Books like House of Splendid Isolation

O'Brien builds a puzzle, but once the pieces are all in place, she doesn't offer a solution. To do so would be trite. What she succeeds in doing is make clear the complexity of Ireland by giving her characters the space they need to become known and thus to become sympathetic. Not every single character is likable, but every character's impulses are understood (except perhaps for the Snoop). I wouldn't say they're dynamic--they don't change. Perhaps that's the point. Perhaps the situation in terms of people's convictions is static. At the end of this novel, no one's mind has been changed. But they all are humanized. That's a tricky thing.O'Brien's protagonist, Josie, is the book's anchor, and her story alone would make a potent story, about the necessary marriage, marital violence, constrained sexuality, requisite procreation. But somewhere in every Irish story there is the issue of identity and independence. Seemingly at random, but of course not, it enters Josie's house in the person of Mac. They make a compelling story. The only thing that keeps me from rating the book a five-star read is the last page, the epilogue. For me, it adds nothing. For me, it detracts.