The Ante Room by Kate O'Brien

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Set in the fictional town of Mellick,Ireland,the focus of Kate O'Briens' "The Ante Room" is on the trials, tribulations and mental tortures of a late 19th century wealthy Catholic Family. The book, set in three parts, tells of a three day period in the lives of the Mulqueens, father Danny, a director of Considines shipping dock, mother Teresa, bedridden with terminal cancer, son Reggie, plagued with untreatable syphilis but still the apple of his Irish mother's eye, and sisters Marie-Rose, a beautiful, arrogant but immature girl married to the well heeled Vincent DeCourcy O'Regan and Agnes, the central character who is emotionally anxious and apprehensive.

While the central theme of Teresa's impending death is the string that pulls the book along, the numerous subplots of forbidden love (Agnes and Vincent), lost love (Marie-Rose and Vincent), scorned love (Dr. Curran and Agnes) as well as Agnes dealing with the conflict of the superficial trappings of Bourgeoisie life and the fact that all around her are fundamentally discontented. She draws upon her strong Catholic faith as a crutch to help her deal with the realities which she denies.

The language used in the first part of the novel, while at times lyrical, is for the most part wearisome and tedious. The entire first half of the book deals with the first day (All Hallows Eve) only with limited dialogue to retain the readers attention. One is forced to concentrate such is O'Brien's laborious attempt at describing the world of the Mulqueens, as illustrated by the following extract;

"Her early childhood, for instance, except for a few comic and catastrophic memories, and a suspicion that then already her sister Marie-Rose had seemed specially to decorate the scene for her, might have been from her present vantage point someone else's, uninteresting, normal, happy and unhappy." (Page 5).

The latter part of the novel takes off as Reggie is manipulated by Nurse Cunningham, his mother's live-in aide (Page 220). Nurse Cunningham appears as the only character in the novel who does not suffer from delusion. She is aware that her only chance of a comfortable life is to take over Teresa's role as Reggie's mother while convincing him that she is his wife. The rest of the characters flounder along, escaping reality. You sense each life will in time fail, succumbing to the false foundation their dreams and aspirations were built on.

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