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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-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
I find this book quite tough to review for the simple reason that the writing and pace were inconsistent.
The first 3/4 of the book were fantastic, Binchy exquisitely captures the ache, longing, malaise and discontent of being teenager. So much so that I could get over the unnecessary details about secondary characcters like Papers Flynn, Marianne Johnson and Sheelah Whelan. The Ryan family are great protagonists and, like all Binchy's main characters, are drawn with complexity and nuance. I liked the O'Neill characters, with the exception of Kerry who is a bit too much of stereotype.
However, the last quarter was slow and I did not enjoy the end of the book. Grace's change in personality was not believable and made me feel let down.. I do not like an ending where everything is neatly explained but I did feel that Micheal, Dara and Grace needed more resolution as characters.
I read Maeve Benchy vociferously as a teenager and her books made me fall in love with Irish literature, so much so that I wrote a thesis on trauma and memory in Irish literature. So my judgement will always clouded by these memories of reading her writing.
The first 3/4 of the book were fantastic, Binchy exquisitely captures the ache, longing, malaise and discontent of being teenager. So much so that I could get over the unnecessary details about secondary characcters like Papers Flynn, Marianne Johnson and Sheelah Whelan. The Ryan family are great protagonists and, like all Binchy's main characters, are drawn with complexity and nuance. I liked the O'Neill characters, with the exception of Kerry who is a bit too much of stereotype.
However, the last quarter was slow and I did not enjoy the end of the book. Grace's change in personality was not believable and made me feel let down.. I do not like an ending where everything is neatly explained but I did feel that Micheal, Dara and Grace needed more resolution as characters.
I read Maeve Benchy vociferously as a teenager and her books made me fall in love with Irish literature, so much so that I wrote a thesis on trauma and memory in Irish literature. So my judgement will always clouded by these memories of reading her writing.
i thoroughly enjoyed this! i loved growing up with the twins and their crew. scope and breadth of this tale is just my style. this was my first book by binchy, and i immediately purchased another!
Very disappointing read. It took me ages to get into it and then it was an incredibly slow story. The characters all felt one dimensional and the ending was awful though the story did speed up towards the end.
The best way to describe how I felt about this book is the overwhelming desire to proclaim "I'M DONE I'M DONE I'M DONE!!" Finally. It wasn't a bad story, it just dragged on for the first half to the point that I feared it would never *have* a point. I think the ending actually brought the same relief for me as it did for most of the characters. I will admit the ending was not at all what I was expecting, and yet it still felt satisfying, if oddly so.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Ended up loving this story but it took a long time to get into it.
slow-paced
Just what I was looking for -- a good side-read while reading an economics book. Mindless, just shy of a romance (no "throbbing members" here), yet with that same compelling tone that makes you want to keep reading to find out what happens on the next page. Full of tragedy when it needs something exciting; full of happiness when it needs something uplifting.