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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This seems like three separate stories, but as the story closes all three main protagonists collidein a quietly devastating end.
I always enjoy Donal Ryan's work and this is no exception. It feels more like three interconnected short stories than a novel and I would have liked it to last a bit longer but those are small concerns. I found Farouk's story heartbreaking and sympathised with Lampy, who felt so real. Ryan has this way of making his characters so believeable through the small details of their lives, which are quietly heartbreaking. His prose flows so beautifully, each sentence seems perfectly poised. A great book from one of Irelands finest writers.
This is probably my favorite of Donal Ryan's books that I've read. I think he does get better with each release. The ending was a bit lackluster but overall I enjoyed the storytelling most of his novels and the writing, as always, was beautiful.
3.5 stars
Ryan is an excellent writer and is very good at capturing his characters in surprisingly few pages. And he does that here--his characters are all a bit lost, in different ways, and he captures all of that.
Somehow though, having the stories all pull together in about 10 pages just didn't quite do it for me. It was too quick, especially with several of those pages featuring just one paragraph. What HAPPENS? What are the ramifications? And is John Lampy's father, or did he kill his father?
Sometimes writing that is quite spare can be too spare, and I think this novel falls there.
Ryan is an excellent writer and is very good at capturing his characters in surprisingly few pages. And he does that here--his characters are all a bit lost, in different ways, and he captures all of that.
Somehow though, having the stories all pull together in about 10 pages just didn't quite do it for me. It was too quick, especially with several of those pages featuring just one paragraph. What HAPPENS? What are the ramifications? And
Sometimes writing that is quite spare can be too spare, and I think this novel falls there.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't think Donal Ryan is that well-known in the States (he is Irish) but he should be. I found him, as I've found many of my favorite novelists, through the Booker Prize. I've read two of Ryan's novels now, this one and The Spinning Heart, and both were beautifully written and imagined. In particular, Ryan manages to do a lot of interesting things with structure in short, compact novels.
This book tells three separate stories about three men dealing with loss. These three characters come together in a final sequence that took my breath away. My only quibble here is that the women who inhabit these men's lives are ciphers, shadowy archetypes with no real presence of their own: I think Ryan is capable of creating a fully fleshed-out female character and I do hope to see one in his next book.
This book tells three separate stories about three men dealing with loss. These three characters come together in a final sequence that took my breath away. My only quibble here is that the women who inhabit these men's lives are ciphers, shadowy archetypes with no real presence of their own: I think Ryan is capable of creating a fully fleshed-out female character and I do hope to see one in his next book.
but he knew that deep down she knew she was just a handy shift, a rebounder, that he was still in love with someone else, but she'd stick around in hope another while...he wondered should he marry her and be done with it. he could love her if he really tried...she didn't know the full extent of it, the way he'd watch out for flashes of Chloe here and there…
and he felt a sudden impulse rise within him to strike her hard across the face
one flick of my wrist, one flick. That'd show her.
I tried to make her leave her job; I hated thinking of her serving anyone but me
it is quite unsettling, the way this novel presents its women characters, often in the shadows, objects of phallogocentric narrative in order to draw sympathy for its male protagonists.
there is no doubt that Donal Ryan can write, the opening passage about 'trees' is what reeled me in but this concept of empathy keeps on getting tangled as the novel progresses; in one of his interviews Ryan claims to be a 'pretty lazy researcher' when it comes to writing, while it is understandable that each author has their process but in this novel a little more depth to the characters would have gone long way because only character which elicits any emotional response out of a reader is Farouk, the character whose entire story Ryan took from a news report about a Syrian doctor, thus it having semblance to real life tragedy.
i guess i need a refresher course on literature as the book was long listed for Booker and is liked by many, But time has only one direction, as the book wisely suggests, so que sera sera.
and he felt a sudden impulse rise within him to strike her hard across the face
one flick of my wrist, one flick. That'd show her.
I tried to make her leave her job; I hated thinking of her serving anyone but me
it is quite unsettling, the way this novel presents its women characters, often in the shadows, objects of phallogocentric narrative in order to draw sympathy for its male protagonists.
there is no doubt that Donal Ryan can write, the opening passage about 'trees' is what reeled me in but this concept of empathy keeps on getting tangled as the novel progresses; in one of his interviews Ryan claims to be a 'pretty lazy researcher' when it comes to writing, while it is understandable that each author has their process but in this novel a little more depth to the characters would have gone long way because only character which elicits any emotional response out of a reader is Farouk, the character whose entire story Ryan took from a news report about a Syrian doctor, thus it having semblance to real life tragedy.
i guess i need a refresher course on literature as the book was long listed for Booker and is liked by many, But time has only one direction, as the book wisely suggests, so que sera sera.
I reaaaally didn't like the writing style, could not understand where it was going and didn't care at all about the characters