Idioglossia

by Eleanor Bailey

n. the secret language between two people, the babble of babies, the murmur of lunatics.

Eleanor Bailey – hailed in the UK as a female John Irving – proves herself an accomplished and witty storyteller in her debut novel, Idioglossia. Exploring the lives of four generations of women, Bailey depicts mothers and daughters in a book that adroitly combines a sharp satiric edge with epic, even comic reach. Bailey’s wit and uncanny characterizations show how these variously disturbed women come to understand each other through their individual experiences of depression.

At the head of the lineage is Great Edie, a scary, cantankerous old woman and an inspired seer, who runs a gloomy boarding house in London. Her daughter, Grace, suffers the most extremely from the family illness. A schizophrenic, she spends most of her adult life locked away in a mental institution, recalling a dead sister whom she believes she killed, and babbling what seems like nonsense to her patient but condescending nurses.

Grace’s only daughter, Maggie, left to grow up on a cruise ship in the care of her drunken ventriloquist father, is a bright, idiosyncratic Alice-in-Wonderland type. Lost, wide-eyed and cast adrift amid a group of eclectic performers from the ship’s nightly cabaret, Maggie retreats into her own games and inventions until a mysterious entertainer comes on board. Twice her age, he has the wit to play her games and, because of his attentions, Maggie finds herself falling in love. He stays involved as long as she can provide him with access to her imaginative childlike world, but when that ends, he disappears, leaving her pregnant and alone. Thirty years later, he returns to her, by then an old man.

Frozen solid with despair, Maggie passes the years at the mercy of Great Edie’s cruel tongue. Her only vision of heaven is the thought of being left alone in a quiet room. At times she envies Grace her strange freedom, her complete surrender to the psychological weakness that runs through their family like a fault. Sarah, Maggie’s daughter doesn’t much like or understand her mother. On the run from a childhood peopled by “loveless adults,” Sarah uses deadening temp jobs and increasingly depressing one-night stands to distance herself from the world and get revenge on her mother. She tries to find solace with her anti-social computer-geek friend Alex, whose sophisticated games seem to be a means of escape for them both. But even after she moves in with him, she finds herself edging closer to her own breaking point, eventually seeing no alternative to just letting go. At last it’s up to Maggie to rescue her daughter from spiralling into the family madness.

Idioglossia is a rich and powerful book, full of insights about mothers, daughters, and the temptation to break from the harsh reality of the world. Its publication marks the arrival of a writer of great imagination and heart.

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Eleanor Bailey is a writer and journalist. She lives in Japan. She has recently been selected as one of twenty-one women writers in the Orange Futures promotion, highlighting the writers to watch in the twenty-first century. Her novels Idioglossia and Marlene Dietrich Lived Here are both published by Black Swan.

Reviews

[Emma Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

i hate when promising books lose steam and feebly fill plot holes with shallow character development and relationships that barely make sense. UGH

[carina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up to take a break from "Running with Scissors" (my bookclub's current read) which was starting to get to me. While Eleanor Bailey, a first time novelist, develops her characters with great care and none are one sided nor trite, her writing is often cumbersome and self conscious. Perhaps it's a case of dialect: Bailey is English and I am Canadian, so naturally we have significant differences in our dialect. And after all the novel is titled "Idioglossia", eventually defined by the narrator to mean a language of one's own (roughly) - describing the peculiar Dutch-like phrases uttered by Grace in her dark moments when reliving her childhood and other terrors.

What bothered me in the end was despite the strong female characters (4 generations) who make up the main cast, the two primary women are in the end saved, emotionally, by their respective male suitors. Ugh. I guess I'll go back to "Running with Scissors" after all.

[Ann Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this so long ago and I have no idea what's become of my copy - I think I loaned it out one last time to never get it back, which is a good sign.

I remember it being very readable and a great bookclub choice - the story deals with four generations of women in rich detail. "Idioglossia" is a language shared by just a few people, and I think all women will realize the specific language shared between generations as their own.

[Alison Ryde · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you, or anyone you know, suffers from depression, then you will recognise it in this remarkable book. Fortunately, not everyone's family is as bleak as this one, and it is very grim. Sadness and melancholy threads through this history, over 90 years, with assorted flashbacks to give insight and solidity to the behaviours we see in the living characters. What is very instructive is the warning that destructive behaviours (regardless of mental illness) can be passed from generation to generation unless an opportunity is taken to break the cycle. Sarah, the fourth generation that we are acquainted with, has this possible chance, and by the end, I was willing her to succeed. Her mother, Maggie, squeezed between a bitter, hostile unloving grandmother and a largely absent (mental illness) mother, but who nevertheless has a memory of being cherished, has some chinks through which we see some light shining through. Their relationships with other somewhat broken, damaged characters, are sensitively portrayed, and give hope where none seems apparent.
Altogether, a tricky book to read because of the structure which is initially rather confusing. I found it worth sticking to, despite the sometimes apparently relentlessness of sadness running through it.
The characters themselves were very real. Especially interesting also was the generational responses to traumas. Great Edie, a total witch on the face of it, probably had no option but to plough on, and possessed no energy or will to do anything other than merely survive, full of bitterness and hate (and you couldn't blame her except for the projection of that onto her daughters and everyone else she encounters). Grace had full on incapacitating mental illness and was 'not there'. Maggie tried her best. Sarah - well, read it and see. These characters are surprisingly real. Not a jolly read, though. Be warned.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book felt like an acquired taste but it is amazing. It made me sad, melancholy, angry, bitter (who has a normal family anyway?), intrigued, and unable to put it down till I finished it.
Idioglossia means a private language, like twins sometimes develop, or couples who've been married for 60 years. First there is Great Edie (Great grandmother), her daughter Grace, her daughter Maggie and her daughter Sarah. And what eccentric yet ordinary people they are. Yes ordinary on the surface leading plain nondescript lives, they don't do anything extraordinary, just try to cope with lives that sometimes seem meaningless, get depressed and aggravated, push away happiness then try to grasp it because they are so lonely. Then there's Rudi, Sarah's father, and Alex, Sarah's friend, who, once he's freed from a dreadful secret of abuse (by parents) also reach out for happiness. The eternal hope of humans who value hope over experience, who survive. Who are brave and funny and caring. The concept of the meanings of words and language is quietly threaded through the whole story to show how much humans need to understand what people are saying, and often miss the point entirely. A wonderfully written story, there are turns of phrase that are brilliant, with real characters. An exhausting yet fulfilling read.

[Rhondalee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is quite different from what I normally read and yet I could not put it down. The intricacies of the characters, their interaction and the development of a complex and readily identifiable storyline kept me entertained and I was able to visualise whilst I was reading. This is one of the most important things for me and I became enmeshed in the characters, their thoughts and emotions and I also identified with their struggles. Whimsical and even humorous in parts, this helped to lighten what could have been a heavy read. Loved it and can't wait to read her next book, Marlene Dietrich Lived Here.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reread after many years.

Love stories between broken people: mental illness, trauma, possibly undiagnosed neurodivergence? Sweet and ultimately hopeful.

(Four stars because it seemed longer than necessary; some of the storylines didn't interest me at all.)

[Babete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personagens interessantes, atormentadas e infelizes. Demorei muito tempo a ler, fiquei emperrada várias vezes. Chorei, identifiquei-me com sentimentos e situações e no fim não dei o meu tempo por perdido.Não é um livro fácil mas contém algumas pérolas como esta " O Chomsky disse que a literatura possibilitava uma introspecção muito mais profunda às pessoas do que qualquer outra ciência o pode fazer". ( Segredos e Murmúrios )

[Taco Banana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Endearing from beginning to end.
The characters all seemed genuine and the gentle supernatural leaning of the bitchy old grandma was a colourful addition. I am impressed and I enjoyed the strange story and all the strange characters.
I did expect more weight on the language aspect, but it all came together in one entertaining piece.
The writing itself showed personality (even if there were a few dusty choices). Snappy I think is the descriptor I'm reaching for.
Very good read.

[Jo Scoble · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it. Great title for a book but I couldn't get past the first part. I felt so confused, the writing/description was all over the place, the flow stopped and started I couldn't get into a rythmn. Decided to read something else. :(

[Anne Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up after 50 pages - didn't like style or story.

[Judy Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my usual story line I read, different but was glad to finish it. I find books that skip around difficult to keep track of events.

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately I didn't like this book. I found it hard to follow and well, it read like gibberish. Just wasn't for me

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good writing, but ultimately boring

[Marni · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author writes some interesting lines about depression as one of the character s- "It was not a definable illness, she mused. I merely fell into the morass of my mind.....I choked on reflective quagmire."