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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Such a beautiful story, I loved every page
emotional
reflective
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
Our London Lives is the story of Milly and Pip. She's forced to flee Ireland as a teenager and finds work in a London pub where she meets Pip, a boxer with a fondness for alcohol. The story follows them for 40 years. Their paths are often separate but sometimes intertwine. There are some highs and some lows. Milly's shopping for baby clothes was particularly heartbreaking. London is very much a character in this novel and the way real-life events such as the Grenfell Tower tragedy are incorporated add to its authenticity and keep it firmly rooted in time as well as place. We follow Milly chronologically from 1979, interspersed with sections focused on Pip from 2017. My interest was piqued, wondering about his intervening years. All was eventually revealed. The themes are not necessarily new, but Milly and Pip are quietly compelling characters, Dwyer Hickey's writing was full of colour and emotion, and I never felt this was a story I'd heard before. Theirs was a rather melancholic tale, but I felt the slightly ambiguous ending was perfect - and hopeful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death
With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for offering an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
This novel is advertised as a searing love story, which I think is not quite right. It chronicles the lives of Pip and Milly who, for the most time, are completely separate. As such, I found it difficult to connect with, or understand, their love of one another; nor did I really understand their actions throughout the decades as we follow their highs and lows. I would have liked some more background information, especially for Milly. At times, the prose flowed and found myself getting lost in hours of reading; and elsewhere in the novel I was bored, wanting to skip long sections of irrelevant descriptions or scenes. There was also something about the writing -perhaps the insistence on referring to the main characters as he/she (as opposed to their names), which, when other characters were involved, ended up being really confusing- that irked me. I can see why some people love this novel, it’s just not for me.
This novel is advertised as a searing love story, which I think is not quite right. It chronicles the lives of Pip and Milly who, for the most time, are completely separate. As such, I found it difficult to connect with, or understand, their love of one another; nor did I really understand their actions throughout the decades as we follow their highs and lows. I would have liked some more background information, especially for Milly. At times, the prose flowed and found myself getting lost in hours of reading; and elsewhere in the novel I was bored, wanting to skip long sections of irrelevant descriptions or scenes. There was also something about the writing -perhaps the insistence on referring to the main characters as he/she (as opposed to their names), which, when other characters were involved, ended up being really confusing- that irked me. I can see why some people love this novel, it’s just not for me.
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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
A beautiful novel with 2 main characters and London as the third. The time and POV hopping are done really well and you really feel you get inside the characters heads, even when multiple years pass. Melancholy and sad at times but also strangely hopeful. Some people have mentioned the end - of course he came. I don’t doubt it for a minute. Thoroughly enjoyed this read.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes