Thank you @womensprize for sending me a copy of Milkman to review! This was my most anticipated read from the shortlist as I tend to love stream-of-consciousness novels and I’m happy to say that this one did not disappoint!
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Set in an unnamed town during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, our narrator, Middle Sister, finds herself helplessly tangled in a web of gossip, lies, and hearsay, apparently the mistress of a notorious paramilitary leader who finds her ‘interesting’. Not wishing to draw further attention to herself, she does nothing, which in turn feeds the fire quicker than she could have predicted.
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I chose to read this one on a weekend where I had no plans because I knew the tricky style wouldn’t work if I was picking it up in snatches throughout the day - and that was the right decision! This one needs to be sat down with for chunks at a time, it requires your concentration, but it pays off if you’re up for the challenge. I would have got very frustrated with had I read it ‘normally’ and even then some parts I did get a little lost amid Burns’ wandering prose, but I always came back in the end.
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I was just here for everything Burns had to say on gender relations, the imbalance of power, and the way society is conditioned to disregard a woman’s word over a man’s. ‘Here again was someone who knew the answers so wasn’t asking questions, wasn’t interested either, in how I might respond’ - Milkman is full of lines that just make you stop and go, YES.
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If you’re up for a challenging but rewarding reading experience, I would recommend you give this one a go!