Reviews

At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill

dlsta's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

aislingmoconnell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad slow-paced

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

5.0

ageorgallis's review

2.0

I struggled with this book for 2 reasons, which are on me: I have little to no background on Irish history and I had a very hard time understanding the writing in this book. This novel centers around the year before the Easter Uprising, and then the year of. I had to do quite a bit of extra reading on the side to understand the context of the setting. I loved Doyler, Jim, and MacMurrough's characters, but didn't enjoy any others, and had a hard time understanding what the others brought to the story. I would have preferred the story focus on the 3 of them. Also, it was so long, which was tough for me as I was already struggling significantly with the writing style and language. I think this is a beautiful story, but so much of the beauty was lost on me due to my inability to navigate the language. 

iamcat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

sezzaj's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

kiera_lucy's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

vanillaphantoms's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

acdavid1995's review

3.25

Overall plot was enjoyable, but the stream of consciousness writing became unbearable after a while. Also, many characters and plot points just left open ended.

travisclau's review

5.0

A hallmark of gay literature that will leave you breathless.

stiofanob's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0