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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
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
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Oh boy, this was intense. But sometimes I feel like it was too intense to that point that the intensity overall just fizzled.
The story is set in an unnamed city, though it definitely is in Northern Ireland. It is set during the height of The Troubles, where narratives about "us-versus-them" are pretty strong. There are militia and other military groups, informant networks, carbombs, and many other obstacles that are present to living. Everyone more or less has family members that have died or at least injured. Overall, it's not an easy place to live in.
And there is an unnamed narrator, an 18-year-old girl. She tries her best to be not interesting, because being interesting is dangerous. People around her gossip, and allegiances are formed through these social networks. And in the middle of this, there is a man that starts stalking her, and that makes her become interesting. Life therefore becomes complicated.
See, in this community, gossip is powerful. People see you doing something in public and that becomes an entire story on its own. And it becomes a life-and-death situation sometimes. If enough people think that you're for the other side, then they might send someone to erase you. It's rather creepy actually.
I keep on remembering how life was like when I was part of a cult. It wasn't my choice of course, as my parents raised me to be part of this organisation until later on I left on my own. But the whole "us-versus-them" rhetoric was definitely strong. I was told not to make friends with anyone who was not part of the cult. The people outside were definitely demonised. And for some bizarre reason, I saw the same appetite for gossip: after all, people watch out for each other, in many ways than one. This also means there's a strong culture of social policing. People within the cult are watching out that other people within the cult was behaving as predicted. And if one deviates from that, then one becomes interesting. Hence I found situations described in the book to be very familiar, unfortunately.
As a piece of political fiction, I definitely enjoyed the book. But sometimes I felt it was too intense. From the very beginning, the intensity is turned up to 11, and it remains like that until the very end. It can be a challenging read, and yes, I have already gotten the message very early on that the situation in Northern Ireland during the 1970s is not the prettiest. That message has been loud and clear since the first couple of pages. So at some point I started to wonder, what else is the point?
Anyway, overall I thought it was an interesting glimpse of how life was like in that part of the world. Definitely I am thinking that I am fortunate not to have been in that situation. This book is a tough read, and I must say I have enjoyed it, but I am not sure I would be very much recommending it to everyone. It was a challenging read, but after finishing it, I couldn't say there was emotional release. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
The story is set in an unnamed city, though it definitely is in Northern Ireland. It is set during the height of The Troubles, where narratives about "us-versus-them" are pretty strong. There are militia and other military groups, informant networks, carbombs, and many other obstacles that are present to living. Everyone more or less has family members that have died or at least injured. Overall, it's not an easy place to live in.
And there is an unnamed narrator, an 18-year-old girl. She tries her best to be not interesting, because being interesting is dangerous. People around her gossip, and allegiances are formed through these social networks. And in the middle of this, there is a man that starts stalking her, and that makes her become interesting. Life therefore becomes complicated.
See, in this community, gossip is powerful. People see you doing something in public and that becomes an entire story on its own. And it becomes a life-and-death situation sometimes. If enough people think that you're for the other side, then they might send someone to erase you. It's rather creepy actually.
I keep on remembering how life was like when I was part of a cult. It wasn't my choice of course, as my parents raised me to be part of this organisation until later on I left on my own. But the whole "us-versus-them" rhetoric was definitely strong. I was told not to make friends with anyone who was not part of the cult. The people outside were definitely demonised. And for some bizarre reason, I saw the same appetite for gossip: after all, people watch out for each other, in many ways than one. This also means there's a strong culture of social policing. People within the cult are watching out that other people within the cult was behaving as predicted. And if one deviates from that, then one becomes interesting. Hence I found situations described in the book to be very familiar, unfortunately.
As a piece of political fiction, I definitely enjoyed the book. But sometimes I felt it was too intense. From the very beginning, the intensity is turned up to 11, and it remains like that until the very end. It can be a challenging read, and yes, I have already gotten the message very early on that the situation in Northern Ireland during the 1970s is not the prettiest. That message has been loud and clear since the first couple of pages. So at some point I started to wonder, what else is the point?
Anyway, overall I thought it was an interesting glimpse of how life was like in that part of the world. Definitely I am thinking that I am fortunate not to have been in that situation. This book is a tough read, and I must say I have enjoyed it, but I am not sure I would be very much recommending it to everyone. It was a challenging read, but after finishing it, I couldn't say there was emotional release. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
mysterious
sad
slow-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
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a very hard book to read. However, it was really well written and I’m very glad I stuck with it and finished it. You can’t blame the book because it’s not written in a way that makes it easy for the reader to understand. You have to pay close attention and get used to the style. Once I did that, I very much enjoyed it and would recommend it.
So slow. So bland. I could be lacking the literary brain power to enjoy this.
dark
informative
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:
Complicated
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m happy to accept I’m not smart enough for this book, I’m just glad it’s over.