Taking Pictures by Anne Enright
| Taking Pictures by Anne Enright | |
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| Category: Literary Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Katherine Stanton
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| Summary: Witty, concise stories about the lives of modern women. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 240 | Date: March 2008 |
| Publisher: Jonathan Cape | |
| ISBN: 978-0224084697 | |
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Perfectly entitled, Taking Pictures, Anne Enright's collection of short stories provides wonderfully written snapshots of modern lives. With a focus on female characters, the nineteen stories are spot-on when describing the complexity of modern relationships between women and their husbands, friends, children and siblings.
Definite highlights are Pale hands I loved, beside the Shalamar about one woman's affair with her childhood sweetheart who was also mentally disabled and Until the Girl Died about how one marriage survived the man's frequent adultery until ones of his 'girls' was killed in a car crash.
In Taking Pictures, Enright demonstrates what an enviable and talented writer she is. It seems that she can personify every woman that ever existed – in one story, she assumes excellently the role of a college student and in the next, a mother of three.
Enright writes with a clever wit and her ability to write wonderfully about women will have female readers everywhere warming to her. From Paris to Ireland, mobile homes to hotel rooms, the various locations that the stories spring from also add to the books appeal.
The situations that Enright's characters find themselves in are fairly normal and could happen to any one of us but her descriptive style is so beautiful that her stories become anything but mundane. When it comes to narrative, Enright is unafraid of spreading her wings a little and being abstract in her descriptions, making Taking Pictures all the more captivating.
Some of the stories were a little hard to grasp and could leave the reader feeling a little confused and unaware of the meaning. Also, some of the stories had a tendency to be quite sexually graphic, which could make some readers quite uncomfortable. However, don't let this affect your opinion of Enright, she is a wonderful writer and will more-than-likely win you over with her enchanting writing style.
Overall, the book projected a feeling of sisterhood and unity. Taking you on a swift journey through a variety of weird and wonderful lives, Taking Pictures is really heart warming and inspirational. This book truly justifies Anne Enright's win of the Man Booker prize in 2007.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
For further reading we think that you'll enjoy The Gathering, also by Anne Enright. For more excellent short stories we recommend The People on Privilege Hill by Jane Gardam.
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