Review: Tara Road

Tara Road by Maeve Binchy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While I realized on reflection I got a lot out of this book, I wish I could say I liked this even more. I read this following a prompt from the 2018 Read Harder Challenge to read an Oprah pick. I enjoyed a number of other Binchy books for their friendly, Irish charm and storytelling about family and community, and expected this to be a great example, given Oprah’s blessing. It felt long and a bit flat, and a bit overwhelming if you identified with the American, which I did. The story, revolving around an old house in a gentrifying area of Dublin, felt a bit too familiar. At least the house didn’t catch fire like in an earlier Binchy book revolving around a building (“Firefly Summer”). I enjoyed the concept of house swapping described here, with the American visitor to Tara Road learning about how life works in Ireland, and I found this the most unexpectedly interesting part of the book – the compare and contrast between Irish and American life. The plot felt more like a background to build this comparison on. In reflection, I did enjoy this more than many of the Binchy books I’ve read (about half so far), but I’m expecting more. I have enjoyed the narration of other Binchy books, often with an overwhelmingly Irish sound to the narrator’s voice. The narrator for the unabridged version of this book didn’t strike me as “Irish” as the others I’ve listened to.

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