Book Of The Month: Almost There: The Onward Journal Of A Dublin Woman
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““It wasn’t as if.. I was making anyone unhappy. But isn’t that because you’re not making anyone happy either? Isn’t that because there isn’t in fact anyone around to be made anything at all?...What about the seven Christmases and countless other months I spent…where no one calls and you never go out? Wasn’t all that a flight from both happiness and unhappiness? You had to have territory to control, even if it meant your territory was a desert.””
Almost There: The Onward Journal Of A Dublin Woman
Originally Published: 2003
Pages: 288
Available on: Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover, Audiobook
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Nuala O’Faolain’s literary reputation rose overnight at the 1996 publication of her pensive, turn of the century book, Are You Somebody?. Her rich reflection on Irish culture and personal involvement as a journalist in the deeply Irish literary and social scene left an incredible impression on audiences.
Seven years later, she released another work, an extension and retrospection of her first release, that was even more enrapturing and heartrending.
While it is her debut release that still sells the most copies and ranked on the New York Times Best Seller list, Almost There: The Onward Journey of A Dublin Woman is an equally compelling book. It is an intimate insight into the mind of an esteemed author and public figure, and into the journey of a sixty-something woman still seeking the roots of a happy, good life.
In this wondrous memoir, Almost There: The Onward Journey of A Dublin Woman, Nuala O’Failoan displays a humbling curiosity and search for betterment and happiness. Having reached her sixties and in the “crucible of middle age,” she admits frankly to still feeling confounded by the complexity and mystery of what living a life on this world means. Her simple, yet profound process of wondering is riveting, as she steps back to take in life from a wide-angle lens.
While Are You Somebody? launched O’Faolain into the international spotlight and elicited staggering responses, it also staggered her. With great humility, she internally marveled at the sheer magnitude of connection that readers felt with her work, especially from those who had a similarly troubled youth and home: "I was typical. A nobody who came of an unrecorded line of nobodies." Her incredible work, extensive career, and renown in the public eye completely conflicts the down-to-earth account for herself.
It is almost best to treat these books as a two-part set; if you read one, you will want to read the other. The first book is an education; the second memoir is a contemplative and exploratory letter to herself and her readers, a passionate examination of conscience that readers feel themselves tugged into.
In Almost There, O’Faolain digs deeply into her present stage of life. She has recently broken up with a longtime partner, spent the last Christmas alone, and struggles with ongoing cycles of depression, alcohol abuse, loneliness, and regret. Her book is precious in that it reiterates again and again that she is still learning, and she embraces that process:
““Let me be Jane Eyre, prim and tough, and in the end, adored by father and child, and not the lunatic woman, cackling madly up in the attic. Of all things I would ask of life now, the thing I want most is to learn ordinary, daily love. If I could love more steadily than I ever thought I could — more than I ever saw done — I know I would be saved.””
Bravely introspective, O’Faolain delves into the ups and downs of a grievous, torrential upbringing and adulthood that she claims to be typical in Ireland.
Her anecdotes are those of an alcoholic mother and alternatingly absent, abusive father; their tragically early deaths; a home lacking comfort, love, and income; her eight siblings, two of whom also succumbed to an alcoholic death. They often struggled with money; O’Faolain’s youthful rebelliousness landed her in a girl’s boarding school. A memoir containing much pain and neglect, she candidly wonders at the retrospective lessons to be learned from suffering and whether she is actually learning from them.
““But Ireland isn’t just landscape, but history and present society. There was famine and brutality and emptiness in the country. And the damaged underclass I was part of in the afternoon pubs was as much part of Ireland as its beauty.””
O’Faolain’s candor is rooted in her contemplation of commonplace troubles at home and in society, of poor parenting, alcoholism, sexism, and wayward searches for romance and love. Her fascinating lifetime of travel, civil rights involvement, and career pursuit will stun readers with the expanse of her talent and experience.
“‘’In Ireland, there are sanctions for speaking out — on the lowest level by sour murmurs behind your back that you’re in it for the money, and on a much more serious level by reproach for breaking the consensus that previous generations kept intact. . . . Couldn’t you have left the poor woman her good name? What right have other people to know what went on behind closed doors in your family?’’”
With admissions of conscious self-destructive tendencies, selfish longings, memories and still-nursed regrets, anger and isolation, O’Faolain faces the weakest parts of herself in Almost There, but these admissions resonate with the same raw weaknesses of her readers. Despite it all, O’Faolain still explores changing expectations for hope and a fulfilling existence.
Much of Almost There is rich with her readers’ responses. They sent her hundreds, thousands of letters, most of which she replied to, and always felt touched by. She took these conversations and offerings from her readers so very seriously.
““For I lived with nothing but words. I don’t mean my life was empty. Far from it- my silent room was filled with the busy traffic of communication.””
A woman of great education and fierce personality, O’Faolain was an academic, filmmaker, book reviewer, civil-rights defender and feminist. She was named A.T. Cross Woman Journalist of the Year in 1987 and received other awards for her works and films. Are You Somebody? crowned the top of bestselling lists for months in 1996, including the New York Times.
Nuala O’Faolain passed away from lung cancer in 2008, but her reputation as a well-respected columnist for The Irish Times and internationally known author memorializes her.
She published two other works, My Dream of You and The Story of Chicago May, which are also well-reviewed. Any of her works are a great jumping-off point and will induce readers to try her other publications.
““If there were nothing else, reading would—obviously—be worth living for.” ”
Read More From Nuala O’Faolain:
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Image: Amazon
Image: Amazon