Neighbourhood lives
Tulip Chowdhury loves a Dublin street
14 September 2007, 18:00 PM
Tara Road
Maeve Binchy
Dell Publishing
Prolific Irish writer Maeve Binchy writes about Ria and her husband Danny Lynch in her novel Tara Road. The story takes place in Dublin, Ireland. The plot, engaging a ring of people who live on Tara Road is captivating. While reading this story one feels as if the last page seems to come too quickly. The story telling is at its finest epic in sweep. It is intimate and psychologically acute, moving but unsentimental. It is richly authentic in its period detail and fresh and contemporary in its style. The reader falls into a pace with the story and seems to be very much living with the happenings. Each chapter seems to hold light for the next and the story becomes gripping, keeping the reader spellbound to the very last word.
Ria and Danny find each other in a fairy tale love affair. It is love at first sight and they end up getting married. Their first home is on Tara Road, a beautiful house that seems come into their hands like a windfall. Ria gives up her job to concentrate on her home and the two lovely children they have. Danny's career takes off and money begins to roll in. Ria is an excellent hostess and the other residents of Tara Road find her home a warm place to gather like a big family. From time to time she is puzzled by her sister Hillary's inability to accept good fortune in having a dashing husband and grand home. To lighten matters Ria tries to engage her sister in her family affairs. There is also Ria's mother Nora Johnson, who is very happy with her younger daughter's success in family life and does not hesitate to point out that her elder daughter could have done better in getting a good husband.
The story moves on from here. Ria's life is absorbed by the people around her. There is Rosemary Ryan, a beautiful, endlessly selfish career woman; Gertie, the battered wife of a drunkard; and several other intriguing women, each of whom has secrets not to be shared. There is even an all-knowing fortune teller who hints that Ria will travel and start a successful business. Ria has yet miles to cross before she can find the truth of this future forecasting. To her it seems to be a very far off idea until one day a loud bell rings with deeply hidden truths.
Ria soon discovers the truth that life cannot be all roses. Danny seems to turn a new leaf overnight as Ria gets to know more about his secret friends. Out of the blue he announces that he is leaving home to live with his young pregnant mistress. Ria finds dark clouds gathering in the sunny sky she had believed she had over her head. Suddenly her home and the children seem to be of lesser importance to Danny. Ria begins to despair. All that she has believed in, has worked for seem to become hazy and she begins to see the world in a new light. Here by a chance phone call she meets Marilyn, a woman from Connecticut, who is unable to come to terms with the death of her only son. The women exchange houses for the summer with extraordinary consequences. Ria lives for two months in suburban Connecticut, while American Marylin comes to Ireland to absorb her own sorrow. On Tara Road the uptight remote Marilyn is drawn into Ria's neighbourhood dramas and Ria touches Marilyn's American life as well. The story goes into showing a fulfilling friendship between the two women. And yet both women learn that each of them holds a deep secret that can never be allowed to come to light.
Tara Road is a story of people in their multitudinous roles. One gets a sense of belonging about the entire neighbourhood of Tara Road as the stories of different families unfold. Happiness and sorrow sweep into the nooks and corners of their lives. One remembers Tolstoy's saying that all families are happy alike and unhappy in their own ways. The saying seems to come alive as each of the family lives with its own pros and cons.
Nora Johnson, Ria's mother, lives the life of a widow and yet she is superbly independent. Rosemary the perfectionist wants to have a family and yet she cannot find the perfect man. Here the reader feels like pointing out that to err is human; so how can Rosemary find that perfect husband? There are Mr and Mrs McCarthy seemingly so happy and yet Barney McCarthy needs to keep a mistress. But then Polly, Barney's mistress, is an excellent woman and people cannot help liking her. At the same time a feeling of resentment works when one thinks of Mona, Barney's wife. There is Gertie who holds the world for a husband who is drunk most of the time. There are other people too who share life around Tara Road.
The book blends into the various roles of its varied characters. Yet each of the characters is passionate, witty and unpretentious. They are so believable that the presence of the characters seems to linger long after the novel ends. The story is an elegant window into how perplexing life can be. It teaches tender wisdom, deep insight and yet has some sharp edged humour. Maeve Binchey has created an unforgettable cast of characters and woven a heart-rending story around them.
Tulip Chowdhury writes fiction and is a teacher.
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