The Invisible Worm

by Jennifer Johnston

It starts with a funeral. The great and the good have the President has sent a representative, and dignitaries are there in force. And Laura remembers those two terrible events. But was the tragedy out at sea an accident? Was the experience in the summerhouse cause rather than effect? With wonderful delicacy and economy, Jennifer Johnston has stripped bare the lives of a family overwhelmed by more than one of the deadly sins. The Invisible Worm contains greater power and passion than most novels three times its length.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Irish Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Jennifer Johnston was an Irish novelist. She won a number of awards, including the Whitbread Book Award for The Old Jest in 1979 and a Lifetime Achievement from the Irish Book Awards (2012). The Old Jest, a novel about the Irish War of Independence, was later made into a film called The Dawning, starring Anthony Hopkins, produced by Sarah Lawson and directed by Robert Knights.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a story I once heard, doubtless apocryphal, to the effect that when asked why Das Kapital was such a long book, Marx is said to have replied, "because I didn't have time to write a short one." Fortunately for the reader, Jennifer Johnston took the time to write a short novel. The economy of prose here is remarkable given the number of potent themes she includes in this sparse and deceptively easy to read novel. It is hard to write about it without including a lot of spoilers, but suffice it to say most of the universal themes worth writing about find their place here: death, sex, suicide, incest, betrayal, fidelity, redemption, forgiveness, love, hate, God or the absence thereof, and I could continue. The best I can say is that the central trio of characters--Laura, Maurice, and Dominic--are all human and humane, and in the end the book manages to uplift in spite of some of the grim and sordid details of life that are included in its construction.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up in a coffee shop-cum- second hand book shop after reading the William Blake poem the title is taken from. It seemed like fate, stumbling across is after reading (and loving) the poem for the first time just hours earlier.

I drank the book in. Johnston's writing style is one that highly appeals to me. It is lyrical, poetic and emotionally relateable. What I liked most was that the story wasn't bound by a rigid plot, it was more of an agonizing slow reveal that endears you to the protagonist.

Beautiful. I loved it.

[Niamh McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an easy 5 star review for me, and so early in the year! On top of that this was a book I had to read for university and I know I would never have read it otherwise - least of all because it's so unavailable! This book was short and devastating and I can admit I cried towards the end, it moved me so much. Johnston's writing is non-judgemental, poetic, lyrical, and although I've not experienced trauma like this, I could immediately feel the trauma through the pages. Laura's scattered thinking, her inability to remain in the present moment, her flashbacks, etc, all read like someone who is suffering from PTSD and is unable to move on from a traumatic incident nor the house in which it happened. Her struggle to reconcile feelings of love for her father, betrayal at what he did, keeping the secret from everyone else (including her husband) who revere him so much as a great Irish nationalist politician, as well as her hatred towards him and guilt at feeling that after his death, (and her inability to forgive him truly) all show the mixed emotions and feelings surrounding something like this. Her condescending husband, the intrusion from Dominic who ends up somewhat saving her and his gentle handling of her feelings and revelation......are all beautiful. I loved that the ending didn't go as one might have expected because I don't think it would have fit. This was a traumatised woman, finally feeling able to exert her own agency and take control of her life, if even just a small bit, and finally controlling the narrative. It was sad and yet so hopeful. I LOVED this!!

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I held onto this book for 25 (!) years because it was assigned in my Irish literature class in college and I never read it. So I finally righted that wrong. It's beautifully written -- the dialogue seems especially good, perfectly capturing the way people talk past each other. And there's a dreamy quality to the book that seems to pull together the characters, their memories, and the landscape in a beautiful way. But it's also very sad -- sad enough that I'm not likely to want to browse through its pages again.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnston #
It's been a while since I laid my peepers on a Johnston book and I have loved some of her work, and still think about How Many Miles to Babylon, but this one did not really do it for me.
It was still well written, but it just didn't involve me like some of her other works.
An average read.

[Patricia Power · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Invisible Worm by Jennifer Johnston . I can’t believe I have only discovered this lady. This is Laura’s story and it is so good, we take a journey with laura and discover her past, live with her present and ultimately see her deal with her past and take ownership with her future. Wonderful, hard hitting and difficult to read in places story but so worth it.

[Peregrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

traumatic but so good

[Hjwoodward]

Did Not Finish. It just did not interest me.

[Nell Crlenjak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad its cover caught my eye at the thrift store because this book was absolutely beautiful. So unexpectedly moving, so full of humanity, at both its best and its worst.

[Leeza · Rating 5 out of 5]

fuck!

[A. Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an example of why I keep reading Johnston. I don’t love her without reservation, but I love her more often than I do not. The Invisible Worm is an examination of secrets, of patient and enduring love, of compromise, of betrayal, of memory, of loss, of healing. There is a sinister revelation coming, we know it’s coming, we don’t want to be right, but we just know we are. Conditioned as we are to the formulaic way of love stories, we think we know what’s coming there, too, but we’re happy to be wrong. This novel reminds us that our lesser gods, whoever and whatever they be, might be hosts for invisible worms, working away at their beauty. The overgrown summerhouse is a well-crafted and effective metaphor for Laura’s journey and Dominic’s and Maurice’s places in it. While the novel is situated in Irish history and geography, it is not insular or parochial. This is a story that could be set anywhere, even any time.

[Jo Benson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pro- feminist book.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gossamer, stream-of-consciousness prose, like a 1920s Virginia Woolf novel. Waning naturally in and out of a lost present, by association, a dark past is gradually revealed.

[Erika]

Ich habe ein Buch bei BookCrossing.com registriert!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14586725