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coraleva1993's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a big fan of Louise O'Neill and love how she explores many themes and social issues in her writing. This was a good read but not my favourite of hers!I liked the fact that the end didn't have the resolution you'd expect.
morganecamille's review
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
It was not at all what I was expecting, explaining partly why I didn't enjoy it.
It is advertised as a thriller but the ending is pretty obvious from the beginning. The whole story mainly focus on the Kinsella family (especially the couple) and doesn't develop any other characters. There's therefore not a lot of suspense for the ending.
Moreover, I couldn't find myself liking any of the characters, to the point of finding them frankly annoying. The constant focus of Keelin and the borderline self victimisation also took me out of the story and I ended up skipping a part of the story.
I was expecting something detailing more the universe of the island and the relationships between one another but it was pretty much summed up as a caricature, nothing profound.
It seems that some aspects as the characters were too redundant as it could have been more interesting to add different colours to them. They seem to have one characteristic, as to signal their role (the controlling husband, the abused wife, the damaged son, the spoiled daughter, etc.) Seems too easy and brings nothing new to the table.
The more deeply subject of abuse is quite interesting but again, takes too much space in a story that was advertised as "crime/thriller"
It is advertised as a thriller but the ending is pretty obvious from the beginning. The whole story mainly focus on the Kinsella family (especially the couple) and doesn't develop any other characters. There's therefore not a lot of suspense for the ending.
Moreover, I couldn't find myself liking any of the characters, to the point of finding them frankly annoying. The constant focus of Keelin and the borderline self victimisation also took me out of the story and I ended up skipping a part of the story.
I was expecting something detailing more the universe of the island and the relationships between one another but it was pretty much summed up as a caricature, nothing profound.
It seems that some aspects as the characters were too redundant as it could have been more interesting to add different colours to them. They seem to have one characteristic, as to signal their role (the controlling husband, the abused wife, the damaged son, the spoiled daughter, etc.) Seems too easy and brings nothing new to the table.
The more deeply subject of abuse is quite interesting but again, takes too much space in a story that was advertised as "crime/thriller"
bookietracey's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
amelia555's review
3.5
20.03.2024 update: I thought about this book some more, and now I realize I wasn't entirely correct. The emotional abuse thing is very much connected to the murder plot, and is not so simple. It doesn't make me like the book more, but I have to point it out. I do appreciate how none of the main chaarcters in this story is an entirely good person, they're all bad to different degrees. It's something interesting and challenging.
After The Silence is presented as a story about a mysterious murder of a Laura Palmer-esque girl on an Irish island. The main suspect is a wealthy British businessman of an Irish descent, Henry Kinsella, who lives on the island. He was accused but not proven guilty. This, however, didn’t stop the locals from hating him. His wife, a local woman, Keelin, is heavily side-eyed as well. We jump into the story a decade after the murder as two Australian documentary directors arrive to interview people on the island, the Kinsellas, and various other individuals for their project about the case. The story unfolds from Keelin’s POV, and she’s the main character we’re following.
After The Silence is presented as a story about a mysterious murder of a Laura Palmer-esque girl on an Irish island. The main suspect is a wealthy British businessman of an Irish descent, Henry Kinsella, who lives on the island. He was accused but not proven guilty. This, however, didn’t stop the locals from hating him. His wife, a local woman, Keelin, is heavily side-eyed as well. We jump into the story a decade after the murder as two Australian documentary directors arrive to interview people on the island, the Kinsellas, and various other individuals for their project about the case. The story unfolds from Keelin’s POV, and she’s the main character we’re following.
I’d say this story is not really about how a (quite typically for many similar books) young and beautiful girl found her demise. There are no detectives, the documentarians don’t uncover anything, and a relative fighting for justice doesn’t start their own investigation. We follow the story from Keelin’s POV, and we’ll see the day of the murder and the days around it in flashbacks. So yes, we’ll know the who and the why, but it’s sort of secondary. The main theme is the very unhealthy dynamic in the Kinsella family, and Keelin’s past and present experience with domestic abuse, both physical and mental.
I have to say, I commend Louise O’Neill for bringing up such an important topic. Many passages in the book were hard to read (and it’s still a relatively mild book that deals with the theme). The author explores how abusers inflict fear on their victims, how they use sex as a control tool. However, I have to say that, I think, the topic of the murder and the topic of the domestic abuse are not connected at the end. They are two parallel lines running through this book. And we’re talking about the thriller / murder mystery genre, I don’t think After The Silence is particularly interesting, especially if you’re an experienced reader. There are a very limited number of suspects, and there’s a red herring, and if you know your thrillers, you’ll figure it all out pretty early on. It’s like, well, if it’s not this person, than it’s that person, and such and such is their motive. You’ll think that, and you’ll be right at the end. Also to me the book felt a bit too long, and it’s particularly obvious if you figured out the culprit and the motive, but there’s still about 100 or so pages to go. The reading process became laborious. Another point for me is the title. Why After The Silence? When you finish reading, you’ll see that the silence stays, and most probably will stay forever, for the main character’s benefit. So I don’t know about that.
Not a bad book, but I wanted more.
caffkaesque's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lauren891's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
jwa's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
One of my favourite Louise O'Neill books, she's a master story teller and Queen of writing unreliable narrators.
This is such a good mystery and has the perfect curl up and read it on a rainy day vibe.
Set on a fictional Gaeltact (Irish speaking) island called Inisrun, off the coast of Cork. The novel follows Characters in a small town who are torn apart by the murder of a young girl, Nessa Crowley. The consequences that follow are heart-breaking for Nessa's family when the only suspect is eventually found innocent and not charged for her murder. Leaving the family without answers.
Flash forward 10 years later and a documentary team from Australia come to the island to research the mystery surrounding Nessa's murder in the hopes they may uncover some evidence that the police missed, or that someone might finally own up to the crime.
Unfortunately for them, the ones who do know something, tighten their ranks and stay quiet while the other townsfolk only have their suspicions and it's nothing anyone hasn't heard before.
The mystery is unfolded nicely throughout the book and it highlights the view that not everything is always as it seems, and we really don't know what happens behind closed doors.
Really engaging read and I just loved the Irish rural, Gaeltact setting. Louise O'Neill reveals to us again her tremendous understanding of social and community responses to major events such as a murder. Like in her novel 'Asking for it' she again focuses on the small town community being jarred and shocked by something as horrific as a murder or like in 'Asking for it' - a rape and the quick judgements and whispers that circulate and ensue.
It's a slow paced mystery, but Louise O'Neill also deals with aspects and types of marital and romantic abuse, giving us a far bigger story than just the whodunnit thriller.
It's an excellent social observation on small, rural communities using this way of life as the back drop for dealing with the theme of abuse, in its varying forms. While simultaneously surveying the chaos and grief that will ensue in a small tight knit community when a horrific murder leads people and old friends to turn on one another.
This is such a good mystery and has the perfect curl up and read it on a rainy day vibe.
Set on a fictional Gaeltact (Irish speaking) island called Inisrun, off the coast of Cork. The novel follows Characters in a small town who are torn apart by the murder of a young girl, Nessa Crowley. The consequences that follow are heart-breaking for Nessa's family when the only suspect is eventually found innocent and not charged for her murder. Leaving the family without answers.
Flash forward 10 years later and a documentary team from Australia come to the island to research the mystery surrounding Nessa's murder in the hopes they may uncover some evidence that the police missed, or that someone might finally own up to the crime.
Unfortunately for them, the ones who do know something, tighten their ranks and stay quiet while the other townsfolk only have their suspicions and it's nothing anyone hasn't heard before.
The mystery is unfolded nicely throughout the book and it highlights the view that not everything is always as it seems, and we really don't know what happens behind closed doors.
Really engaging read and I just loved the Irish rural, Gaeltact setting. Louise O'Neill reveals to us again her tremendous understanding of social and community responses to major events such as a murder. Like in her novel 'Asking for it' she again focuses on the small town community being jarred and shocked by something as horrific as a murder or like in 'Asking for it' - a rape and the quick judgements and whispers that circulate and ensue.
It's a slow paced mystery, but Louise O'Neill also deals with aspects and types of marital and romantic abuse, giving us a far bigger story than just the whodunnit thriller.
It's an excellent social observation on small, rural communities using this way of life as the back drop for dealing with the theme of abuse, in its varying forms. While simultaneously surveying the chaos and grief that will ensue in a small tight knit community when a horrific murder leads people and old friends to turn on one another.
lisatee's review
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Gosh! I struggled to plough my way through this one. Nearly gave up on lots of occasions. Written using multiple timelines is usually my thing but there was no indication at the start of the chapter where, in time, we were. Also the writer has a bizarre way of reporting speech which I found jarring.
I felt it didn’t really go anywhere and I didn’t especially like any character- they all seemed incomplete and one dimensional.
Made it to the end and kind of wish I hadn’t bothered.
I felt it didn’t really go anywhere and I didn’t especially like any character- they all seemed incomplete and one dimensional.
Made it to the end and kind of wish I hadn’t bothered.
clared234's review against another edition
4.0
Read this in one day and it was sooo enjoyable. It kind of gets slightly predictable toward the mid-end but the ending is still really strong.