Reviews

House of Names by Colm Tóibín

jennybpenny's review against another edition

3.0

"My mother was wearing a vague smile; she was like someone who had eaten something sour and was doing everything to disguise her discomfort."

madame_medusa's review

4.0

I feel like I'm in physical pain... And I have no one to turn to for help. I feel like poor Orestes... Just used and emotionally manipulated... 😢 😭

galexywitch's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The beginning was good - it starts with Clytemnestra’s POV, which was very emotional and engaging. If it had only been her POV I imagine this would have been a ~4 star book for me. However, the rest of the book is primarily told from Orestes POV, and I found myself not carrying about 90% of his storyline. His character was also boring. He felt like a child even late in the book even though (I think - this is not very clear in the book) a number of years had passed. I assumed as I was reading that by the end he should be at least in his teens, but he felt very young and never did anything without guidance from someone else. He would also just go along with what people told him to do with little thought into it. This made him easy to manipulate, and when he discovered later that he may have been manipulated to do certain things he acknowledged it and…..didn’t do anything about it or tell anyone and this felt really unsatisfying. It felt like there was a chance for his character to grow and possibly right his mistakes in some way but instead he did nothing and immediately stopped caring. The ending was also very unsatisfying. It felt like there needed to be another chapter or an epilogue to wrap everything up, but instead it just ends.

I listened to the audio book. The performance was decent but nothing spectacular.

saschabookishowl's review

4.0

Review to come

polyhy_14's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

gracerennie's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

charlotteg's review

3.0

Unfortunately, not as compelling as I had hoped.

Note: House of Names is based on the Ancient Greek plays Agamemnon, Orestes, Electra, among others.

It was a decent book, but I feel like Toibin could have done a lot more with Clytemnestra and Electra. I really liked Clytemnestra’s narration at the beginning of the book - her character was complicated and sympathetic. But, it felt like Toibin allowed her to become mostly villainized in the end when he could have offered more of her fascinating perspective.

I did, however, enjoy the cottagecore section in the middle.

naomireadsbooks's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Reading others reviews, I see one of the main complaints is that there isn’t a through, continual storyline.  I disagree as I am very familiar with the myths and plays that this novel is based on and so I loved the change of narration that at times was jarring. It created tension and surprise for me, so I very much liked it.  I love Toibin’s writing and enjoyed this book immensely! 

lisajayne_02's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.75

gabiirayner's review

3.0

I'm really not sure how I feel about this one!! The writing in places was LOVELY as shown below, but the constant voice/person change felt a little jarring. The lack of plot was substantiated by the promise of interesting conflict that seemed to never come. Anything that did materialise happened between pages which was unfortunate. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy sitting with this one for a few hours!!!! And Electra is so