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_cluck_'s review against another edition
4.5
This book is about love, not just romantic love, but sibling, parent-child, and religious love. There are also examples of how money influences our experience with love. So many themes are explored in this short book that it would take many reads to fully unpack. The language is straight forward but filled with meaning.
I hope to reread this in the future when I have learnt more about love and understand it better. I think the experience would be different.
It would be amazing if another book was written, but this time, love is discussed from mostly male point of views. Would it be different?
I hope to reread this in the future when I have learnt more about love and understand it better. I think the experience would be different.
It would be amazing if another book was written, but this time, love is discussed from mostly male point of views. Would it be different?
kcdennett's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
amalia1985's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
‘’A blackbird in the hawthorn in the spring. That’s what she wrote about in her essay.’’
‘’A fresh wind blew in and shook the early blossoms off the trees in the garden and everything in my house was beautiful and well made, and I saw it all with her eyes before I left to meet her.’’
Mother’s Day: A woman meets her mother at a gallery as they both find themselves at opposite points. A tender, yet sad story about the fragile bond between mothers and daughters and the complex consequences when money enters the picture. Beautiful writing, rich in the quiet nostalgia of days gone by…
My First Marina: A young woman, haunted by the death of her friend, finds ‘solace’ in promiscuity. However, passing from bed to bed will not bring you comfort.
Blackbirds: In this almost unbearably tender story, two siblings lead vastly opposite lives, but their unique bond remains unbreakable. Quietly haunting, extremely poignant.
Feathers: A despicable young woman (who thinks someone in their mid-thirties does NOT have the right to be pretty…) is taught a valuable life lesson by a spirited Frenchwoman. It is a token of a talented writer to make you care about a character you want to slap dead.
‘’It was early summer, the dusk was blue and long. He drove his small car to the outskirts of town. They would sit and eat ice creams, jelly sweets, the doors wide open, the grass wet and humming, the river nearby full and swollen and brown.’’
First Time: A soft, whimsical story of teenage shenanigans and the unavoidable repercussions of rebellious, young love.
Childcare: What can you do when the most important person in your life - your mother - is the most inadequate guardian, solely focused on satisfying her huge ego? You thank God for your grandmother. And you pray to become a grown-up as swiftly as possible. A story about an issue that is getting more and more common in today’s society.
The Doll: A doll becomes a projection for complex relationships, impulses of youth, mental health, and the havoc that comes with immature - can we ever call it such a name? - love.
‘’I yearn for answers but there is no space here. I cannot hear myself, you say.
I have all the answers you need. But you need to find the right questions, your mother says.’’
Currency: Six pages of an emotional rollercoaster of a story in which a teenage girl pines for a boy, resorts to witchcraft and regrets her actions. Is first love bound to fail and become lost in oblivion?
Good For You, Cecilia: What started as a fascinating story about performing live, serving your art, dancing and overcoming your fears, ended up being a libel against religion, thanks to its obnoxious, idiot ‘protagonist’. Atheism is not a fashion, it is not progress, it is a token of you being a coward and an idiot.
Hearts and Bones: ‘’- that in the words Jesus uttered on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, he was telling us it was okay just to feel sadness, just to feel confusion. To have faith is to stay with this confusion, to not understand, to not want to understand.’’
No summary is needed…
This collection is like the soft rays of light entering a room on a spring’s afternoon, like the serenity of a summer’s hazy evening during blue hour. Dealing with difficult subjects, yet never becoming verbose, preachy, or ‘’too’’ darκ. It’s like a discussion between family members who have finally resolved their problems.
Sadness and hope walk hand-in-hand in life, as do the innocence of youth and the corruption of adulthood.
‘’Outside, the dead of night. Revellers. Moonlight. Noises. You are happy here. You are happy because you do not have to speak.’’
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
lemon_y's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
dostoevskys's review against another edition
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? No
1.5
theeuphoriczat's review against another edition
4.0
This is a collection that explores unflinchingly the realities of miscarriage, grief, heartbreak, religion, depression, bullying and toxic masculinity. And it does it in such a way that you are completely absolved into the life of the characters. Despite the stories being short, the author was able to flesh the characters out enough for us to feel something for them.
Beginning with the first story Mother's Day, we are introduced not just to the characters but to their dynamic relationship. A daughter longing for a relationships with her ageing mother. She hopes that her wealth (which she got through marriage) can fulfil her mother's dreams but its the same wealth that pushes her mother away. You question if it is the mother's need for independence or she is just uncomfortable with the lap of luxury her daughter now lies in. This thread of emotional conflict is presented in every page, more specifically in the story Blackbirds where we see a parent's fear for the life of their female child. It was fear born out of love but the outcome of this is rarely welcome by the child who has to constantly life a life imbrued by fear.
But the deeper fears she really felt around them were different; they were to do with a sapping of meaning, of a lack of viscerality, a lack of something she could not identify, a lack of a lack - what was that fear next to the fear of a paedophile or a boy with a knife?
There are other stories I love too, such as First Time, that gives an insight into the effect of toxic masculinity in a young man coming of age; Good for You, Cecilia, which gives a great insight into the extraordinariness of being or having an ordinary situation; the titular story Heart and Bones that takes an interesting look into teenage pregnancy and religion; and finally the story titled The Doll which is told in three parts, Niamh did such a great job laying self-desiccation and self-appreciation and understanding into these story. We get to see how one person's decision changes the lives and trajectory of people around them.
I really loved this book and hope you all check it out.
*Thanks to the publisher for sending an ARC of this book my way
Beginning with the first story Mother's Day, we are introduced not just to the characters but to their dynamic relationship. A daughter longing for a relationships with her ageing mother. She hopes that her wealth (which she got through marriage) can fulfil her mother's dreams but its the same wealth that pushes her mother away. You question if it is the mother's need for independence or she is just uncomfortable with the lap of luxury her daughter now lies in. This thread of emotional conflict is presented in every page, more specifically in the story Blackbirds where we see a parent's fear for the life of their female child. It was fear born out of love but the outcome of this is rarely welcome by the child who has to constantly life a life imbrued by fear.
But the deeper fears she really felt around them were different; they were to do with a sapping of meaning, of a lack of viscerality, a lack of something she could not identify, a lack of a lack - what was that fear next to the fear of a paedophile or a boy with a knife?
There are other stories I love too, such as First Time, that gives an insight into the effect of toxic masculinity in a young man coming of age; Good for You, Cecilia, which gives a great insight into the extraordinariness of being or having an ordinary situation; the titular story Heart and Bones that takes an interesting look into teenage pregnancy and religion; and finally the story titled The Doll which is told in three parts, Niamh did such a great job laying self-desiccation and self-appreciation and understanding into these story. We get to see how one person's decision changes the lives and trajectory of people around them.
I really loved this book and hope you all check it out.
*Thanks to the publisher for sending an ARC of this book my way
randiymkje's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5