Reviews

House of Names by Colm Tóibín

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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

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

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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

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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

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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

spe31's review against another edition

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sad slow-paced

3.0

fee_jay's review

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3.0

Fairly compelling when it was good (the first half, mostly, dealing with Clytemnestra and Orestes) but Electra got given short shrift. Maybe it’s because I am a middle aged woman with some rage that I found Clytemnestra’s story the most engaging, maybe it’s because the divine Juliet Stevenson was the reader.