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carstaruk's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Kerri has accompanied me these first days of January 2024 as I have read her words in print and listened to Kerri's voice on audio. Evocative of place and time and so much more I am yet to articulate. Thank you so much for sharing yourself with us.
sbhatnag's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book as part of the Goodreads Giveaway. I couldn't decide whether to give this book a 3 or 4 stars. So poetically written - layered in every way imaginable - it often felt hazy, in between the concrete and the intangible - like the very thin places Kerri ní Dochartaigh writes of. It was a quiet book, so if you didn't pay close attention to the words or got caught up in the haze, you could doze off while reading the melodious prose. And then there were moments where she articulated something you have long felt but didn't have the words to describe. There is something about Irish writers that I find sublime - not sure if it is the effect of the old Irish language meeting modern English, the history of storytelling, the connection with the other world, and nature - but this book was no exception.
riaryan's review against another edition
3.0
A book about growing up as a neutral in Derry during the latter stages of the troubles right up to the brexit vote, interspersed with the existence of nature and the beauty of language.
noahbw's review against another edition
4.0
Very intimate depiction of trauma (both personal and national) and slow healing, paired with close attention to place and natural world.
akooda7's review against another edition
3.0
If you are interested in trauma and healing - and can also handle the very real experiences and feelings of the book. The writing was a challenge for me but to be fair - I’m on the mend and it just reminded me of some things. Having been to Ireland, the author did bring me right back to some of its places. I also thought a lot about a few ancestors and relationships in my life that the book’s experience brought to mind.
jilianh's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
1.75
First off, I just want to say it is commendable that the author was able to share such an intimate and vulnerable memoir with the world. Her actual story and experiences are not what my rating is based on, and I am sure there is definitely an audience out there who will really love this book- it just wasn't for me.
This book was incredibly slow and repetitive. I REALLY had to push through the last 40%.
It somehow managed to be lyrical and descriptive, but also vague at the same time? There was little in the way of details for her actual hardships but we got countless different poetic ways of explaining what a thin place was or descriptions of wildlife around her. This was definitely more of a project for herself to heal and collect her thoughts regarding her trauma, not so much a memoir of the troubles or trauma itself (as the byline suggests). Because of this, it repeats itself over and over and over again. While it was interesting to have the Brexit comparison being made, it was circled back to a few times from a surface level and I never really felt like I got much more out of it than "division is bad, I'm worried history is repeating itself". Same goes for many of the other repeated topics. This book could easily have been 1/3-1/2 the size and I would have left with the exact same impression. In fact, I think it would have been more impactful because some of the early lyricism was really striking, but the signal to noise ratio just started to get worse. By the end I was kind of wanting to just DNF because the pretty words held no new substance.
This book was incredibly slow and repetitive. I REALLY had to push through the last 40%.
It somehow managed to be lyrical and descriptive, but also vague at the same time? There was little in the way of details for her actual hardships but we got countless different poetic ways of explaining what a thin place was or descriptions of wildlife around her. This was definitely more of a project for herself to heal and collect her thoughts regarding her trauma, not so much a memoir of the troubles or trauma itself (as the byline suggests). Because of this, it repeats itself over and over and over again. While it was interesting to have the Brexit comparison being made, it was circled back to a few times from a surface level and I never really felt like I got much more out of it than "division is bad, I'm worried history is repeating itself". Same goes for many of the other repeated topics. This book could easily have been 1/3-1/2 the size and I would have left with the exact same impression. In fact, I think it would have been more impactful because some of the early lyricism was really striking, but the signal to noise ratio just started to get worse. By the end I was kind of wanting to just DNF because the pretty words held no new substance.
cnnr876's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5