Milkman

Read this in an effort to expand my horizons to include more lit fic. I was blown away by the amount of levels this book functions on. The lack of proper nouns is a great tool for highlighting the gray space the narrator occupies in her relationships and in her homeland. The setting of 1970s Northern Ireland is interesting enough without using it to explore the pressures of conformity, especially those placed on women. The surreal, dreamy-journalistic quality to the writing adds to the intentional vagueness that permeates the whole novel. It's a challenging read, one that definitely made me feel like I was working to understand, but like a good workout, I feel really good having completed it.