bothered her that she could not give her mother a spot where she could go to, because she is still somewhere in the lake. She moved in with Baba after her mother died. She does not want to live alone with her dad, because he is drunk all the time anyways. Hickey also leaves the farm at that moment. Mister the Maurier, also known as Mr. Gentleman, is a man who also lives in the village and he is very attracted to Caithleen. Caithleen is not sure what to do with it, because he is much older than her, and he is also married. But Caithleen also likes him very much. They go out to together and do fun things.. Caithleen really enjoys the time they spend together.

Caithleen and Baba are going to the convent after the holidays. Baba had no scholarship, but her parents paid for it. Their friendship had improved a lot after the death of Caithleen’s mother. The convent is very strict. The food that they are getting is most likely disgusting or spoiled. They can never talk about  boyfriends, because that obviously cannot happen in a convent where only women are around. Every day is the same. Every day the same classes and the same pattern. Sometimes it rains, that is the only difference. Caithleen does not bother being there, she likes to study, but Baba does not like it at all. She is not very good at studying, and the nuns dislike her. When they get to go home for Christmas, Caithleen again has very nice and intimate moments with Mr. Gentleman.

Baba has had enough of the convent after three years. She cannot stand the school anymore. She tries to get expelled by doing something inappropriate. She writes a note to Caithleen, and asks her to drop it somewhere. There are naughty things written on that note, and there will be consequences for that. Baba and Caithleen indeed are getting  expelled and that is exactly what Baba wanted to achieve. The parents of Baba are very mad at Baba and blame her for getting Caithleen in to her plans.

Caithleen and Baba both want to move to Dublin to live there, work there and study there. They talked about it to Baba’s parents and they agreed. Baba is going to study to be a secretary, and Caithleen is going to work in a grocery. They both get caught up in a host family. With Joanna and Gustav. Joanna cannot agree with the lifestyle of the two girls. The education of Baba is not going so well, because she is too busy with her boyfriends, smoking, drinking and going out. Baba and Caithleen are really enjoying the city life. Mr. Gentleman is also coming back into Caithleen’s  life again. Caithleen and Mr. Gentleman are experiencing great things together and are spending much time together. When Baba gets very sick, and she hears that she has tuberculosis, she leaves for at least half a year to a sanatorium. Joanne and Caithleen are getting really close during that time, and they become friends. The relationship between her and Mr. Gentleman is also improving. They decide to go on a holiday to Vienna for a week. She borrows some stuff from Joanne and she is happier than ever before. Caithleen her world was destroyed after Mr. Gentleman did not show up at the airport. Later on Caithleen found out that Mr. Gentleman's wife has collapsed, so he could not leave. The story ends with Caithleen crying on her bed, and she stays in the city all by herself.

Themes and messages

The theme of this book, I think, is ‘forbidden love’. Because Caithleen fell in love with a man and the man loved her as well, but there is a huge gap between their ages. The man is like seventy years old and Caithleen is just fourteen years old. So it would be weird if they started a relationship.

Title

I didn’t understand the title at all when I started reading the book. I only did when I came across chapter thirteen. Caithleen and Baba where leaving to Dublin, to a new school since they got expelled from the convent. When they were on the train to Dublin, they behaved themselves as ‘country girls’. That were the words that the writer used, so I thought that’s where the title came from. But later I realised that Caithleen and Baba lived on the countryside and they moved to the big city. If you translate the title it says: ‘meisjes van buiten’. Maybe that is because they are going to live in the city while they used to live on the countryside.

Characters

I would say there are two main characters:

- Caithleen (Cait), of course, is the most important character. The story is all about her and it is written from her perspective. Caithleen is a young girl, who lives in an unstable situation. Her father is an alcoholic and is often away, but when he is home he beats her and her mother, and sometimes the stable-boy. Caithleen and her mother do have a good bond, but her mother suffers a lot from the home situation so Caithleen have to take care of herself sometimes. The book describes her as tall and thin. She is a modest girl, who can’t stand up for herself and she is fragile and very influential, but not when it is about love.

- Baba. Baba is Caithleen’s  friend and bully. She is often very mean to Caithleen, but she is also the only friend of her age. Baba isn’t always mean, she is kind aswell, but she likes to think and behave like she is better than Caithleen.

There are actually a lot minor characters, but I will point out the most important one:

- Mr. Brennan. He is Baba’s father and he is very kind to Caithleen since she lived in their house. Caithleen’s father isn’t responsible enough to care for her, so basically Mr. Brennan is like a second father for her.

- Mr. Gentleman. He is the seventy-year-old man who Caithleen had fallen in love with. (keep in mind that Caithleen is only fourteen). Mr. Gentleman is a kind man, who cares for Caithleen. He is great friends with Baba’s familly, so he is often around.

- Martha. Martha is Mr. Brennan’s wife. At first I thought Martha wasn’t a nice person, but she turned out to be very sweet. She is sweet to Caithleen and she is reasonable.

- Cynthia. Cynthia became a friend of Cait and Baba when they went to the convent. Unfortunately, Cynthia was a senior, so they had to say goodbye after one year.

Place and time

The people in the story live in the 50’s, so after World War II. The book doesn’t really name ages and years. The story takes place in Ireland. The characters live on the countryside. The story is told in chronological order and there are a few flashbacks.

Personal opinion: thumbs up or down

At first I thought the book was very boring. The scenes weren’t written in an exciting way, but when I carried on reading, I started liking it more and more, because I began to understad where the story was about. You have to stay focussed, though. It is not too difficult but when you are not paying attention, you can start reading the chapter all over again. I’m  not sure if I would recommend it to other people, but I’m glad that I have chosen this book.