Reviews

Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon

katyboo52's review against another edition

5.0

I was given a copy of this to read from Netgalley. It took me a little while to get into this. David, the narrator, was someone I found difficult to like at first. Then I realised why and suddenly it changed everything. This book is a fantastic exploration of grief and what it means to lose someone who allowed you to exist in a certain way and how you have to face not just the loss of that person but also the person you are yourself now that they are gone. It's tender and clever and gut wrenching and rather lovely.

nocto's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was just a fabulous read. The story of a man whose wife has died unexpectedly recalling and recounting the years of their marriage doesn’t sound particularly enthralling but really it was. And it left me feeling uplifted as well. I’m not sure I can explain why I thought most of the book worked so well. David and Mary Rose had one of those relationships that looks impossibly perfect to a lot of people, and that, of course, has it’s cracks on the inside, but it’s not a book that exposes the rot within, it just shows something that seemed very realistic.

I liked the way that the narrative of the marriage unfolded in more or less chronological order but was told from David’s viewpoint as he tried to come to terms with it. In particular I loved all the supporting characters. The families and the friends, both how they were when Mary Rose was alive and how they responded to her death. There was a part at the end of the book that seemed, maybe a bit too neat, but it certainly wasn’t unrealistic, perhaps it could have been foreshadowed a little. But it worked with the story and overall I enjoyed the book a lot.

Definitely an author I’ll look out for again, I really liked her storytelling style.

tibes81's review against another edition

emotional hopeful relaxing slow-paced

3.5

reading_ot's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

rosiefpb's review against another edition

4.0

Quite slow to get going, and therefore I didn't really reach for it much initially but I'm glad I stuck with it because the second half was great.

lottie1803's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

sarahtribble's review against another edition

5.0

“[...] just like I was a different person now to the happy husband who was once married to Mary Rose, some new, half-living creature that had climbed out of the husk of that husband, someone I hardly even recognised as myself.”

“I was neither dead nor alive, but doomed to wander a desolate space between the two.”

2021 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist

Buddy read with Hannah and Charlie!

What a wonderful little book. Kathleen MacMahon has written a gorgeous, ponderous story about life after the death of a loved one, and how grief never really goes away; it just becomes more manageable over time. Grief follows you, haunts you, hovers over you at all times, a dark cloud over an otherwise sunny day. Oftentimes, it feels inescapable, incurable; when you are grieving, it is easy to convince yourself that you will never be happy again. But life, fickle little life, has a way of filling the holes that tragedy leaves behind, and this book captures that lifecycle in quiet, intimate detail. Although I'm not grieving anything quite as serious as a death, I am currently grieving something personal and painful, and this book made me feel as if my pain had been plagiarised and reworded better than I could ever hope to articulate it. It's quiet, contemplative, and hesitantly hopeful, and I would have loved to see it on the shortlist.

bhagestedt's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

jussymclean's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

aliciagriggs's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.5

Really enjoyed this book, aside from the Brexit digs (unnecessary). I didn't like the main character at all; thought he was a bit of a chode, but this is at odds with the fact that he is grieving and I felt sorry for him. 
It's an excellent portrayal of grief and an interesting insight into a marriage. 
Sad and reflective, the book held my interest for the most part. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Minor: Miscarriage