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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I want to give this book five stars, but something holds me back. The story felt a little unbalanced, though maybe it was meant to be. I found myself wishing there was more of Farouk’s story, rather than him being more or less a bystander to the events that finish the story. All their stories, and the connections between the other characters, are so beautifully written though, that it’s worth it from start to finish.
The first third of this was good. Then the next two parts incredibly dull up until the last few pages when it picked back up again. If you write from the perspective of different characters I think you need to make the reader care about each equally, otherwise they spend the time reading about one wishing they were back with the other. I don’t think Ryan achieved that in this book.
A few rare books can say everything they need to in the space of a few pages, a few sentences; bring every fragile strand of what it means to be human in the eye of a constant storm. This is that kind of book.
Donal Ryan writes glassine prose that land emotional moments with the heft they ought to carry, without lingering on the sentiments. The structure of this book allows three seemingly separate lives to entwine with devastating coincidence, and although the Lampy section is a little weaker than the others, the weight of their fractured lives rests heavy on the reader's mind. From a Low... is a stunning work on tragedy and survival, and what it means to arc unto death.
Donal Ryan writes glassine prose that land emotional moments with the heft they ought to carry, without lingering on the sentiments. The structure of this book allows three seemingly separate lives to entwine with devastating coincidence, and although the Lampy section is a little weaker than the others, the weight of their fractured lives rests heavy on the reader's mind. From a Low... is a stunning work on tragedy and survival, and what it means to arc unto death.
Another quietly tense novel from Donal Ryan, whose placid, rhythmic writing—like water—disguises the violence and dissatisfaction that lie beneath the surface of a small Irish community. Not quite as good as The Spinning Heart, but similarly attuned to small human moments. I do wish that the three men's narratives had intertwined sooner, but the conclusion was unpredictable and quietly devastating. I'm also waiting for more well-rounded female characters—if I recall correctly, very few of the POVs in The Spinning Heart were women either. The only woman whose head we peer into here is a few paltry pages of an elderly woman lusting after her physical therapist, and a glimpse at Lampy's mother, who is otherwise treated as a sex object and/or object of pity. From what I can tell from the jacket of his last book, All We Shall Know is about the relationship between two women—but it's only initiated by the unwanted, adulterous pregnancy of the main character. Every female character in Donal Ryan's imagination is defined in relation to a man, which is definitely not true of every fucking woman in Ireland. If Donal Ryan's project is to map the discontent of rural Ireland in the rubble of the tiger years, he had best start including women, whose options in 2018 are still even more limited than men's are.
Hands down one of the ebst books I have read in years!!!
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The ending really made this book for me. So beautiful!