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carolinamoon's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Dreamy, brave, closeted, passive, bold, heartbreaking, conflicting, sweet, tender, and true.
From the start I was intrigued by how the sections of the book were outlined by the days of the week. One day at a time. After a major loss or trauma, that is the most common advice given, is it not?
I could hardly put it down because the story and the writing were so excellent. Here I was heartbroken for Pen having lost the love of her life and not being able to tell her employer nor even her pseudo father in law the truth of the relationship that lasted 13 years, and I'm sitting here in my legally recognized queer marriage of barely a year.
I think it's important for younger people to realize how recently this type of secretive heartbreak was the norm.
I've been dealing with the sadness in this novel by being more affectionate with my spouse. ♡
From the start I was intrigued by how the sections of the book were outlined by the days of the week. One day at a time. After a major loss or trauma, that is the most common advice given, is it not?
I could hardly put it down because the story and the writing were so excellent. Here I was heartbroken for Pen having lost the love of her life and not being able to tell her employer nor even her pseudo father in law the truth of the relationship that lasted 13 years, and I'm sitting here in my legally recognized queer marriage of barely a year.
I think it's important for younger people to realize how recently this type of secretive heartbreak was the norm.
I've been dealing with the sadness in this novel by being more affectionate with my spouse. ♡
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Grief, and Death
neon_ghouls9's review
4.0
"i don't want to hurt and heal and survive like any animal. if this love thing was to be repeated over and over, how could the words stay fresh or even halfway sincere?"
cimorene1558's review against another edition
3.0
Too depressing and introspective to finish right now.
mcfade28's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. This book completely blew me away. I bought it after loving Emma Donoghue's Room a few years back, but I kept putting it off thinking it sounded a little dreary/ wouldn't appeal to me. I was completely wrong.
This story follows Pen, who has been in an on again,off again relationship with Cara for 13 years. A few hours before the story begins, Cara dies in a traffic accident. The novel follows the first week of Pen's mourning as she grieves the loss of the love of her life (made especially hard by the fact that she and her lover had been in the closet to their friends and respective families. I wasn't expecting the grief to hit me so hard and I found myself devastated by the end of the first chapter. Luckily the emotional onslaught does reduce as time goes by
This is a 4.5 star book. It only lost half a point as I found it a bit long. Some of the sex scenes were also a bit descriptive for my liking but your mileage may vary on that one.
This story follows Pen, who has been in an on again,off again relationship with Cara for 13 years. A few hours before the story begins, Cara dies in a traffic accident. The novel follows the first week of Pen's mourning as she grieves the loss of the love of her life (made especially hard by the fact that she and her lover had been in the closet to their friends and respective families. I wasn't expecting the grief to hit me so hard and I found myself devastated by the end of the first chapter. Luckily the emotional onslaught does reduce as time goes by
This is a 4.5 star book. It only lost half a point as I found it a bit long. Some of the sex scenes were also a bit descriptive for my liking but your mileage may vary on that one.
gunstreet's review
4.0
I wouldn't call this a page-turner; it is simply a beautifully written, sweet and raw novel about the complexity of love and loss.
dontanam's review against another edition
5.0
I lived in this book. Pen is...real. The emotions, the interaction between characters, it all felt real. And at its core, it is real, the journey of grief, mourning a loved one. I could easily have been annoyed by Cara, but I wasn't. Because she's dead? Because I'm seeing her through Pen? I don't know.
You have to be in a mood when you read this one. A rainy day with a cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate might suit best. But maybe, just a partly cloudy day, with peeks at the sun every now and then.
You have to be in a mood when you read this one. A rainy day with a cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate might suit best. But maybe, just a partly cloudy day, with peeks at the sun every now and then.
kcoccia's review
2.0
Boring boring boring. I understand that grief is different for each person but reading a book about someone's first week of grief when they don't seem to be grieving is incredibly frustrating and annoying.
kandicez's review
4.0
This is a book about grief. Nothing else, simply grief, which is never simple and we all feel it at some point. One of the few guarantees in life is that if you live long enough you will lose someone close to you.
The “Hood” of the title refers to the suffix we add to certain nouns to turn them into states of being; motherhood, fatherhood, widowhood, neighborhood, brotherhood, and sisterhood to name a few. Pen, our narrator is the left behind lover of Cara who dies, off page, unexpectedly in a taxi crash coming home from the airport after a trip. I always think death during or at the end of a vacation is doubly sad. Those you’ve left behind said goodbye, yes, but it was the temporary “have fun, I’ll miss you, wish I was coming” sort of goodbye. They’ve had the idea of welcoming you back to keep them going and it’s been snatched.
Pen and Cara live with Cara’s father who is seemingly oblivious to their true relationship. He thinks they are best mates. No one in either young ladies' family knows that the two are actually lovers and that seems even more tragic. Pen, who is a widow in every sense of the word, cannot wear the widowhood weeds. She is unable to grieve in a way appropriate for a lost lover. This not only intensifies her grief over the week that we are with her, but also undermines her sense of self.
This book touched my heart. Donoghue has such a way of conveying feeling that oozes from the page. She isn’t maudlin or purple in her prose, and yet the feelings are still heavy and made me stop reading and just look across the grass and count my blessings occasionally. Pen’s grief made me so very aware of the possibility of my own.
My favorite line was: “My eyes dawdled across the missalette. I had never noticed before that the official title of the ‘Lord have mercy’ prayer was the gracious phrase ‘Invitation to Sorrow’. Hey there, Sorrow, how’ve you been keeping? Come on in. If your bike doesn’t have lights you can always crash on our sofa tonight. Oh, so you’ll be staying a while, Sorrow? Planning to get to know me better? Grand, so. There’s tea in the pot. All”
It just slayed me. That’s the acceptance stage of grief on a page.
The “Hood” of the title refers to the suffix we add to certain nouns to turn them into states of being; motherhood, fatherhood, widowhood, neighborhood, brotherhood, and sisterhood to name a few. Pen, our narrator is the left behind lover of Cara who dies, off page, unexpectedly in a taxi crash coming home from the airport after a trip. I always think death during or at the end of a vacation is doubly sad. Those you’ve left behind said goodbye, yes, but it was the temporary “have fun, I’ll miss you, wish I was coming” sort of goodbye. They’ve had the idea of welcoming you back to keep them going and it’s been snatched.
Pen and Cara live with Cara’s father who is seemingly oblivious to their true relationship. He thinks they are best mates. No one in either young ladies' family knows that the two are actually lovers and that seems even more tragic. Pen, who is a widow in every sense of the word, cannot wear the widowhood weeds. She is unable to grieve in a way appropriate for a lost lover. This not only intensifies her grief over the week that we are with her, but also undermines her sense of self.
This book touched my heart. Donoghue has such a way of conveying feeling that oozes from the page. She isn’t maudlin or purple in her prose, and yet the feelings are still heavy and made me stop reading and just look across the grass and count my blessings occasionally. Pen’s grief made me so very aware of the possibility of my own.
My favorite line was: “My eyes dawdled across the missalette. I had never noticed before that the official title of the ‘Lord have mercy’ prayer was the gracious phrase ‘Invitation to Sorrow’. Hey there, Sorrow, how’ve you been keeping? Come on in. If your bike doesn’t have lights you can always crash on our sofa tonight. Oh, so you’ll be staying a while, Sorrow? Planning to get to know me better? Grand, so. There’s tea in the pot. All”
It just slayed me. That’s the acceptance stage of grief on a page.
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
5.0
A finely wrought and beautifully judged novel, exploring the seven days following the death of Penelope's partner, Cara. Set in Ireland of the early 1990s, Penelope, teaching in a convent school, is not out to anyone about her relationship with Cara, and is forced to navigate not only the loss of her beloved, but how to justify her grief to society at large. Using a mixture of flashbacks and and the intensity of the days following a loss, Donoghue celebrates Cara and her relationship with Penelope, and the particular loss of someone who dies at only 30. She creates a clear, convincing portrait of not only the difficulties of a queer relationship at this time, but its strength. This is also a profoundly tactile and erotic novel: Donoghue beautifully interweaves an intense sexual and sensual relationship with a romantic one, and shows how sex can deepen our understanding of one another and ourselves. This book is a brilliant example of writing about grief, sex and love, and is to be recommended.