Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Mayflies

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Mayflies by Andrew O'Hagan

9 reviews

bernard_black's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad

Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

First part 3 ☆
Second part 5 ☆
Joy divison references 10000000 ☆

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pkc's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was an achingly sad book in how it ends and the inevitability of the ending but a really sweet story of a nontoxic male relationship growing up in Thatcher ravaged Britain. I love the protagonists, though I found their dialogue reminiscent of Renton and Sick Boy (though the plots of Trainspotting and Mayflies couldn’t be less comparable) and it annoyed me slightly in places. Tully’s wife Anna really bothered me in places too, but with the subject matter, O’Hagan does a really good job of the light and dark of such a complicated debate. I will also say it was gorgeously written despite my occasional gripes with the dialogue.

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laurajordensharris's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-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

3.0

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alisonannk's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I liked it. I may have even liked it a lot. The characters are fun. The prose is sharp, witty, and buoyant. But I didn’t love it. I can’t get into it too much without spoilers, but I’ll say it’s a book with an ending that is a forgone conclusion (intentionally). And for me, books structured in this way really need to harness that forgone ending to transform their characters through the book’s inevitable conclusion. Otherwise, for me, there’s nothing to hold onto and no surprises in the narrative. For me, the characters largely stayed the same from start to finish. And the relationships were fun and dynamic for sure. But without some way in which the march toward the book’s ending fundamentally altered them or their relational dynamics, it was hard for me to attach to the story. However, again, the characters were wonderful and I think the author did a great job at getting us invested in them individually, just not in the story they were being challenged with, if that makes sense.

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