The Actress
Author: Anne Enright
Year of Release: 2020
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Release Date: 18th February 2020
Genre: Modern & Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, General Fiction
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis
Katherine O’Dell is an Irish theatre legend. As her daughter Norah retraces her mother’s celebrated career and bohemian life, she delves into long-kept secrets, both her mother’s and her own.
Katherine began her career on Ireland’s bus-and-truck circuit before making it to London’s West End, Broadway, and finally Hollywood. Every moment of her life is a star turn, with young Norah standing in the wings. But the mother-daughter romance cannot survive Katherine’s past or the world’s damage. With age, alcohol, and dimming stardom, her grip on reality grows fitful and, fuelled by a proud and long-simmering rage, she commits a bizarre crime.
Her mother’s protector, Norah understands the destructive love that binds an actress to her audience, but also the strength that an actress takes from her art. Once the victim of a haunting crime herself, Norah eventually becomes a writer, wife, and mother, finding her way to her own hard-won joy. Actress is a book about the freedom we find in our work and in the love we make and keep.
Review
Katherine O’Dell become a legend of the stage in Ireland, Norah O’ Dell Katherine’s only child, takes a look back over her mother’s career and unconventional life. Katherine finds success for a period of time however there comes a point in Katherines life when age, alcohol and fading stardom begin to surface and Katherine’s once strong grip on reality begins to weaken, leaving Katherine O’ Dell filled by a rage; a rage that is now simmering just below the surface, it eventually overflows allowing O’ Dell to commit a bizarre crime.
I found Actress to highlight the strength of a mother and daughter relationship, alongside the ups and downs of fame.
This was such a struggle to read and even finish for me, I found the story of Actress for the most part hard to follow along with. It seemed to me as if the events come to light as they were remembered by the author not placed in any order or so it seemed this way to the reader.
If I am honest I found the characters and their concerns held no interest for me. The second half of this story was slightly more pleasant reading but not by much. I was astounded  when I discovered that Actress isn’t a memoir at all, I was surprised  as it reads that way throughout to this reader.
It was well written and descriptive, I am sure that Actress will suit plenty I am just not one of them but if I had to suggest this book to anyone I suggest it to those who enjoy the mother daughter relationship and might want to investigate further.
