The Secret Scripture

My brain feels like a personal computer that needs some reformatting or rebooting. I need to rejuvenate my thoughts because lately I feel like I've burned out the last sediments of creative thinking. I no longer have that spark and agility to develop ideas and whatnots. The stress of having been awake until sunrise for a couple weeks has taken its toll now. And so, I caved in to satisfying my thirst of flipping through fiction... to hopefully be inspired by the literary wits of famous writers in this world.

I went to the library and grabbed a book without much thought from the new novels aisle. Apparently, the synopsis tickled my fancy and made me excited enough to borrow it. I read it in two hours last night. I just could not sleep not knowing how it will end. I am impatient like that. But to go through the pages not minding headaches and exhaustion, the presentation must be worthy of my time. I understand that readers would love different styles, so this is in no way to recommend this book. I am just writing my own thoughts about something so beautiful.

The story starts with an old woman, who might be in her hundredth year, scribbling snippets of her life story the way she remembered it. It was an educational journey reading about what happened in Ireland in the early 1900s. It was powerful enough to convey a social criticism about religion and the roles of religious men during that time. How cruel and how much of savage they were...

Roseanne, the main character, was in a mental institution for as long as she could remember. Her thoughts, her guarded secrets, and whatnots were her treasures. She dare not share it with the in-house psychiatrist Dr. Grene. On the other hand, Dr. Grene narrates his own struggles as well parallel to Roseanne's, and how fond he has become of the old lady.

The drama is about what happened to Roseanne - the tragic death of her father, her beautiful but deranged mother, her annuled marriage, and her journey to the mental institution. But it doesn't stop there... because as Dr. Grene reevaluates his patient's condition and circumstances, he discovered something so precious about himself as well.

I have to agree with the other reviews though that this has the Hollywood ending element. I would not be surprised if this will become a movie later on.

I fell asleep happy and contented with scenes of the story in my mind. I love books like this, the kind that has a very creative element and a story with a twist that I could have never guessed. The author Sebastian Barry is a poet and I have figured that out with the way he wrote and described sentiments and emotions... very powerful and sincere. But perhaps it was the style of reading someone else's diary that got me hooked. It was being intimate with the character and her thoughts...

You may or may not like this piece. I did and that's why I blogged about it =)