Reviews

Falling Animals by Sheila Armstrong

donnaloubishop's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

anna_l_richards's review

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-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? No

4.5

ktteacher's review

dark tense medium-paced

3.5

best_lemon's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

gildius's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

saraheholtom's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective fast-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

4.5

lisainbookland's review

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

Such an excellent book that I read in a day. It’s told by a different narrator in each chapter in an overlapping way, so each narrator is somehow related to the last one. The mystery of the unidentified dead man on the beach was ingenious but as you’d guess the book is about much more than that — but I still thought that the ending to that story was so brilliant. Such a great mix of characters that you get a glimpse into their lives, mostly in Ireland but also in Australia and on a ship on the North Sea. Very thought-provoking read.

pulp_fiction_books's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Although fiction, this is based on a true story that happened in Ireland back in 2009 (about 90 miles further north on the coastline where I live) when a man's body was found on a beach and whose identity and cause of death were never able to be established. 
 The way this story is structured is really unique. Every chapter follows a different person's perspective (and there are x chapters). It however becomes less a story about the mysterious body on the beach and more the story of each individual character and their place within this small coastal town. I also wanted to bring attention to the writing and of how high a level it felt despite this being a debut. The author'ss seemingly elffortless use of lyrical, eloquent descriptors perfectly paint a melancholic tale on Ireland's wild Atlantic coast. 

katie_archer's review against another edition

mysterious reflective

3.5

muuske's review

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5