Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Milkman by Anna Burns

4 reviews

rory_john14's review

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dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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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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travelseatsreads's review against another edition

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

3.0

I'm not entirely sure how to sum up Milkman or even quite how I feel about it, depending on the section of the book I was very firmly in love or hate territory!

Milkman is a story of our unnamed protagonist Third Sister as she quite literally buries her head in her favourites books and tries to get by in the manic world of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Burns uses a long flowing stream of conscious style format, which really works at times to get into the turmoil and chaos of the unusual events. However, in other seemingly irrelevant drawn out sections it had be pulling my hair out and losing concentration quite easily. 

The book has a very closed in claustrophobic nature to it which in hindsight was a fantastic portrayal of what everyone must have been feeling in those communities at the time, however it does make the book quite arduous to read. 

This is a book that demands your attention for every single word and insists you fully invest into it's quite unusual format. If you can immerse yourself fully then chances are you will love it.

For me, I found the first 40% dragged on and to be honest if I wasn't doing the buddy read hosted by @lostinlaurensbooks I probably would have given up. That said I did begin to enjoy it for the remaining 60% and am very glad I stuck with it.

A challenging immersive read which continues to split opinions however there's no doubt it is a great piece of literary fiction.

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aiksas's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

such a good book! the ambiguity of place and person through lack of names replicates the hidden identities and trust issues within a civil war, emphasised through the humour and direction of a young woman held back by the towns circumstances, dealing with a stalker, rumours, and normalisation of death and violence. it sounds very dark and I guess it is, but it reads so beautifully and feels so full. whilst its a slow and confusing first 100 pages from there it is eternally engaging and rewarding read! the best book I read in 2020 for sure

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