“Molly Fox’s Birthday” by Deirdre Madden (2008) – 221 pages

There are so many new authors that I have not read before that I would like to read, it is difficult to decide which ones to actually read. I chose the novel “Molly Fox’s Birthday” by Deirdre Madden. It was a finalist for the 2009 Orange Prize award given to the best novel written in English by a woman. Deirdre Madden had also been a finalist for this award in 1997. Perhaps it was time that I became acquainted with this author. What finally made me decide to read this book was a blurb on the back cover by Sebastian Barry, nearly my favorite living Irish author, which said, “Equipped with an almost celestial compassion, Madden is the constant genius of Irish letters.” After reading Barry’s introduction to the work of Jennifer Johnston who actually is my favorite living Irish writer, I am willing to read any author that Sebastian Barry recommends.

In the novel, Molly Fox is an actress and the novel is told from the point of view of her best friend who is a playwright. Molly Fox has appeared in several of the playwright’s plays, and thus they have become good friends. The unnamed woman playwright is having difficulty writing her next play which she is trying to write while staying at Molly Fox’s house while Molly is away in New York. Even though I’ve never acted in a play myself but have seen many plays, I enjoy novels about the theatre. There is something about the excitement of people performing before an audience and the goings-on backstage that intrigues me. The scenes in this novel taking place in the theatre and about writing were my favorites, and I think Madden should consider writing an entire novel set in the theatre.

The word I would use to describe this book is ‘seamless’. The book is so seamless there aren’t even chapter breaks – just one long continuous story. The book I read previous to this book was “Ether” by Evgenia Citkowitz which was extremely edgy with very short chapters, a lot of disruptions, and abrupt discontinuities. I can’t imagine two books more different from each other than “Ether”’ and “Molly Fox’s Birthday”. “Molly Fox’s Birthday” is a very straightforward story about the traditional Irish families of the three main characters. Maybe it is a little too traditional. There is a young man involved in the Irish troubles and his brother who studies constantly to stay out of the troubles. The narrator’s brother is a priest. I tend to see Irish priests as rather stock characters, and I don’t think the priest in this novel entirely escapes that fate. This is probably rather cruel to say, but just as theatre people intrigue me, priests rather bore me. I’m not sure how a writer could present a priest that would hold my interest.

But I don’t want to create the wrong impression. I much enjoyed “Molly Fox’s Birthday”. It is a story about friendship of various kinds.  The playwright comes to the conclusion “that so much social interchange is inherently false, and real communication can only be achieved in ways that seem strange and artificial.” Thus there’s the need for the theatre and stage productions which are artificial but where the communication can be honest.

The point I wanted to make earlier was that even though “Ether” and “Molly Fox’s Birthday” are as different as can be, both of these books are pleasurable on their own terms. The story in “Molly Fox’s Birthday” flows along, and while I was reading it I became quite involved with the characters. I don’t want to read variations of the same novel over and over, so I appreciate the wide variety of styles in different novels.

I would like to mention a small coincidence. The entire novel “Molly Fox’s Birthday” takes place on one day, June 21. It just so happened that I was reading the book on June 21.