Review: A Greyhound of a Girl
A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is one of those books that I wanted to like, and while I enjoyed reading it, I didn't find it to be a very satisfying read. Our story begins with the main character, Mary, dealing with the loneliness of her best friend moving away. Her mother, Scarlett, has her own challenges; her mother, Emer, is in the hospital and she knows Emer isn't getting any better. Doyle weaves in flashbacks of Scarlett growing up, as well as Emer's memories of her mother, Anastasia, aka, Tansey. As you might imagine, with all of these female characters from different generations, it doesn't take long for this book to get confusing.
When Mary tells her mother that she made a new friend, Scarlett is delighted until she finds out that Mary's new friend is named Tansey. When she discovers that Tansey isn't just any Tansey, but her great great grandmother, she and Mary become very interested in why Tansey is back from the grave.
For me, this felt a lot like The Monsters Of Templeton minus the strange family pictures and sexual tension. What piqued my interest in A Greyhound of a Girl was the ghost story part of it, but it's more of an intergenerational novel. Doyle was just extra thorough in bringing in a generation that had already passed on. For readers who are into feel-good, low-stakes stories with a lot of female bonding, this one might be good, but for that, I usually prefer Maeve Binchy.