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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Still shaking. It's terrifying to recognize a similar lack of agency. We are "animals in docile servitude to the needs of the body, tribe and state." A modern "normal" life is quickly transfigured to horror, control and desperation. Imagine that next week you are no longer employed or picking kids up from soccer. Ordinary life has vaporized. Lynch makes this scenario plausible and recognizable in contemporary Ireland.
Strange to think that Mam's life was utterly destroyed, but infant Ben may carry on with no memory. The Prophets Song of destruction targets one slice of one tragic generation. Lynch observes that "the end of the world is always a local event. It comes to your country and visits your town and knocks on the door of your house."
Contemporary Americans have hit the lottery of law and order. We are safe, and many others are not. We read this book from a perch of security. We take for granted that leaving a child in a hospital is safe. If you were unfortunate to be born in Argentina in 1980, for instance, your family could be disappeared like Eilish's.
Our Democracy has delivered historically unimaginable stability and freedom. Let's not f it up.
Strange to think that Mam's life was utterly destroyed, but infant Ben may carry on with no memory. The Prophets Song of destruction targets one slice of one tragic generation. Lynch observes that "the end of the world is always a local event. It comes to your country and visits your town and knocks on the door of your house."
Contemporary Americans have hit the lottery of law and order. We are safe, and many others are not. We read this book from a perch of security. We take for granted that leaving a child in a hospital is safe. If you were unfortunate to be born in Argentina in 1980, for instance, your family could be disappeared like Eilish's.
Our Democracy has delivered historically unimaginable stability and freedom. Let's not f it up.
Truly harrowing in its poetic imagining of the mundane facts of life in a society lurching towards authoritarianism. I felt as though it was happening to my world - my heart was often literally racing while reading.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
8/10
Deze dystopische roman doet je heel de tijd hopen dat er toch nog een happy end komt, maar helaas...
Deze dystopische roman doet je heel de tijd hopen dat er toch nog een happy end komt, maar helaas...
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
3.25 stars
🌕🌕🌕🌘
🧠 My thoughts
The author masterfully creates a claustrophobic, anxiety-inducing, and horror atmosphere only through words. The natural flow and beautiful prose were undeniably the factors that made this book successful. I wish that I had more good things to say about this book, but unfortunately, I have more complaints than praise.
The premise was so promising, it hooked me immediately from the get-go. However, it lost me very fast along the way, only after around 40 pages. I understood that the lack of punctuation and paragraphs was a literary technique to create a claustrophobic atmosphere. However, I couldn't understand the lack of dialogue indication. It confused me tremendously, I had to re-read the page many times to understand which was a conversation and which wasn't.
I felt that the book tried to be the next "1984", take this quote as an example:
…but tradition is nothing more than what everyone can agree on - the scientists, the teachers, the institutions then you can change ownership of the facts, you can change the structure of belief, what is agreed upon…
However, as much as it tried to be, somehow it failed for the following reason: the world-building was insufficient, background information was scarce, and the storyline lacked complexity.
The world-building was almost zero; I didn't understand what led to the war in Ireland, or why I would have to care for Larry and his family, because I didn't see much background information behind all of this. I was even very confused by the fictional abbreviations/terms the author used in the book. At least in "1984", I got to understand what Newspeak, Thought Police, or crimethink were. In this book, it took me quite some time until I grasped what the terms were all about.
I saw that many people complained that they couldn't care for the storyline because this incident had never happened in Ireland. I can't agree with this because I think this book didn't try to be historical fiction. Instead, it gathered bits and pieces of what is happening around the world and put them all together in Ireland. I saw many unfortunate things happen in many countries like in the story, and the author might want us to ask what would happen/how we would feel, if all of these bad things happened to white people instead? The storyline was far too simple for me to empathize with Eilish. Toward the end, it managed to raise a bit of emotion from me due to some tragic things, but other than that, I felt almost nothing while reading the book.
All in all, I think the concept of the book is necessary and promising, but the execution is horrible. I give 3.25 stars for the literary values, but I couldn't care less about the plot. It's so forgettable that I'm sure I will forget it completely after 2 more days.
👍 What I like
- Interesting premise
- Manage to create different emotions based on solely words
👎 What I don’t like
- Lack background information
- World-building is almost non-existing
- Execution is horrible, can’t care less about the characters and the story itself
- Forgettable
Can I give it a 6 out of 5?
The portrayal of the mother Eilish is a thing of wonder.
The portrayal of the mother Eilish is a thing of wonder.
DNF at 22%
This was probably the easiest DNF of my whole life as a reader. I don’t care if I sound like a hater but writing a 300 pages long book in one big paragraph is a bloody joke.
I don’t understand how this book won a Booker Prize award honestly…
This was probably the easiest DNF of my whole life as a reader. I don’t care if I sound like a hater but writing a 300 pages long book in one big paragraph is a bloody joke.
I don’t understand how this book won a Booker Prize award honestly…