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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gwendoline Riley is fantastic at building character, with a strong tone of voice that made each one so different and authentic. The way it was written felt so realistic that it made me think this was autobiographical.
The novel itself centred around the protagonist’s relationship with her slightly estranged mother, told through various memories and conversations, so it wasn’t the most action packed story, though it was interesting and very moving, particularly the end. I found myself feeling really sorry for the mother, and found the protagonist’s attitude to her unsympathetic and quite irritating, and therefore liked her less and less, and I’d say that impacted my enjoyment of the book. However I liked finding out more about their relationship, and gradually understanding what had happened to make the protagonist feel the way she does. So much of the dialogue in Riley’s novels revolves around the implied or the unsaid - there’s real skill in that, and it makes you think!
The novel itself centred around the protagonist’s relationship with her slightly estranged mother, told through various memories and conversations, so it wasn’t the most action packed story, though it was interesting and very moving, particularly the end. I found myself feeling really sorry for the mother, and found the protagonist’s attitude to her unsympathetic and quite irritating, and therefore liked her less and less, and I’d say that impacted my enjoyment of the book. However I liked finding out more about their relationship, and gradually understanding what had happened to make the protagonist feel the way she does. So much of the dialogue in Riley’s novels revolves around the implied or the unsaid - there’s real skill in that, and it makes you think!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Death
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Vomit
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent
An absolutely fascinating character study with just the right amount of subtlety. I will be reading more by this author.
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reading this whilst on a mother daughter trip to Barcelona was so fitting it was scary. i’m always going to enjoy a book giving voice to the complexities and nuances of mother-daughter relationships, and i think what’s in this one is stellar.
there was something really confrontational about this for me, even with such a passive, limited tone and perspective. like a staring competition. first person who blinks is the one in the wrong.
great read.
there was something really confrontational about this for me, even with such a passive, limited tone and perspective. like a staring competition. first person who blinks is the one in the wrong.
great read.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Quite brilliant but unsparing. It makes you realise how frightening writers are
challenging
dark
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Everything about this worked for me. The voice is just so enthralling, and the story, ostensibly? A memoir about her early life, and the Characters that are her father and mother. Not so much a rumination as to why she is the way she is, but just telling a really good story about them—eventually elucidating what these phantoms she has actually are, sure. It’s just non-stop enthralling in its verisimilitude, and so myopic in its doing that it becomes eminently relatable. Or, at least, I felt so, likening various deeds to my own experiences, not to mention the mythos of remembrance of one’s own childhood.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So impressed by how the author managed to write the subtleties of a distant mother-daughter relationship. The conversations! How both sides are kind of assholes! So good!