I didn't want this book to end. It is beautifully written, thought provoking and an excellent story! ( )

This is a book I'll read again. Beautiful prose, spell binding story full of mystery, superb character development, and delving into the mind of those who live with fear, betrayal and longing. ( )

Big winner at the Irish Book Awards 2009:http://www.irishbookawards.ie/AwardDe...

Roseann McNulty was the most beautiful girl in the village of Sligo, but as a Protestant she wasn't considered an acceptable wife for a good Catholic boy. Narrated by Roseann at the age of 100, she tells the story of her life and how she came to be a resident of an asylum for the insane for the past sixty years. Dark story yet Roseann tells is without malice or grudges. Great audiobook! ( )

The Achilles heel of this Booker favourite had been the unlikely ending. But I suspect that White Tiger, the eventual winner, is unlikely to be a better a novel. The story is a two-hander related in alternate chapters by Doctor Greene, a sympathetic psychiatrist at a mental hospital close to closure in Sligo and one of its long term patients, the clearly sane and remarkably lucid centenarian, Roseanne McNulty. The gentle to-ing and fro-ing of voice is like a beautiful, calming tide in this affecting novel of memory. But yes, the melodrama is a bit overdone and the ending is fairly predictable and you do wish it wasn't going to be true. ( )

It was after I got two-thirds of the way through this book that it really caught my interest. It tackles big universal issues such as what is constitutes truth or history, and how much anyone can rely on his memory, studying them in the very specific context of Ireland during and after the civil war that followed the break from the United Kingdom of what later became the Irish Republic. There is also what was, to me at least, an unexpected twist affecting two of the main characters that only emerges in the final chapters. ( )

Interesting and well written but a bit predicable , I could work out who was who and the plot basis by the time I was half way through.
Decent enough but I can't see why it has won prizes. ( )

Full of the heartbreak, poverty, tragedy and perfidy I've come to expect from Irish literature. At least as a 100 year old woman looking back, Roseanne McNulty does remember childhood happiness, never mind that she had her father, her husband and her son all taken from her, and has spent more than half of her lifetime confined to an "asylum" for the mentally ill. As we see her, recording the main events of her life, she seems far from insane. As we learn her story, both from her memory and from the investigation done by Dr. Grene, the superintendent of the mental hospital, it seems remarkable that she retains any coherent faculties at all. I loved the way this book was constructed, and how Roseanne's life story slowly rose to the surface like a developing photograph. It's difficult to discuss specifics without bringing in spoilers, which would...well...spoil it. Excellent use of recurring symbols, and parallel situations. Yes, you can see the ending coming long before it's all spelled out. But I had no objection to that at all. ( )

Extremely moving story written by an author I would definitely want to read more of. This is a story of a young Irish girl from a poor family on the wrong side of the political divide. Eventually, she is committed to a mental institution just to get rid of her embarrassing presence. It tells of the impact this lady made on a psychiatrist working there as he unravels her secrets.
Excellent story by an excellent author ( )

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Excellent read - I could not put the book down. Beautifully written and loved the way the author 'spoke' with two voices. ( )

The only reason I haven't rated this a 5 is the annoying error on the jacket - Roseanne's childhood clearly wasn't during the 1930's - but it took me about half the book to reliably create a timeline and understand that her childhood would have been during the 1910's. Perhaps this is a small matter but it spoilt my reading because I was cross referencing the history and culture to form the timeline, with help from the Internet and a knowledgeable friend - you know who you are so thanks.

Irritation aside, I really love the depth of characterisation and that the story is clearly set against an historical background. This is another book which is told from two perspectives (although actually there is a third perspective but we only find that out through the two narrators) which all draw together into a conclusion.

The subject matter of 'dealing' with those perceived undesirable in a particular culture or society is telling and reflects badly on the perpetrators of this sort of ethnic cleansing.

I look forward to reading more from Sebastian Barry. ( )

This was my first Sebastian Barry, but definitely just a beginning as a fan. The language was lyrical, evocative, and captured me right away when I first heard Roseanne's voice. Her story spans 100 years along with all the confusion of Irish history after partition.
Although her surroundings were meant to be dreary and confining, somehow she rose above them and carried me with her. She wasn't into feeling sorry for herself, so I wasn't either--just tremendous empathy and caring. She was luminous and filled with an innocent grace that was not the least bit artificial or learned. It was the way she was written, because her actions certainly didn't gain her that status. She was repressed by others, squashed, controlled, brutalized. But she must have almost absented herself to survive the way she did.
Barry through Roseanne examines the ambiguities and difficulties of remembering over a long life; they compare it to a box room, filled with stuff that gets jumbled. And though we don't know what the truth might be, as her memories compete with the statements of a local priest about her, we know we prefer her version. It's a bit like the Life of Pi--which story do you choose to believe? Does it ultimately matter?
Dr. Grene's tale is almost sadder because he and his wife both had choices, yet made each other suffer. Dr. Grene is drawn to Roseanne's story, but in a halting, 'I don't want to pry' manner strange for a psychiatrist. But she is fragile and worth caring about as he tries to decide what will become of her in the process of shutting down the mental hospital in which she's all but entombed. at age 100.
It's hard today to accept how repressive Irish Catholic society could be in the 1920s to 1940s, and a lot of my friends were somewhat troubled by her passivity, but it seemed to me to fit the times and her situation.
There are so many images that will stay with me--feathers and hammers, the Pointing Man, her near-death scene at the sea, the shuffling character of John Kane (a hospital attendant). Brilliant writing that doesn't require any effort but carries you along and perhaps is the main character along with Roseanne.
Apparently Barry has written another book about the McNulty family, The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, and that's going to be a Must Read for me now. Barry has left me with images and lots to think about. Excellent book for group discussion--we had ours today. ( )

A beautifully written, engrossing story. ( )

This is the story of 100 year old Roseanne McNulty who has spent more than 60 years in the Roscommon Regional Mental Hopital in Silgo, Ireland. The hospital is about to be demolished and her psychiatrist, Dr. William Grene must evaluate her to see if she should be transferred to the new facility or if she was wrongfully committed during the religious and political turmoil of the time period. The story unfolds through the journals of both Roseanne and Dr. Grene and there are differences in the what Roseanne remembers about her life and what Dr. Grene's research of her past uncovers.

I hardly know what to think of this book. It was short listed for the Booker Prize and it's very beautifully written and very sad, even tragic, but somehow not a book that resonated in me. It's gotten very good reviews and I felt like I should love it but I didn't. I liked it well enough and I'm glad I read it but it's not quite my cup of tea. ( )

Set in Ireland, this is the provocative and moving musings of an old lady and her Doctor. ( )

Beautifully written, poignant story of age, personal history and memories, Irish history, the role of the clergy in Ireland. Convoluted ending, but never mind. ( )

A beautifully written book full evocative lyrical language, "The light of the candles pierced everywhere, into the lines of my father's face as he sat beside me, into the stones of the church, into the voice of the minister as he spoke his words in that mysterious and stirring English of the bible, in through my own breastbone, right into my young heart, piercing me fiercely there, so that I wanted to cry out, but cry out what I could not say." But something doesn't quite work as the ending is very unsatisfying, otherwise this would be a five star read. ( )

An extraordinary achievement . The perfect combination of interesting plot, wonderful sweep of Irish history brought to life through an excellent cast of characters, and all written with the most lyrical and moving prose.

Barry was robbed - this should have won the Booker. The Secret Scripture will be read long after The White Tiger has been forgotten. ( )

Gosh, a haunting tale of Roseanne and William Greene, Doctor and patient at a Psychiatric Hospital in Ireland telling their stories from the present and the past.

The writing is extraordinary, beautiful vivid images transplant you to Ireland in the 1920-1950's contrasted with 2007. Barry certainly has a way with description especially some wonderful metaphors that are so profound and accurate that you almost get cross at his brilliance.

This is never the kind of book I would read but it was on the list for my book group and was very glad that I read it. It's heavy subjects here folks; disturbing, true and deeply moving yet the book is uplifting and affirming in ways.

Really not sure about the ending, I didn't expect it and not sure how authentic it is as others have said but the rest of the book more than makes up for it.

A fasinating, emotional and extraordinary read. ( )

I really enjoyed this work and found the use of language very appropriate, especially for Roseanne. A shocking story, beautifully told and well worth the read.

Like many, I found Dr Greene's narrative less engaging and convincing, although I could understand why it made sense in structuring the book. I think that was the problem, you saw that it was necessary to produce the effect of Roseanne's story. Although this did reduce the impact of the book, I shall be reading more Barry. ( )

I plowed through this book. Took me a while to fall into the cadence of the writing.
A good story. The horrors the Catholic Church perpetrated on women at the beginning of the last century.
All in the name of God. Committing perfectly sane women to insane asylums to protect the "good name of some well to do family"..The story is all too real. Disturbing. ( )

I knew very little about The Secret Scripture when I started reading it, apart from the fact that it was on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize and it was about an old woman in a mental hospital in Ireland, secretly writing her life story.

At the beginning of the book the hospital is due to close and at the same time as Roseanne is writing her own account of her life, Dr Grene is assessing whether she could cope with living on her own. He delves into her past trying to find the reason she was admitted and as the “facts” of her life emerge there are obvious discrepancies between her own account and the hospital records. It’s a story of Roseanne’s struggle to survive set against the background of religious conflict and political unrest in Ireland.

I was thoroughly gripped and moved by this novel; by the plot, the characters and the writing. Dr Grene, whose wife dies during the course of the book, is haunted by the failure of his marriage and overcome with grief.
One aspect of this novel particularly appealed to me - the nature of memory and its function in our lives. Roseanne looking back over her life begins to wonder just what was real and what was fantasy, comparing memory to a box or lumber room.

I’ve read some criticism that the ending is disappointing and contrived and although I could see how events were going to unfold I have no complaints. It was satisfying and it worked for me. ( )

This is a beautiful and haunting story set mostly in an ancient Irish mental facility, or lunatic asylum, as it was charmingly referred to when it was created. The differences in 100 year old Roseanne's recall and that wriiten down in records, kept mostly by the Catholic church, are both unsettling and extremely sad. The tale of the feathers and the hammers is absolutely heartwrenching. Alongside Roseanne's secretly hidden journal, we learn the thoughts of her recently bereaved doctor who is desperately trying to "do the right thing" for his patient whilst awaiting the demolition of the asylum. Like many others in the hospital, Roseanne should never have been placed there...but how do you rehome such an elderly lady who has been incarcerated for some 60 or more years.

The late twist in the plot was rather unbelievable for me......or I would have awarded this novel 5 stars.

However, Dr Grene's final act at Roseanne's former home was spot on.

I thoroughly recommend this book for it's beautiful writing alone. ( )