Reviews

Milkman by Anna Burns

zunaonbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

callareads69's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

saschanolte74's review against another edition

3.0

Hier verstehe ich das teilweise hohe Lob eher weniger. Milchmann hat zwar viel Schönes, doch wiederholt sich die Erzählung ständig, so dass man sie durchaus schnell leid sein kann. Auch endet alles letztlich recht unspektakulär, so dass ich mich eher schulterzuckend als ergriffen wiederfand. 3,25/5.

kimannhill's review against another edition

I couldn't finish it because my library audio loan ran out of time, but so did my brain and attention. I appreciate that she tried some unique writing styles, but I simply could not get into the story.

eo_sociologist's review against another edition

4.0

I appreciated the diction/word use in this book. The descriptions were often (purposefully) funny, but also often so apt and described things I had experienced without having the words for them. But the writing is very unique and delightful in general. Only 4 of the characters from what I remember are actually given any names, for example. The main character is “middle-sister”. People are described by their relationships, and there is perhaps meaning there in terms of how important relational networks are in colonial contexts like Northern Ireland. I also read and listened to this book, and the audio performance was outstanding. Hearing the Irish way of writing spoken by someone who seems to understand very well where the writing is coming from, was great.

The more difficult parts were that the book described several traumatic experiences, and other misfortunes. The traumas are at two levels—interpersonal (intense predatory stalking, psychotic attempts at murder) and political (the Troubles in Northern Ireland). I found the first half of the book easy to get through, even though it was stressful. Then a bit in the middle was a slog, because of the intense stalking, and the intense psychological experience of being the recipient of the stalking. The action lulled in the middle a bit too. Then I got through that, and then in the second half it eventually picked up again. But almost all the way through, it was stressful because of the political violence and the interpersonal sexual (and other) violence. That is not something that the author did wrong, it is important, but it was difficult to get through at times.

Throughout, the diction was so unique (to me anyway) and so humourous (except during the very traumatic parts, where the author didn’t problematically try to make it humorous) that I still really appreciated the experience of reading it. Part of me wants to re-read it for the diction, but the constant trauma will probably prevent that. All that being said, this was the most creative, funny, and interesting novel I have read in a while. I also appreciated that this was historical fiction, a genre I am becoming more interested in, for how it inspires me to learn history (I’m now interested to learn more about the Troubles).

spacehue's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I get why people might dislike this book, but I found it enthralling. Initially it's quite hard to get into - very densely written and circuitous - but the more I read the more I wanted to read. 

chongg's review against another edition

dark funny reflective tense slow-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

3.5

proseandpurrs's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

lynnenad's review against another edition

challenging dark funny slow-paced

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

4.0

I found this book unique. It was hard to read for the first 70 odd pages because of the unique writing style but once I had got the hang of that I really enjoyed it. It was very funny in parts. It gave me a lot to think about the Troubles in Belfast. The narrator seemed authentic and interesting. 
I guess I found it a tiny bit slow moving, with insufficient action to sustain my interest in some parts, but overall I found it worthwhile and enjoyable. 

jessicaandersen92's review against another edition

5.0

Wouldn't expect close minded men to like this book all that much. It's very much about the interior life of women, which some men may find boring. But I love how just when you thought the narrative was going to rely on some trope, Burns does the exact opposite and details the complexities of the character and gives them a great arc. The best example of this in the book is ma, who you think is just a vapid, gossiping, emotionless shrew...I won't spoil too much but she is much more than this.