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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Exhausting and terrifying...this book is like reading a nightmare. I saw a review that said "the novel's relentless bleakness made it almost unbearable to read. And yet its plausibility kept me from looking away". I cannot sum it up better than that.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A terrible, brilliant, astonishing book. The events take place in a modern day Ireland which is succumbing to an authoritarian regime, which leads to a civil war and a refugee crises. That alone would be interesting enough.
Yet the story is told from the perspective of a mother of four, and Lynch’s gorgeous writing (his voice is poetic and many sentences took my breath away) manages to expresses the internal emotions of what it might be like to live, and shepherd a family, through such events. It’s an astonishing imaginative achievement.
This is one of those war novels that makes the sheer horror of war—specifically, having your ordinary domestic home neighbourhood descend into a war zone—so very personal. The true horror of this novel is not just that such an event could unfold in any of our modern societies, but that such events are unfolding right now in countries around the world. I knew all that was happening before. But somehow, reading this novel made it feel maddening, agonizing, an utmost tragedy.
Yet the story is told from the perspective of a mother of four, and Lynch’s gorgeous writing (his voice is poetic and many sentences took my breath away) manages to expresses the internal emotions of what it might be like to live, and shepherd a family, through such events. It’s an astonishing imaginative achievement.
This is one of those war novels that makes the sheer horror of war—specifically, having your ordinary domestic home neighbourhood descend into a war zone—so very personal. The true horror of this novel is not just that such an event could unfold in any of our modern societies, but that such events are unfolding right now in countries around the world. I knew all that was happening before. But somehow, reading this novel made it feel maddening, agonizing, an utmost tragedy.
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A frightening wake up call to the rise of global right wing politics. We live to the whim of our governments. Freedom is controlled by those governments. Any of us could become a refugee. Like Orwell’s 1984 this novel is a warning. A worthy winner of this year’s Booker prize.
Dear God. No parent should read this book.
(But it was wonderfully written)
(But it was wonderfully written)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation
No parent should read this book.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Dementia, War, Injury/Injury detail