The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright

I just completed The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright; long listed for the 2012 Orange Prize.

A story written on the infidelities of a husband and sister-in-law. It is written in a rather simplistic style and again, I found this one to be fairly boring. I was not drawn in to the characters nor was I fond of them. Pretty much a waste of a couple of hours. Not what I am used to in an Orange Prize listed book. This one will not make the short list. I gave it 2 stars.

Enright seems to be an author that critics and judges adore but readers loathe. The Gathering won the Booker Prize and was longlisted for the Orange, but it's rare to find a reader who likes it. It will be interesting to see if The Forgotten Waltz makes the short list.

I don't see how it has a prayer of a chance HRO.

Oh good! I have The Forgotten Waltz out of the Library, but sure don't feel it calling my name. I think I won't feel so obligated to read it now. Thanks for reading it for me!:)

Any time Deb.

I'll go against the grain, and say that I enjoyed The Forgotten Waltz. I also liked The Gathering though! The way and style of Enright's writing seems to really match the way my brain thinks.

In this book, Enright covers three major events that people my age (late 30s, early 40s) seem to deal with: affairs, death of parent, illness in child. The book is divided into 3 sections, each dealing with one of these events through the eyes of Gina. Poor Gina is not making good decisions, but she is trying to justify, after the fact, why she did the things she did. I think she realized that she is stuck with the consequences of the affair - the ex-wife, the child, the man who isn't as much fun when dealing with every day events. (What happened to my shirts?)

He was an ass, a serial adulterer, but Gina realized too late. A man who will cheat with you, will cheat on you. It seems so obvious from the outside. She kept repeating how She loves him. She loves him, which seemed like she was trying to convince herself. Because if she didn't, then all the lives that were ruined/messed up, would be for nought.

I can see why this is on the short list, and wouldn't be disappointed if it won. (But am cheering more for Half-Blood Blues, of the two I have read).

This is like those comtemplative books that men win prizes for all the time: Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes.

Horrible book. I can't believe this made the shortlist, and Gillespie and I didn't. Two stars from me as well.

I liked this book more than Darryl but not as much as Elizabeth! I am like Mama Bear! LOL! Here's my review (I have this book 3.5 stars):

Had The Forgotten Waltz not been nominated for the 2012 Orange Prize, I probably wouldn't have read it. When I read The Gathering by Anne Enright, I found it to be such a bleak novel; I was not in a hurry to read something by Enright again. Thankfully, The Forgotten Waltz was a better reading experience.

At the core of this novel is an examination of modern marriage. Gina is newly married when she meets one of her sister's neighbors, Sean. Over time, Gina and Sean begin to have an affair. When Gina's mom died suddenly, Sean and Gina become little less careful about their secret, and eventually, they must make decisions about their marriages and their own relationship.

Sean has a daughter, Evie, who experienced unexplained seizures as a child, leaving Sean's wife, Aileen, overprotective and nervous. Enright does a commendable job showing the strains an unhealthy child can have on a marriage. Furthermore, Enright taps into the difficulties of becoming involved with a person who has a child. As the story progresses, Gina realizes that she will always be second to Evie's needs. She must decide if she can live with that.

Gina is an interesting character. If I knew her in real life, I would have to plan an intervention. She is fallible and borderline delusional about her relationships - not only with Sean, but with her husband, sister and deceased parents. She reaches for cigarettes and alcohol a lot, but what she really needs is a good therapist.

All in all, The Forgotten Waltz was a solid read that explored relationships, love and marriage. It just goes to show you: sometimes you can't judge an author by just one book.

I just started reading this last night and absolutely love it! I'm glad that I hadn't peeked at this thread before as I might have hesitated to pick it up, but I'm quite intrigued.

Though I really admired Gathering for its portrayal of overwhelming grief, I found it a very demanding read. It has such beautifully structured prose, but so much pain in the story; I didn't think I would choose to pick up another of her novels, but I'm glad that I did.

With apologies to the cast of In Living Color:



One star. 'Nuff said.

I loved The Forgotten Waltz. I thought the writing was lovely -- straightforward, but beautiful. I do like morally ambiguous characters.

Here's what I had to say about it...

I don't think that "liked" or "enjoyed" describe my experience with this book, but I was certainly involved in it, and I've thought about it when I wasn't reading it, so I've given it 4½ stars.
It is internal meanderings and recollections of a thirty-something woman in the throes of an affair. She seems much younger than thirty to me. Gina is a relatively successful business woman, married, who falls into an affair with the married neighbor of her sister. She doesn't think about what she's doing, and if he does, nothing much of it registers with Gina. His wife devotes herself to their child who had seizures when she was younger, but at 12 or 13 has apparently outgrown them but is having psychological problems as a result of the affair. He loves his daughter but complains about his wife. Gina falls out of love with her husband (a much better man, we deduce --- but his breath is bad when he's asleep) and into love with Seán after she sleeps with him. Her sister and various friends object to the affair on moral grounds, but Gina can say only that she loves him.
Enright doesn't judge. She simply presents Gina's feelings in stunning prose. Is Conor, Gina's husband, hurt? Yes, but Gina doesn't worry about it. Is Aileen, Seán's wife, hurt? Probably, but Gina has no way of knowing, so we don't see anything about her. Is Evie, the daughter, hurt? Yes, but Evie at least knows where the responsibility lies and doesn't hesitate to put it where it belongs. Will Seán be faithful to Gina? Probably not, but pain is not likely to endure. (She does miss her mother who dies in the course of the story.) Enright draws a striking picture of a woman at sea morally. I think it's telling that the only thing she recalls her mother teaching her is how to sit properly so that the line of her thigh seems longer. It's a remarkable portrait. I wish I didn't feel that it's a typical one.

I finished this last week and gave it four stars. It felt very real and believable to me. As usual Peggy has summed it up perfectly in a few words: It's a remarkable portrait. I wish I didn't feel that it's a typical one.

On a purely personal note, as I had been struggling to concentrate on anything literary over the last couple of weeks, it was great to read something well written which also had an immediate impact and was easy to read!