Rating: 2 stars
Cover synopsis: When she was a young woman, Roseanne McNulty was one of the most beautiful girls in County Sligo, Ireland. Now as her 100th year draws near, she is a patient in a mental hospital and she decides to record the events of her life. Dr. Grene has been asked to evalate the patients to decide if they can return to society. But as he researches her case he discovers a different story of Roseanne's life than what she recalls.
I know I'm supposed to like this book. It got a 4-star average rating on Amazon, and it came recommended from someone in my book group. But it bored me to tears. It was so predictable, I felt like I was slogging through one cliche after another.
This is one of "those" tragedy books: The Catholic church is evil and ruins lives, not to mention the token rape attempt, infidelity and illegitamate child that must be hushed up. Yawn. This story line is so unoriginal.
The one creative point this book had going for it is trying to figure out whose story of events is true. But I don't feel the author played this up as much as he could. I even figured out the "surprise" ending about 1/4 way through the book. The foreshadowing in here too blatant. I like to read a book and not be able to imagine what will happen next -- to have any foreshadowing leave tempting clues along the way without giving the rest of the plot away. The Secret Scripture was way too predictable.
