Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Beautifully written, sort of dense but really transports you into the story/setting/time period. In the last third I couldn’t put the book down until I finished it! Amazing, tragic reveal to the wonder - the dark side of the family and religious beliefs unfolds. Yet I felt so satisfied by the end, I love the main characters (the three of them) :)
The ending is a little pat. Or, maybe, I was thinking about Room and how I liked how the second half dealt with everything that would come after where a story usually ends. I think that could have been fascinating with this book.
That being said this is an immersive read and one of the best flawed main character voices I've heard in a while. You can tell given all the reviews that go on and on about how she just wasn't likable enough.
That being said this is an immersive read and one of the best flawed main character voices I've heard in a while. You can tell given all the reviews that go on and on about how she just wasn't likable enough.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What's the difference between a psychodrama and a story where very little happens till the very end? The setting of Ireland post-famine was interesting, the characterisation of the Nightingale nurse and the starving child lacklustre, the plot lacking.
4.5 stars.
The first half was wildly slow -- the atmosphere might've made up for it, but for the most part while reading it I found the protagonist, Lib Wright, infuriating. It felt a lot like she spent half her time thinking 'oh, us English are so much further ahead', which, anyone who's met an English person probably has heard and everyone has hated.
She did, however, hold a lot of points, and in the much more gripping second half she proved herself to be amazing, and one of the very few people not blinded by religion and sexist thinking (which, reading about those topics was hard, but kind of funny in an awful way, because it's actually not that far away from where a lot of people stand today, if you swap the phrasing around a bit). The relationship that developed between her and Anna was incredible and I spent the last 20 pages of this book crying my eyes out. Anna herself was incredible, too, but if I tried to type anything about her I'd just start bawling again.
TWs:
child neglect
The first half was wildly slow -- the atmosphere might've made up for it, but for the most part while reading it I found the protagonist, Lib Wright, infuriating. It felt a lot like she spent half her time thinking 'oh, us English are so much further ahead', which, anyone who's met an English person probably has heard and everyone has hated.
She did, however, hold a lot of points, and in the much more gripping second half she proved herself to be amazing, and one of the very few people not blinded by religion and sexist thinking (which, reading about those topics was hard, but kind of funny in an awful way, because it's actually not that far away from where a lot of people stand today, if you swap the phrasing around a bit). The relationship that developed between her and Anna was incredible and I spent the last 20 pages of this book crying my eyes out. Anna herself was incredible, too, but if I tried to type anything about her I'd just start bawling again.
TWs:
Spoiler
incest, CSA,
Slow start but the revelations towards the end were deeply disturbing. Good portrayal of a child’s logic and reminiscent of an essay in “Women v Religion” that compares a child’s fear of hell/damnation to PTSD.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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:
Complicated
reflective
medium-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