Kennedy is a gifted comedian, deep philosophical commentator ,astute observer of Human inner wants and skilled writer that brings out sympathy for stricken characters who were hard-wired to lose by an unsympathetic system brought into corporate prominence before they were even born.They are victims already sentenced to hard-labour physically and mentally , whos very next breath and cynicism is a brave and lasting resistance.
As thoughtful Critic and Fellow Novelist Ali Smith so sharply puts it in evocative eloquence in the review above.
Paradise is a faultless performance of rhetorical nihilism, a dialogue with a world so blurred that it doesn't matter where you are, Dublin, London, Budapest, because nothing matters but the drama of being out of it; in other words, a world in which we don't even notice we're at war. "You can't think how something so large could have occurred so unawares, a whole war without your knowledge." Kennedy is the opposite of the oblivious artist. This double-vision of heaven and hell is her sharpest vision yet.
As a lot of the female baby-boomer generation hitting the forties or mid-forties come to this landmark childless , in shaky or non-existent relationships , on the first rung of unsatisfying careers and only atheism as a crutch to lean on in the autumn years it is refreshing to see a genuine woman comedian gifting us with her ironic , taking neurosis as a given , take on what is a serious question of what the gains of feminism have given to the first generation to be given a window ( which is now closing as cuts in education , employment and welfare that benefits woman most take place in a manner than suggests that retrospect in not a place we will pass again) to fulfill the potential of liberation.It is for woman to answer if the journey was all that was promised this generation who were told if they give up on Family and concentrate on career , then they will enjoy the harvest of both Family and a comfortable independent financially free life in later years.Well , we know have the later years and , for some, who took the bargain in trusting good faith are in a position to give an initial report card on whether the project was a success.Of course , they will have to wait a little longer to work to a point they can get their first pension - it was 60 when they started , now in approaching 68 , and it would be no surprise if it ultimately hits 75 before they actually draw one.It is ironic that the Mothers of this generation , who probably never worked ( unless they choose to having reared children for the early years) as they devoted full-time commitment to rearing their children have more contented and , on balance, enriched lives at the age of 68 , than will have their liberated progressive daughters in their forties when they reach that age.
This Novel identifies the victims of a war so subtly waged by corporate opinion , image and spin-makers that we do not even realise there is a conflict ,yet alone a battle going on in which our hearts and minds are on the line.
Kennedy has her own informative website on many topics of concern and her latest projects.
One of the features in the website is her review of reviews in which she turns the tabled of some of the mainstream reviews of her Books as Good,Bad and Odd.
To get a balance picture it is worth reading the "odd" review from the gifted , evocative and highly qualified Claire Messud , who on this occasion does miss the irony of the Novel and the Novelist and the fact the story is being told in Character.
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