Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Milkman

This book can be a bit of a tough read, with long sentences and quickly changing time- and viewpoints. However I think the author used this to effectively transmit the mental state of the main character amidst the turmoil of the Troubles, and does this particularly well for the relationship of this character with her mother.

I think the writing style also helps to depict the community where the character lives, and how their scrutiny of each others actions has such negative impacts on their relationships and happiness. It's incredibly challenging to read about a 40-something year old mans pursuit of a barely 18 year old woman being blindly accepted while there is clear homophobia and religious bias.

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momisty24's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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clare_dv's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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lorenag5's review

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challenging dark reflective tense slow-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

4.75

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notthatcosta's review

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I find this one tough to review because there were aspects that I absolutely loved (the world building and the social commentary around the Troubles). However, I found the writing style almost unbearable at points (the stream of consciousness prose, the long-winded way of addressing characters, the timeline jumps).

The bottom line is that I didn't really like a single character in the book, and even the protagonist made some infuriating decisions at points and overall my feeling was 'this place is not for you, you are above these people and you need to get the hell out of there' - which although a simplification, seemed preferable to sticking around in such a place. Also, her mum was a total arsehole and I don't know if I was supposed to like her, but I certainly didn't.

Overall, I'm glad I read it, and I feel like most of the aspects I took issue with were at least strong intentional stylistic choices made by the author, and I can always respect a big swing.

Oh and ALSO, the random 11th hour gay subplot was egregious.

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just_jess02's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

This book feels like a repetitive, overly wordy stream of consciousness. It’s like being in a conversation that you can’t get out of and can’t get a word in. The text is quick moving and dense but the plot is soooooo slow. The 348 pages could easily have been about 100 and been a more impactful/interesting story. The last 1/4 of the book was much better but not worth the journey to get there. How can this be so dense yet so empty? There’s just not enough meat here other than some general themes.

On the other hand, Anna did a great job of making the reader understand the existence of middle sister. I felt the anxiety, the fear, the connections, the paranoid state of the community, etc. Maybe she just did too good of a job with the feelings of time passing, the long/drawn out thoughts of every moment, the mundane nature of every day life. When I got to the end I felt like a deserved a big payoff for making it through… but it sort of just fizzled out in a “life goes on” idea.

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