Milkman (2018)

By Anna Burns

349pp, Fiction

Notes

2019-02-04

Just finished Anna Burn’s book Milkman. Certainly the chewiest book I’ve read in a while but it does amply reward the effort you put into it. A portrait of a time (1970s) and place (Belfast) and a young woman in that time and place, the novel looks at how political and personal violence operates and traumatises on both an individual and societal level – a kind of shutting off of affect and nuance and a rejection of complexity with tragic consequences.

Also, surprisingly funny and the ending is upbeat(ish).

Recommended.