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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A true crime-esque fictional story follows an Irish family that moves to England under suspicious circumstances in the 1980s, then finds themselves under a cloud of suspicion for a crime committed in the 1990s. Readers also get the perspective of the dogged young reporter trying to break the story.
Most, if not all, of the characters initially come across as pretty unlikeable. Each member of the family get their own chapter - giving visibility into their psyche and personal history that made them into their current selves. The author does an incredible job creating multi-faceted and emotionally complex characters. You blame them for their actions but understand why someone did what they did. While the main plot point is a crime and the subsequent investigation; I would characterize this story as a study of humanity, specifically the intersection of personal and family trauma. It covers tough topics but is so engaging - I finished it in just a few days.
Most, if not all, of the characters initially come across as pretty unlikeable. Each member of the family get their own chapter - giving visibility into their psyche and personal history that made them into their current selves. The author does an incredible job creating multi-faceted and emotionally complex characters. You blame them for their actions but understand why someone did what they did. While the main plot point is a crime and the subsequent investigation; I would characterize this story as a study of humanity, specifically the intersection of personal and family trauma. It covers tough topics but is so engaging - I finished it in just a few days.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
‘Reasonable excuses do NOT INCLUDE ordinary human failings such as hangovers, broken hearts, etc etc etc.’
This was not the most action-packed read, but it is fascinating; I think she has wonderful insight into human emotions and reasoning and reactions, almost too good, sometimes it was too heady and a bit over-explained for me. That said I did enjoy it! I was drawn to the parts about Tom the reporter and how horrid he was, and Carmel and Derek’s relationship… I think Rose was a saint, and Richie and John are heartbreaking.
I’d read if you like Eliza Clark or Tana French! (Not as crime-y tho, more about human nature.)
Reminded me a bit of the Netflix show Adolescence… a child commits a terrible crime… the repercussions of that, the shock…
Anyways. I think this is more of a winter read, not August, but here we are. It was pretty dark.
Quotes:
-‘there was nothing better than this, the feeling of stepping onto the precipice of what was definitely worthwhile when you still didn’t quite know what it was.’ [nothing better than this…. I thought this was so true, when I read it, but after seeing how sad Tom was as a person, how lonely, I realize this quote is a bit sad. Always searching for the next big thing, never happy, using people for the high]
-‘and there was some part of her which felt excited by how disastrous her situation was. she was looking forward to whatever sleight of hand she would figure out to resolve it, and it was by far the most dramatic and definitively narrative thing to have happened her since she had fallen in love.’ [naively thinking you're cleverer than life… you can outwit… it is fun to think sometimes]
-About Rose [and a lot of mothers, BLESS]: ‘she intuited, as she often had before, that her family needed her blankness to absorb their chaos and questions.’
-‘there were other things than beauty which could be undeniable, solid gifts of service, they helped to temper her embarrassment for existing.’
-‘it was to do with facing a task large and grave enough to make use of her pragmatism and sanity.’
-‘I just had this incredible urge to start from the start and wipe out anything I had done or who I was, to even be from a different country, and that’s what it felt like when I first moved over here.’
-‘he didn’t like when people spoke about Waterford as though it wasn’t a real place.’
-‘she stood back a moment and looked at him, only a boy, a stupid boy, just another boy trying to do something he didn’t understand and would never feel the consequences of. She envied him. There was a time when she thought her life would be something like his, being out in the world affecting things, doing things to people and being light and nimble and special enough not to have to deal with their reactions.’
-‘But still, they tried. The trying would be the life’s work, they both understood this, and there would be no day when they would celebrate a resolution.’
This was not the most action-packed read, but it is fascinating; I think she has wonderful insight into human emotions and reasoning and reactions, almost too good, sometimes it was too heady and a bit over-explained for me. That said I did enjoy it! I was drawn to the parts about Tom the reporter and how horrid he was, and Carmel and Derek’s relationship… I think Rose was a saint, and Richie and John are heartbreaking.
I’d read if you like Eliza Clark or Tana French! (Not as crime-y tho, more about human nature.)
Reminded me a bit of the Netflix show Adolescence… a child commits a terrible crime… the repercussions of that, the shock…
Anyways. I think this is more of a winter read, not August, but here we are. It was pretty dark.
Quotes:
-‘there was nothing better than this, the feeling of stepping onto the precipice of what was definitely worthwhile when you still didn’t quite know what it was.’ [nothing better than this…. I thought this was so true, when I read it, but after seeing how sad Tom was as a person, how lonely, I realize this quote is a bit sad. Always searching for the next big thing, never happy, using people for the high]
-‘and there was some part of her which felt excited by how disastrous her situation was. she was looking forward to whatever sleight of hand she would figure out to resolve it, and it was by far the most dramatic and definitively narrative thing to have happened her since she had fallen in love.’ [naively thinking you're cleverer than life… you can outwit… it is fun to think sometimes]
-About Rose [and a lot of mothers, BLESS]: ‘she intuited, as she often had before, that her family needed her blankness to absorb their chaos and questions.’
-‘there were other things than beauty which could be undeniable, solid gifts of service, they helped to temper her embarrassment for existing.’
-‘it was to do with facing a task large and grave enough to make use of her pragmatism and sanity.’
-‘I just had this incredible urge to start from the start and wipe out anything I had done or who I was, to even be from a different country, and that’s what it felt like when I first moved over here.’
-‘he didn’t like when people spoke about Waterford as though it wasn’t a real place.’
-‘she stood back a moment and looked at him, only a boy, a stupid boy, just another boy trying to do something he didn’t understand and would never feel the consequences of. She envied him. There was a time when she thought her life would be something like his, being out in the world affecting things, doing things to people and being light and nimble and special enough not to have to deal with their reactions.’
-‘But still, they tried. The trying would be the life’s work, they both understood this, and there would be no day when they would celebrate a resolution.’
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Good character development but ending fell flat. Also, maybe it’s because I’m so used to reading quotations in books, and this one did not do that so it was hard to follow along at times. Just wasn’t for me.
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A wonderful, and heartbreaking, family novel - which uses the model of the crime novel to explore the challenges and tragedies of a family, as well as the bitter exploitations of the 90s media, just a quiet triumph