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anagramatica's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
The whole story was fascinating to me, and the characters were enjoyable. The historical content is interwoven throughout a vivid fictional framework.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Death of parent, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Bullying, Death, Cursing, and Alcoholism
londoncarmelita's review against another edition
informative
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? It's complicated
5.0
One of my all time favourites
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Racism
noteworthy_fiction's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
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? It's complicated
4.5
wshier's review against another edition
4.0
When a conflict has gone on as long as it has in Ireland (sometimes hot, sometimes cold) everyone forgets what in the world it is all about. This book explained it for me better than non-fiction ever did.
celestihel's review against another edition
5.0
This story follows the lives of two Irish Catholic boys growing up between revolutions. Their folks were Fenians and they grown up to be republicans. It's a fight that is never quite won and a struggle that only makes some progress at slow intervals, even now. If you want to feel what life is like for a colonized people, this is a good trip inside that mind.
It is a dreary & beautiful slog through fictionalized history of a conquered people. If depressing stories punctuated by periods of unrequited hope are not your thing, you will not enjoy this book. I, however, found it was not like a book at all, it wasn't like reading a story. It was being the fly on a wall. I was so immersed in the story it felt like being there. If it were just fiction, maybe it would feel like too much, but in a very real way this is exactly what it must have felt like to be Irish Catholic at the time and is therefore a valuable exercise in empathy and a lesson in the damage inflicted on the colonized mind.
It is a dreary & beautiful slog through fictionalized history of a conquered people. If depressing stories punctuated by periods of unrequited hope are not your thing, you will not enjoy this book. I, however, found it was not like a book at all, it wasn't like reading a story. It was being the fly on a wall. I was so immersed in the story it felt like being there. If it were just fiction, maybe it would feel like too much, but in a very real way this is exactly what it must have felt like to be Irish Catholic at the time and is therefore a valuable exercise in empathy and a lesson in the damage inflicted on the colonized mind.
randolphareads12's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
jamesvw's review against another edition
3.0
A novel of pure black and white plot, fun, but troubling and lacking any psychological nuance that would get in the way of the arc of the storyline.