Ireland

Ireland:

Yesterday, I had very little choice of what country I could write about since I was traveling. I knew that this would be a long trip so I decided to listen to a book on tape. I hadn’t purchased one in a while so I went to a truck stop that was on the way home, and picked up “Minding Frankie”. I listened to it the whole way in the car.

Book:

Minding Frankie, takes place in Ireland. The book follows many different characters. One of them, Noel is a 29 year old alcoholic who is in a dead end job. He has few friends, and his parents are overly devout Catholics, who are completely unaware that their son has a drinking problem. Two events turn change the family and the other cast of characters lives forever. The first is the arrival of Emily, a long lost cousin from America. The second is the discovery that Noel is going to be a father. He finds out that a woman he had been drinking with months earlier is not only 8 months pregnant but is also going to die before she will be able to meet her daughter. She asks Noel to take care of the child, which forces Noel to change his ways. Throughout the book a social worker is constantly trying to take the child away from Noel. This particular character, I felt had more opportunity to grow and didn’t.

The book seems to be trying to show two sides of Ireland’s foster care system, but it falls short. It shows why Frankie’s mother was a ward of the state, and why she doesn’t want her own daughter to grow up in that system. At the same time, it shows why the social worker is such an advocate for the state taking over. Still the social worker seems cold and mean to the end, and there is not enough from Frankie’s mother to show that the foster care system in Ireland is a “lottery”. I found the book a little slow, repetitive and predictable, but I can see why people would like it. There is a lot here that people can identify with.

Food:

I was on the road, so I couldn’t cook. I picked up some fish and fries from Long John Silvers on the way, and when I got home I had a crustless Chicken Pot Pie, a tv dinner from Healthy Choice, which was really good.

References:

Binchy, Maeve. Minding Frankie. Published: 1 May 2012