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lostinthelibrary'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
3.0
Starting with what I liked. As always with Anne Enright, the prose was beautiful. The character and locations descriptions were simple but lyrical and they really did immerse me in the time period and setting. For a book where a big part is the performance of Irishness, the sense of Irishness was palpable and perhaps this was the intention. I also really liked Norah's reflections on her sexuality within the context of Ireland and wish these had made up more of the book. Saying that, I never understood why Norah is addressing this story of her mother to her husband who, even from her account, comes across as an unlikeable and disinterested man.
Unfortunately the core of the book, the fraught mother/daughter relationship just didn't appeal to me like it should have. I much preferred the large and complex families in The Green Road and The Gathering, maybe because that is closer to my family than this intimate one to one relationship.
Nor, surprisingly, did the accounts of show business and performance hold my interest. This was something I was looking forward to but a lot of the plot around it was rushed. I think the main cause of this was the structure of this book. It was very stream of consciousness with events jumping all over the place, characters and events introduced briefly and then revisited later. This made for a confusing and, at times, frustrating read as I couldn't hold the sequence of events very well in my head and even by the end do not feel like I fully understood them.
There is so much for discussion but this was still a disappointing read coming from a loved author.
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Mental illness
gentle_garbage_baby's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Sexual content, Gun violence, Violence, and Misogyny
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Mentions some events regarding the Troubles in Ireland.beniamino's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Sexual assault, Addiction, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Rape
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
ceilisbookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault
Minor: Eating disorder, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
notesseton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Rape and Sexual violence
5aru's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction and Dementia
Moderate: Rape
flower's review against another edition
3.5
Moderate: Rape
jersy's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Rape, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Gun violence, and Alcoholism
deedireads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
“Their eyes watch her from behind a mask of delight, and it is not about attraction, this look, it is more about disaster. There is a painful stretch to some of the smiles that is envy about to happen. Especially the women. There is no denying this — my mother made women, especially, difficult to themselves.”
I read Actress because it was longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize, and I try to read the whole longlist every year. I definitely didn’t dislike it or have any complaints about it, but for some reason it just didn’t hook me and I turned the last page feeling relatively agnostic.
It’s a strange feeling because the sentences in this book are gorgeous. Sentence by sentence, Anne Enright’s writing blew me away. But the arc overall felt unexciting; I kept waiting for the book to “start.” It’s narrated by the daughter of a Broadway and film star in Ireland as she tells her and her mother’s backstories. That’s kind of it. Of course there were hard things and insightful things and beautiful things and traumatic things in there, but somehow I never felt them merge together into something particularly compelling.
That said, if you love a Hollywood insider story, or learning about the private lives of famous people, maybe this book might be for you. It’s fiction, of course, but it still has those vibes and again, the prose is absolutely beautiful.
At the end of the day, if you loved this book, I’d love to chat with you about it, because you may be able to help me love it.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Rape (no fighting or violence and yet still, a man pushing forward with sex despite her protestations); Mental illness
Moderate: Mental illness and Rape