“Milkman”

As with Booker Prize winners of recent years, Anna Burns' novel is striking for the unique literary conventions and stylistic novelties that she utilizes throughout. Most notably, none of the characters have names, but are referred to by signifiers: wee sisters, maybe-boyfriend, Somebody McSomebody. 

The historical backdrop of the novel is significant—1970’s Northern Ireland—as are the key themes that run through it (in the words of the Booker's judges: "the perils of tribalism, state-sponsored terrorism, social division and the ways that sexual and political oppression often overlap"). Burns managed to set the significant issue of sexual oppression and violence against women firmly within a broader web of socio-cultural issues in order to provide a more comprehensive and profound look at the big and small ways in which this violence has shaped, and continues to shape, the lives of women. 

The novel's protagonist, middle sister, is an inquisitive young woman who stands out from other girls in a time when standing out is dangerous. When her antisocial behavior (reading 19th-century novels while walking) catches the attention of the mysterious milkman—who, unlike the character called ‘real-milkman’, does not deliver milk—rumors begin to spread, and trouble is not far behind.  

The apocalyptic atmosphere of the novel does nothing to dull its humor, and Burns manages to make the world of the novel sufficiently foreign to disorient us while at the same time drawing us inexorably in. This novel is compelling and beautiful, surprisingly funny and unnervingly dark. It is well worth a read.