‘The day Somebody McSomebody put a gun to my breast and called me a cat and threatened to shoot me was the same day the milkman died.’
In the powerful first line of Milkman,Anna Burns introduces the absurd, urgent and deeply provocative tone of the novel. Winner of the Man Booker Prize, this novel is one of the masterpieces of our age, combining the gang violence of Ireland’s troubled past with a terrifying presentation of an overbearing collective city consciousness. It seems dystopian in its bleakness and horror, and it transcends time in its haunting vagueness.
The story follows middle sister, living in an unnamed city with her family. Controlled by police, renouncers and miscellaneous paramilitary, to be noticed is to be in immediate danger. When Milkman starts appearing outside her work, house and French classes, her carefully muted, cultivated persona falls apart.
Intricately structured, Burns’ narrative takes the reader on a gripping exploration of the Irish psyche. Echoing the form of Joyce’s Ulysses, the dense prose and extended sentences give a taste of the complexity of the truth of the Troubles. Paradoxically, the long sentences and sparse dialogue invoke reality and immediacy and contribute to the sweaty terror of the atmosphere in the city.
In this devastating image of Ireland in the 1970s, Burns presents a surreal narrative of divided communities destroying their own citizens. The town of Milkmanis cast into a monstrous collective plural, and preys on those who dare to express a singular, different identity. Absurd scenes are woven seamlessly into greying, patchy descriptions of decrepit city life. Unspeakable violence rubs shoulders with visits the chip shop, the paramilitary with the collection of elderly feminists. Bushes click with cameras and cat heads roll around the destroyed churches.
The feature which is most striking is the consistent lack of names; the protagonist, middle sister, is hunted down by a seemingly omniscient stalker, known only as milkman. By wiping the plot of distinctive details, Burns presents a brutal, utilitarian society, where identity matters nothing more than what side of the city you live. Through this, the reader is able to draw chilling connections between the novel and our own society, and is allowed a glimpse into Ireland’s troubled past.
It’s lawless, brutal and breath-taking. It is a genuine masterpiece and has made itself crucial for anyone who wants to explore Irish history, literature or the world of literary form. The Irish Times have truly understood Milkman; Anna Burns has singled herself out as one of Ireland’s “rising literary stars”.
Milkman by Anna Burns, published by Faber
RRP £14.99
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