The Wig My Father Wore

by Anne Enright

On This Page

Description

The second novel to be published in America by widely acclaimed Irish author Anne Enright, The Wig My Father Wore is a spry, hilarious novel about parents, love, religion, and the absurdities of them all. Grace is a young Dubliner who works on a television show called Love Quiz. Her father is going benignly senile, but her life otherwise seems fairly solid. When Stephen arrives on her doorstep, however, Grace has no idea what she's in for. Stephen explains that he is an angel, a former show more bridge builder who committed suicide in 1934. He has been sent back to earth (as all suicides are) to guide lost souls. Grace does not take this personally at first, but eventually she has to face the idea that things are not so easy, and that her greatest intimacy is with this supernatural creature. As Grace begins to take stock of her life and the prospect of caring enough about something to fight for it, The Wig My Father Wore takes us on a moving, surreal romp through Catholicism, parents, and the reclamation of love from the twin modern evils of cynicism and the detritus of pop culture. show less

Tags

Recommendations

Member Reviews

6 reviews
I simply couldn't get through this, though my guess is that this has everything to do with me.
"The Wig My Father Wore" seems to be a book very much written for an Irish audience. I never felt like I knew what was going on, that I was missing just about every joke and idea.
Don't ask me what this book was about. I have no idea, really, but it's something like this: A horny angel moves in with a young woman who works for a TV show similar to The Dating Game. He keeps dying again. Her father has always worn a ratty wig. He has Alzheimer's. Pretty soon all the hair falls off the woman's body, and when the angel touches her breast, her nipple disappears. She worries that he will touch her navel and take it away, too. She likes her navel. The angel becomes a contestant on the game show and gets blown into the airways. The end.

Either the author was trying to be weird for the sake of being weird, or she thought she was writing something smart and avant garde. Whatever.
½
Am i the only one not to of found much of a plot with this!!!!
"The angel rang at my door with an ordinary face on him and asked for a cup of tea, as was his right."

Members

Recently Added By

Author Information

Picture of author.
27+ Works 8,757 Members
Anne Teresa Enright (born 11 October 1962) is an Irish author. She received an English and philosophy degree from Trinity College, Dublin. Enright is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature; her novel The Gathering won the 2007 Man Booker Prize. She has also won the 1991 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the 2001 Encore Award and the 2008 show more Irish Novel of the Year. Enright's writings have appeared in several magazines, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, the London Review of Books, The Dublin Review and the Irish Times. In 2015 she made the New Zealand Best Seller List with her title The Green Road. This title also made the Costa Book Award 2015 shortlist in the UK. It also won the Irish Book Award for Novel of the Year. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Awards and Honors

Common Knowledge

Original publication date
1995
People/Characters
Grace; Stephen; father
Important places
Dublin, Ireland
Dedication
For Martin
First words
By that time I needed anything I could get, apart from money, sex and power which were easy but hurt a lot.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)As much sense as milk staining the road between Furnace and Lettermaghera.

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Romance
DDC/MDS
823.914Literature & rhetoricEnglish & Old English literaturesEnglish fiction1900-1901-19991945-1999
LCC
PR6055 .N73 .W5Language and LiteratureEnglishEnglish Literature1961-2000
BISAC

Statistics

Members
113
Popularity
289,360
Reviews
5
Rating
½ (3.34)
Languages
English, French, German
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
7
ASINs
3