I read this about 25 years ago when I was 14, and on Saturday I was lucky enough to see Edna O'Brien (now aged 85) speak at event near where I live. She was so wonderful - warm and funny - and the book is just the same.
She has a really interesting style of writing - she'll often add a non sequitur onto the end of a paragraph that brings me up short, in a wonderful way. It reminds me a lot of the way Barbara Comyns wrote, and sometimes Shirley Jackson.
Remind me to read this again in another 25 years if I haven't done so.