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beniamino's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Essentially, this book is "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" written so much better and more realistically. It's a treatise on bad men, womanhood, reality vs. fiction (acting vs. authenticity); it's a fantastic book about what it means to be a woman in a "man's world," about Irishness, about secrets, about finding peace in a world so loud.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Addiction, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Rape
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
ceilisbookshelf's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault
Minor: Eating disorder, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
knkoch's review
lighthearted
reflective
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? Yes
2.5
I’ve been looking forward to this book for a long time, mainly because of its lush, rich emerald cover. The narration by the actress’ daughter was different than I expected (first person), but probably more honest and unconventional in the way it examines living in the shadow of celebrity. I don’t know that I connected as deeply with this one, with the difficult parent dynamic, and I think I struggle to connect with narrators making flashy, poor choices or setting weak boundaries.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
jodielk93's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Mental illness
jersy's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was hoping for something in the vein of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and this kinda managed to scratch that itch but as a more literary version with a more old-fashioned philosophy in the narration and some side tangents. The actual story of the actress, Katherine O´Dell, was absolutely fascinating and exactly what I was looking for, both as a fictional biography and as a character study, but while her daughter Nora was an important part of that, telling the story and adding to it as a central character of Katherine´s life, I didn’t care for the parts that were purely about her. I found it hard to relate to her world view and some of the lines were just incredible pretentious, which was made easier to endure due to the audio book narration by the author herself, which was marvelous and made that stuff almost feel natural. The real problem, however, is that Nora´s bigger parts are mostly unrelated side tangents and at one point 1h of the audio book was just dedicated to Nora not really reacting to The Troubles and describing her future husband in a way that made me dislike him.
Apart from these segments, I really enjoyed the book. The characters were both really easy to picture and clouded in mystery at the same time. They seemed like memorable personalities and the way they were described made me feel transported back in time. The story isn’t always told chronologically, which worked great to create suspense and felt like you were really in Nora´s head as she remembers it.
I just think Enright could have gone even deeper into the relationship of Nora and Katherine. There is definitely something there, especially regarding how Nora viewed her mother, but it seemed quite complex and going deeper into that would have been worth more than the present-day segments.
It´s definitely easier to recommend this to people who read a lot of literary fiction and memoirs than to fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and straight-forwards story-focused novels.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Gun violence, and Alcoholism
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