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8.32k reviews for:
Nieko nesakyk: Kruvini įvykiai ir susitaikymo paieškos Šiaurės Airijoje
Patrick Radden Keefe
4.49 AVERAGE
8.32k reviews for:
Nieko nesakyk: Kruvini įvykiai ir susitaikymo paieškos Šiaurės Airijoje
Patrick Radden Keefe
4.49 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Wow. A dark part of history, and an expert retelling. Worth a read.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.44 / 5 💫
This is an excellent narrative nonfiction, thoroughly researched. It may feel a bit scattershot narratively at the start as the author sets the stage for this world and these “characters”. In order to understand the players and this world you need to understand some of the history, where they came from and what the political climate was at the time.
Still, Say Nothing is always gripping. There is a complex mystery at the center of this story that becomes increasingly intriguing. The more you know, the less you know. There are some truly fascinating individuals on both sides of the conflict. But what I really loved about this book is the lamentations for those caught between the two extremes and who suffered from both sides simply because they didn’t want to get involved or because they lived in the wrong place, practiced the wrong religion.
Highly recommend this one!
This is an excellent narrative nonfiction, thoroughly researched. It may feel a bit scattershot narratively at the start as the author sets the stage for this world and these “characters”. In order to understand the players and this world you need to understand some of the history, where they came from and what the political climate was at the time.
Still, Say Nothing is always gripping. There is a complex mystery at the center of this story that becomes increasingly intriguing. The more you know, the less you know. There are some truly fascinating individuals on both sides of the conflict. But what I really loved about this book is the lamentations for those caught between the two extremes and who suffered from both sides simply because they didn’t want to get involved or because they lived in the wrong place, practiced the wrong religion.
Highly recommend this one!
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Reading the book was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. At first I loved it. Then once I realized that loyalists are basically not covered anywhere in the book apart from the beginning and glancing mentions throughout, I became disappointed (the author's note on this should really be in the beginning of the book and not at the end). And then once I've read up on main characters elsewhere, read some criticisms about this book, finished the book itself, and read the end notes, I've settled on "Radden Keefe wrote the book he wanted to write and I can understand his choices, even if I think they detracted from the book."
This is a good first dip into the history of Troubles, but it can't be the only one as the reader will go away with a very lopsided view of what actually went on. IRA's civilian casualties are mentioned at length, but nowhere in the book is it mentioned that loyalists killed more civilians (IRA's main casualties were British forces).
Now the good parts, the writing flows smoothly and is engaging. This not being an academic work makes it more accessible. The story evolves naturally and chronologically for the most part (McConville's chapters are frequently on a different timeline than the main story).
Spoilers regarding how I feel about ending: We don't find out if McConville was or was not an informer, and we don't find our who killed her. The author does try to point the finger, but I honestly don't think he should have done it at all. It felt like he was probably pretty certain in his (rather circumstantial) evidence, but because the person was still alive he was too worried about libel suits and hedged his bets by offering alternatives. The result is so wishy washy that the damage that the accused person experienced by being put forward as the murderer does not feel justified by saying "they maybe killed Jean McConville, but it may also have been someone else."
This is a good first dip into the history of Troubles, but it can't be the only one as the reader will go away with a very lopsided view of what actually went on. IRA's civilian casualties are mentioned at length, but nowhere in the book is it mentioned that loyalists killed more civilians (IRA's main casualties were British forces).
Now the good parts, the writing flows smoothly and is engaging. This not being an academic work makes it more accessible. The story evolves naturally and chronologically for the most part (McConville's chapters are frequently on a different timeline than the main story).
Spoilers regarding how I feel about ending:
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Wow. I think it’s great to read if you have at least a basic understanding of The Troubles. Fascinating book covering many stories that are connected interestingly spanning from the 70s to essentially modern times. Don’t want to give anything away, but really captures such human stories that are just wow.