Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
sad
slow-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
•thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review•
At the beginning I struggled to feel this book, to empathise with the characters and, most of all, with the narrator. The novel is written like a memoir (a fictional one) and it’s a portrait of a quite dysfunctional family. After a while, as I went on reading, I started to really enjoy the writing of this incredibly skilled author. I can’t say I enjoyed “the story”, because the plot is not what is important, here. You, as a reader, don’t care about what’s going on. What you care about is the way these characters talk to each other, the things they say, the way they hurt each other even when they are desperately avoiding to do so.
I found the title really appropriate, because there is a “haunting” atmosphere in the book. Bridge’s parents are her own phantoms, together with everything that’s been left unsaid and all the misunderstandings that they have accumulated during a lifetime. Personally, I found the section dedicated to the birthdays the most heartbreaking one. Riley doesn’t set off to make you cry, and you actually don’t cry, because this is not that kind of book. Nevertheless, as you go on reading, you feel this sense of bleakness in your chest, and all you want to do is to call your mam and laugh with her and tell her about the book you’ve just read and say “thank God we don’t have that kind of relationship”. If you’re reading it and you feel like you want to give up on it, just endure the slow start a little bit more, because this is the kind of novel which grows on you, I promise.
At the beginning I struggled to feel this book, to empathise with the characters and, most of all, with the narrator. The novel is written like a memoir (a fictional one) and it’s a portrait of a quite dysfunctional family. After a while, as I went on reading, I started to really enjoy the writing of this incredibly skilled author. I can’t say I enjoyed “the story”, because the plot is not what is important, here. You, as a reader, don’t care about what’s going on. What you care about is the way these characters talk to each other, the things they say, the way they hurt each other even when they are desperately avoiding to do so.
I found the title really appropriate, because there is a “haunting” atmosphere in the book. Bridge’s parents are her own phantoms, together with everything that’s been left unsaid and all the misunderstandings that they have accumulated during a lifetime. Personally, I found the section dedicated to the birthdays the most heartbreaking one. Riley doesn’t set off to make you cry, and you actually don’t cry, because this is not that kind of book. Nevertheless, as you go on reading, you feel this sense of bleakness in your chest, and all you want to do is to call your mam and laugh with her and tell her about the book you’ve just read and say “thank God we don’t have that kind of relationship”. If you’re reading it and you feel like you want to give up on it, just endure the slow start a little bit more, because this is the kind of novel which grows on you, I promise.
4/ Deft examination of a complex mother-daughter relationship and the history of how it filled with silent resentments. The sentences and prose are fairly simple and direct, but what lies beneath is murky and cavernous. The honesty and ambiguity of "who is right" may put off some readers, but I thought it had a curious beating heart the whole way through. The voice and dialogue were especially strong.
Like a British Nicole Holofcener movie?
Like a British Nicole Holofcener movie?
dark
emotional
funny
medium-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
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A devastating portrait of a complex mother-daughter relationship
“For here was a game which, if she could never quite win, then she could at least keep playing”
Riley manages to capture characteristics in this novel that are hauntingly familiar, and unfortunately relatable frustrating experiences (for myself at least) in such a candid and first hand way - you feel like you’re right there with her, and in turn can’t easy escape it all either.
Yet within these difficult times, you still feel alongside the protagonist, the pull of love and family through all its hurt and disagreement and trials. And in making us feel and recognise all these moments and emotions in the book, and enabling us to feel that relation to the characters, Riley proves her skill as a writer well.
My sister and I read this side by side in one day and throughly enjoyed the experience of this book.
I would definitely recommend!
Riley manages to capture characteristics in this novel that are hauntingly familiar, and unfortunately relatable frustrating experiences (for myself at least) in such a candid and first hand way - you feel like you’re right there with her, and in turn can’t easy escape it all either.
Yet within these difficult times, you still feel alongside the protagonist, the pull of love and family through all its hurt and disagreement and trials. And in making us feel and recognise all these moments and emotions in the book, and enabling us to feel that relation to the characters, Riley proves her skill as a writer well.
My sister and I read this side by side in one day and throughly enjoyed the experience of this book.
I would definitely recommend!
A quick read that is claustrophobic in its presentation of family relationships. It definitely is a four star book but I knocked a star off because it’s so sad and unpleasant.