Booker Book 2 : The Secret Scripture

I finally finished my second booker longlist book at the weekend.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry – again, lots of other reviews are here. Interestingly only a few of the reviews mention Barry’s earlier (and presumably highly relevant) novel The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, which by all accounts overlaps significantly with The Secret Scripture. I wasn’t aware of the earlier book until about ten minutes ago, so haven’t read it, and haven’t decided yet if I will or not.

The Secret Scripture is the story of two individuals linked by inevitably tragic circumstances, told through the diaries of an elderly patient of the soon-to-be-demolished Roscommon Mental Hospital and the meandering thoughts of her physician. It seems impossible to separate any Irish story from Irish history and Barry here (again?) makes no attempt to do so. In fact he takes the chance to challenge the very notion of any written history, be it public or private, and in doing so raises the kind of questions that are too often ignored by lesser authors piggybacking on ‘history’ to create ‘fiction’.

I love reading Barry’s prose, and this was no exception to that rule. It’s very easy to read, and easier still to get lost in. My main reactions are based on the last ten pages or so, but it would be unfair to explain them at this stage to anyone who hasn’t read that far. I know that sounds nonsensical, but I’ve never had such a strong feeling of… being stunned? Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, who knows, but I had to stop for a minute, and look away, and try to make the spinning stop.

That sounds unpleasant and potentially like something a doctor should address, but it really isn’t. It’s simply a reflection of how absorbed I was in this story, or stories.

Having said that, there is one negative that I feel obliged to mention. While strenuously avoiding any possible revelations here, I think I can say that there are a variety of loose ends that emerge without sufficient time left to tie them up. This leaves the ending a little rushed and untidy.

Having said that, I’m confident this book will end up in the shortlist, which would be wonderful for a whole raft of reasons – not least that the book does in some small way address the history of mental health treatment in Ireland, another part of our history which is all but impossible to be proud of and often too easy to ignore.

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