Reviews

Milkman by Anna Burns

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.

blairewithane's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this book. I have the hard copy but also listened to it and the narration really added to the rhythm of the book. 18 year old middle sister stands out in her community for many things, among them, reading while walking. As someone who has also had many comments made about my own “reading while walking” I felt a kinship with the character.
Her descriptions of life during “the troubles” in Ireland captured the constant feeling of being watched and on alert and aware of even minute things are impacted by the conflict. The structure and sentences were different from anything I’ve read and I found it beautiful and surprising.

eavery's review against another edition

Long rambling sentences about characters that have no names inside paragraphs that are pages long makes the story near incomprehensible. 

sebbie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

erstring's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

sourdoughtoast's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

yaheyhannah's review against another edition

4.0

Took time for me to get into the writing style, and then I'm trying not to crying at the line:
"'Ach' he said. 'Ach' I said."

kims0117's review against another edition

4.0

3.5

mitchapalooza90's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

milkfran's review against another edition

I’ve had the Milkman on my TBR pile for a while and was excited when I saw that the audiobook was available from my local library but I only managed 20 minutes of the narration style before I had to throw in the towel: another 13 hours of it sounded like pure torture.

My most recent listens were The Secret History by Donna Tartt (wonderfully and dryly read by herself) and The Innocent by Ian McEwan (read by Steven Pacey, gamely if at times slightly absurdly doing the accents which  if anything just added to the story) so maybe I’ve been a bit spoiled recently. 

Can’t really comment on the content, the themes or the plot (it’s Belfast in the 70s though so go figure) just the tortuous writing style which made me slam the dishes down angrily as I was cleaning them until I decided life is too short to suffer through a book just because it’s won a Man Booker Prize (Howard Jacobson I’m looking at you).