Reviews

Echolalia by Briohny Doyle

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curatoriallyyours's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a hard book to get into at first, as we spend time in the head of Emma, mother of three, who is having a very rough time with her mental health and her life circumstances. After a few chapters, we switch narrators and from then on I did not want to put the book down. Essentially, we know from the beginning of the book that baby Robbie is left outside and he dies. The circumstances that lead up to this event are revealed slowly throughout almost the whole book. Briohny Doyle’s writing is impeccable.

triciasreadings's review

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4.0

I went into this book with an idea of what I thought it would be about and was totally wrong.
It has left me interested in the issues surrounding motherhood (and maybe Autism) on unsuspecting women than ever before.
A provocative piece of storytelling.
I'm glad I read it even though I found it difficult to process the Before and After timeline.

stuffinmybrainhole's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

gingercatreads's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

archytas's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-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

4.75

This is a tautly drawn suburban thriller that also manages to be a literary triumph, and raise questions well beyond the insular circles the story covers. Doyle's setting is a slice of outer suburbia - a district undergoing rapid development - and the McMansion homes of its developers. In this sprawling, showcase home, Emma's mental state decays as certainly as the lake outside dries up. Doyle's characters flail to be who they are supposed to be, bounced between expectations, rarely happy. At the centre is newborn Robbie, the repository of everyone's expectations - the child who will make all the sacrifice worthwhile. The more the extended family position around him, the harder Emma finds it to love him, in sharp contrast with the ever more difficult Arthur. The narrative is stifling, building slowly towards whose details are withheld from us, while in alternating chapters we see the fallout and the slow rebuild.

The execution is almost flawless. The book alternates perspectives while never losing Emma from the centre of everyone's vision. The torture of domestic routine and a life at odds with family is sketched with precision and just the right amount of tedium. Emma's experiences combine the real and the surreal in ways that throw us off balance, evoking dissociative experiences.

Doyle is ferociously feminist: the writing is least subtle in examining how Emma's assigned role as mother and wife untethers her from anything solid, and prevents those around her from seeing her. But subtle isn't really the point here. The before sections also work much more smoothly than the After, where by necessity much is obscured and then the narrative has to catch up on story. Despite this, it is one of the more memorable reads for me this year.