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qqjj's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, War, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Grief, Classism, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
ae_world's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Violence
elizastudying's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
This book was partly far too long and partly contained the most beautiful writing and insights I’ve read in a while. The last few chapters just didn’t catch me anymore though, or I didn’t have the patience for them anyway. But I loved its mix of history, nature writing and memoir. Very clever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Suicide
leoniepeonie's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I thought this was incredibly beautiful. I was dead set on giving it five stars from the first couple of chapters and that wavered a little bit towards the end, so it's ended up a 4.5.
Ní Dochartaigh's writing style is just dripping with gorgeous imagery and feeling and I relished the way she played with words. I listened to this as an audiobook and it really lends itself to that medium, read aloud like poetry rather than prose at some points. The author narrated it herself (I listened to it at 1.2x speed without noticing any strangeness, as she spoke very slowly) and each word felt very purposeful and precise to the point that I was just lost in it at times. It was a moving, meandering piece that knitted together grief and loss and trauma with landscapes and human customs, and a sense of things lying outside of time. I really look for and love coincidence and meaning in the natural world and this played with that beautifully.
One complaint is that I felt the book went on a little too long - as awed as I was by the beauty of it, I started to feel overwhelmed towards the end and found that the last chapter was quite repetitive and obvious in being an attempt to tie things together nicely. I felt like I had my head around the timeline of ní Dochartaigh's life by about halfway through the book too, and then felt disorientated when she started picking back over that timeline with extra details and it got me pretty confused. A tighter edit might have helped clear that up, but those issues aside, this was gorgeous. I'd been convinced I'd buy it in print and read it again, but she might have lost me with that ending.
Ní Dochartaigh's writing style is just dripping with gorgeous imagery and feeling and I relished the way she played with words. I listened to this as an audiobook and it really lends itself to that medium, read aloud like poetry rather than prose at some points. The author narrated it herself (I listened to it at 1.2x speed without noticing any strangeness, as she spoke very slowly) and each word felt very purposeful and precise to the point that I was just lost in it at times. It was a moving, meandering piece that knitted together grief and loss and trauma with landscapes and human customs, and a sense of things lying outside of time. I really look for and love coincidence and meaning in the natural world and this played with that beautifully.
One complaint is that I felt the book went on a little too long - as awed as I was by the beauty of it, I started to feel overwhelmed towards the end and found that the last chapter was quite repetitive and obvious in being an attempt to tie things together nicely. I felt like I had my head around the timeline of ní Dochartaigh's life by about halfway through the book too, and then felt disorientated when she started picking back over that timeline with extra details and it got me pretty confused. A tighter edit might have helped clear that up, but those issues aside, this was gorgeous. I'd been convinced I'd buy it in print and read it again, but she might have lost me with that ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Grief
unfiltered_fiction's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Emotional abuse, Death, and Hate crime
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Murder, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury
monalyisha's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
I feel strongly about this book as a physical object; I think it might be the prettiest book I’ve ever seen, with the gossamer wings of a moth gracing its cover. My feelings about the words inside are more complicated. The author tells of her life growing up in Ireland, specifically in Derry, at the center of the Troubles, in a mixed religion household. Her childhood home is bombed with her inside.
Though she and her family escape, the rest of her life is marked by this trauma and more. Her best friend is senselessly murdered when she’s 16, in a place (not Derry) that she’d just begun to think of as “safe.” She battles alcoholism, depression, and suicidal ideation, as well as physical illness. She struggles to escape abusive relationships with others and with herself.
Though she finds sanctuary in nature (especially in the water, as well as through a connection with winged things), this isn’t an easy book. The story the words tell isn’t an easy one. Neither are the words themselves easy; oftentimes, sentences are fractured, mirroring the brokenness inside. The teller is also unabashedly in love with certain ideas — liminal spaces, in particular (see: title) — and I think the voice of those ideas sometimes overshadows her own, unique voice.
I wish there had been more structure, too - that each chapter had been more like a separate essay. It almost feels as though each page is written like it’s the end of the book, like the language is coming together and everything is wrapping up, continually. But then…it doesn’t. It keeps going. It’s as if she has become so sick of boundaries that her words and her work have none of the typical ones I’ve come to expect. And that’s not wrong. It’s just not easy. Dochartaigh’s deep consciousness of language sometimes reads as affected; when it doesn’t, it dips, soars, and sparkles.
I struggled as a reader at times. But on some level, that feels sort-of right. I’m glad that the author has come to a place where she’s so herself and is no longer afraid if her story makes other people feel unsettled. Even if I was unsure about the particulars of the telling, I was never uninterested or unbothered. I would read more by Kerri ni Dochartaigh - with the foreknowledge that I’d need to be comfortable with moving through her words slowly and with patient attention - which, fittingly, is also what nature asks of us.
Though she and her family escape, the rest of her life is marked by this trauma and more. Her best friend is senselessly murdered when she’s 16, in a place (not Derry) that she’d just begun to think of as “safe.” She battles alcoholism, depression, and suicidal ideation, as well as physical illness. She struggles to escape abusive relationships with others and with herself.
Though she finds sanctuary in nature (especially in the water, as well as through a connection with winged things), this isn’t an easy book. The story the words tell isn’t an easy one. Neither are the words themselves easy; oftentimes, sentences are fractured, mirroring the brokenness inside. The teller is also unabashedly in love with certain ideas — liminal spaces, in particular (see: title) — and I think the voice of those ideas sometimes overshadows her own, unique voice.
I wish there had been more structure, too - that each chapter had been more like a separate essay. It almost feels as though each page is written like it’s the end of the book, like the language is coming together and everything is wrapping up, continually. But then…it doesn’t. It keeps going. It’s as if she has become so sick of boundaries that her words and her work have none of the typical ones I’ve come to expect. And that’s not wrong. It’s just not easy. Dochartaigh’s deep consciousness of language sometimes reads as affected; when it doesn’t, it dips, soars, and sparkles.
I struggled as a reader at times. But on some level, that feels sort-of right. I’m glad that the author has come to a place where she’s so herself and is no longer afraid if her story makes other people feel unsettled. Even if I was unsure about the particulars of the telling, I was never uninterested or unbothered. I would read more by Kerri ni Dochartaigh - with the foreknowledge that I’d need to be comfortable with moving through her words slowly and with patient attention - which, fittingly, is also what nature asks of us.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Violence
libraryraven's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcoholism
annick's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Chapter five was when this book finally clicked for me. Beautifully sad and heartbreaking moments of reflection.
I loved so many phrases that I took to underlining the book as I went.
I was deeply moved by the lyricism and soft/quiet of the sadness and loss she speaks of. It moved me and yet amplified my own sorrows.
The writer style is one of repeating phrases (‘I think about…’) and recurring nature themes (various birds, insects, wildlife, as well as wind, river, sea, light and shadow)
The final few chapters weren’t as strong
I loved so many phrases that I took to underlining the book as I went.
I was deeply moved by the lyricism and soft/quiet of the sadness and loss she speaks of. It moved me and yet amplified my own sorrows.
The writer style is one of repeating phrases (‘I think about…’) and recurring nature themes (various birds, insects, wildlife, as well as wind, river, sea, light and shadow)
The final few chapters weren’t as strong
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Mental illness
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Alcoholism
rworrall78's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
I found the descriptions of real events desperately sad and at the same time, informative. They helped me to better understand a little what life must have been like growing up in a town like Derry. I absolutely loved the first third of the book.
I loved the more concrete descriptons of natural places and of the city. I enjoyed the glimpses of myth and folklore and would have liked more of that.
The lyrical prose seemed to have themes, borders, layers, skin, bones, blood, dancing, light, moths, water, oak trees, v-shapes. I can list them because I feel like I read them a thousand times in under 300 pages. All with little structure or conclusion. Those parts quickly became frustrating, I would have liked more sense of progression or purpose.
Dates and places were mentioned but not clearly enough to give a sense of chronology or even really of geography.
The way the book tackled serious trauma and mental health was excellent, sensitive and insightful.
As much to love as to feel frustrated with. I wasn't tempted leave it, and picked up pace as I got towards the end.
I loved the more concrete descriptons of natural places and of the city. I enjoyed the glimpses of myth and folklore and would have liked more of that.
The lyrical prose seemed to have themes, borders, layers, skin, bones, blood, dancing, light, moths, water, oak trees, v-shapes. I can list them because I feel like I read them a thousand times in under 300 pages. All with little structure or conclusion. Those parts quickly became frustrating, I would have liked more sense of progression or purpose.
Dates and places were mentioned but not clearly enough to give a sense of chronology or even really of geography.
The way the book tackled serious trauma and mental health was excellent, sensitive and insightful.
As much to love as to feel frustrated with. I wasn't tempted leave it, and picked up pace as I got towards the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism
grace_lola14's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Violence
Minor: Suicide attempt and Emotional abuse