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wsimcik's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, and Violence
rachelc1012's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
jaswoahreads's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment
_inge's review against another edition
The story mostly focuses on how The Troubles influenced people in their daily lives. This was visible at the start of every second chapter or so, for instance. It would start by summarising news from the area, and sometimes you’d get to hear how this news impacts the protagonist or if it’s connected to her in any way, yet other times this isn’t brought on as there’s no connection between her and the news whatsoever. This really showed how odd it must’ve been to live during this period; if the news doesn’t broadcast anything on someone you may now, you’d still be wary that this might happen another day. People try to go on with their daily lives but current affairs always seep through. I found this perspective refreshing.
The style of writing included a lot of shifts. Sometimes you’d not hear what a character is up to, but it would be alluded to it. Someone might stand in front of a house, for instance, but the next sentence describes how the doorknob feels. This character would be inside the house in the sentences that follow. So you don’t read about them twisting the doorknob themselves, or even stepping inside, but from the next few lines you get that they must now be inside the house. Every chapter started at a completely different point of the story too. In the previous chapter you may have read about the protagonist leaving one place, but the next chapter would cut to her being somewhere entirely different. This fragmented style sometimes means you have to actively work out what’s happening. It’s never too difficult, but I have had times where I got lost in the details of a certain place and got confused at the location of the next scene. The author doesn’t use quotation marks either, but because there’s quite a few characters in this you might have to work out who’s speaking, too.
I did find it interesting how every character is referred to by their first name. Even Cushla’s mum or brother are never referred to as being that to her. This makes for interesting writing concerning the affair; just like the protagonist you don’t know who Michael is to her. I don’t know whether this was a fully conscious choice, but I did like it.
This could’ve been a hard read, and I could get that this character focused story could make that even more so for some, but there was hope found within the pages. People were as horrible as they were kind to each other. Throughout reading you’re never too sure what the intentions of each character are, and if their actions are wrong or right. That makes for an interesting read.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
geraldinerowe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Miscarriage, and Death of parent
suzsta's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for access to this ARC.
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
rly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and War
rochelles_reading_journal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Hate crime, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Violence, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail