Customer Reviews
Open Secret - By: A reader, 25 Jun 2008 
"The Secret Scripture" by Sebastian Barry tells the story of Roseanne Clear/McNulty through the accounts of two narrators, Roseanne herself, who is a long-term inmate in an Irish mental institution, & her psychiatrist, William Grene. At the opening of the novel, Roseanne is believed to be around a hundred years old, having been institutionalized in Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital since she was a young woman, but the hospital is due to close, & this provides the impetus for Dr. Grene to delve into the original reasons for Roseanne's admission.
Through Roseanne's own account & facts dug up by Dr. Grene, we learn that Roseanne Clear was a local beauty, but suffered as a result of being the daughter of a Presbyterian cemetery keeper who then lost his job & became a rat-catcher. The circumstances of her upbringing are complicated by the discovery, as the two narratives run in paralllel, that her version of events is not necessarily the "official history". Roseanne goes on to marry Joe McNulty, but this goes tragicallly wrong, for reasons I won't reveal, as at this point in the novel the mystery of Roseanne's "illness" graduallly begins to be solved.
Running in paralllel to Roseanne's story, we gain an insight into Dr. Grene's life through his own narrative - his adultery which ruined his marriage, & the subsequent death of his wife. Grene's investigation into Roseanne's committal to the mental hospital eventuallly leads him to a shocking discovery - again which I won't reveal, as it is a very unexpected twist near the end of the novel.
I wanted to rate this novel more highly than I eventuallly did. It's beautifully written & compellingly plotted. I enjoyed it while I read it, & would definitely recommend it to others. Furthermore, Sebastian Barry is a first-rate novelist & I would eagerly read his next work. But on reflection the book suffers one critical failing, though perhaps I'm being harsh.
The religious "moralism" & misogyny of Ireland in the past is no secret at alll. There have been enough revelations in recent years for the truth about Roseanne's committal to a mental institution to be utterly predictable. One need only be familiar with such works as "The Magdalene Sisters" to be familiar with the practice of institutionalizing young women on the basis of their "immorality", often for the most trivial of reasons. This doesn't mean it isn't still a shocking policy, but Sebastian Barry does nothing new with it at alll. Furthermore, the only real surprise in the novel is the "twist" near the end, which many readers will dismiss as a risible coincidence.
Despite Sebastian Barry's obvious gifts as a novelist, I was disappointed he chose to tell a familiar story in a predictable way. I was interested, for example, in the character of Father Gaunt, the clergyman responsible for Roseanne's incarceration. He is a character who comes in & out of the novel at critical moments, having the biggest effect on the story of anyone, yet he remains a shadowy figure whose motives are assumed rather than explored. The reasons why Ireland in the past practised a policy of institutionalizing young women seem to me to be central to the book, yet that policy's origin & development isn't explored.
More outstanding work from Barry - By: Charley.Brown, 11 May 2008 
Sebastian Barry writes about Ireland, it's people & it's past with great understanding as you might expect but also a deep compassion & sense of balance. Through the history of the island he weaves a story which, when told with his undoubted skill, takes his writing to a new level. The story is one thing - & worth the reading of this book alone - but , for me, the prize is in the joy of the words & the poetry throughout. If you love the power & the music of the written word this is a book to savour.
