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When a week in Tenerife with John doesn’t end with the expected engagement, Aisling calls a halt to things, and soon she has surprised herself and everyone else by agreeing to move into a three-bed in Portobello with stylish Sadhbh from HR and her friend, the mysterious Elaine. Newly single and relocated to the big city, life is about to change utterly for this wonderful, strong, surprising and funny girl, who just happens to be a complete Aisling. He pretends not to have heard me. The lambs are coming early this year and he was probably up half the night. He should be in bed, not sleeping awkwardly in an armchair. He’s getting a bit old now for that carry-on and he’s just not able for it any more. Mammy will go through him for carrying in half a bale of hay in his brown Work Trousers and bobbly old Work Jumper. (All of his Work Jumpers start life as Good Christmas Jumpers, becoming Work Jumpers after they’ve served sufficient years at the top, in a kind of comforting cycle of clothes.) Daddy puts down his cup and reaches for a pink wafer. “Far-fetched? After going out for seven years? Sure, Denise and Liam got engaged two years ago and they met well after you two.” I'm not an Aisling, but I'd like to be." This statement is hollered over the noise of a busy Dublin brunch spot as I sit with a group of women, all of whom have read Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen's novel Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling, and all of whom have a sense of ownership over the title character. As author John Boyne has said: "Aisling is the real Voice of Ireland. " Emer McLysaght on her comfort reads, favourite Irish author and the toughest part of writing OMGWACA". VIP Magazine. 14 December 2020.
Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen, authors of Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling and The Importance of Being Aisling Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling made me smile and laugh, and though she's odd in many ways, I really warmed to Aisling - seeing the world through her eyes is so entertaining, and left my hugely amused. Her observations on other people and their habits are brilliant. Some parts are ridiculous but that's all part of the fun, and there are some much more serious moments too - it's not all light and fluffy. Emer said: “Now Sarah and I would be absolutely mortified about anything approaching a sex scene but we decided for the last book we’d ramp it up a little bit and we ramped it up so much our publisher asked us to tone it down [laughed].
The synopsis reads: “With her café BallyGoBrunch flying and the door firmly closed on her relationship with John, an unexpected job offer sees Aisling boarding a business-class flight to New York in her best wrap dress and heels. As she finds her feet in the Big Apple, she throws herself into the dating game, grapples with ‘always-on’ work culture, forges and fights for new friendships, and brings her good wedges to a party in the Hamptons (much to Sadhbh’s dismay). Here she is … Aisling Ever After, the fifth and final book in the series, is out on August 31st,” Sarah enthused. I stumble into the ensuite – two sinks, nice touch – where John is simultaneously brushing his teeth, rubbing a cloth across his face and attempting to hold in a puke. I catch sight of my reflection – mother of God, I didn’t even take off my makeup last night, that’s highly unusual – and wince.
Do you want me to have a word? He’s seen the rifle,” Daddy smiles, and I know there’s about two per cent truth in it. Oh my God, What a Complete Aisling is an almost-but-not-quite satire. It began life as a Facebook group, run by its two authors, Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen, and riffing off the Aislings of this world: a girl from rural Ireland who has “never dyed her hair”, “carries her court shoes to work in a bag” and harbours a deep suspicion of sushi (“the price of it for something that’s not even cooked. I ask you.”) Until she discovers that being a proper grown-up means you can't do everything. Sometimes you will let someone down. McLysaght and Breen say they hope the book brings comfort to readers after a difficult year, though the book is (thankfully) set in a Covid-free universe.Aisling is the meeting point between old Ireland and the newer, more cosmopolitan version in which Irish twenty- and thirtysomethings are trying to figure out their role, taking with them the best of old Ireland and embracing the opportunities and challenges that come with adulthood in a country that has experienced rapid change in recent decades. Normalising neurosis Then I had some mental health struggles like feeling the pressure of having to produce another book and really struggling with it. Near the end, she attends another wedding, this time alone, and looking distinctly fashion-forward. “I still haven’t come to terms with sushi, but sure look at me here in my trousers, and my no plus-one,” she marvels. Aisling is at that age where all around her people are getting married. Surely she’s next. After all, she and her boyfriend John have been together for seven years. When a romantic getaway turns into a disaster, Aisling decides it’s time to move on. Leaving John behind, she moves from her tiny village to the bright lights of Dublin. I've always had a soft spot for Irish authors who write the type of books which are funny and sad at the same time. I swear I read them in an Irish accent in my head as they're not nearly as good in my native Scots!
I can't tell you about the plot because I didn't read enough to know what the plot was about -although I was already concerned about her father's appearance - my apologies. Breen and McLysaght first developed Aisling as a bit of fun, a way of noticing young women “up from the country”, working and living in Dublin (McLysaght is originally from Kildare and Breen is from Carlow). When their Aisling Facebook group had grown to tens of thousands of members, Irish publishers Gill approached them about writing a book. The series has now sold almost 475,000 copies. Five books later, and Aisling is firmly embedded in Irish popular culture alongside characters such as Paul Howard’s Ross O’Carroll-Kelly and Marian Keyes’s Walsh family.So maybe a few things were slightly over the top, some a tad stereotypical and some a bit predictable, but it really didn’t matter. This is just one of those stories where you go with the flow, don’t overthink things and let the wonderfulness that is Aisling fill your heart with joy. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting her, her family and her friends and I’m quietly hoping that maybe there may be a sequel some day. I have no doubt Aisling has many more stories to tell! Which why now is NOT the time for a delicious new man to show up, her best friend to demand the hen do of the century and a surprise celebrity appearance . . . Fun, entertaining and, at times, a bit emotional, Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling is a fast-paced, funny read which I really didn't want to put down! I’m no Fine Gaeler but when you get a personal missive from the office of the taoiseach, you text your mother and then put it away for safe keeping Well, it’s not exactly on the horizon for us, is it? I’m twenty-nine and you’re only twenty-eight. You’d be a child bride by today’s standards,” he adds with a hollow laugh, spraying toast crumbs onto the white linen tablecloth.
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