Reviews

Flamingo by Rachel Elliott

luciyas's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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

5.0

I deeply fell in love with Rachel Elliott‘s style of writing. The way she is able to paint vivid pictures, create wonderful characters and get you immersed in a story full of heartache, longing, sadness and love is utterly brilliant.
I would give this beautiful book a 10/5 if I was able too.

dittacarr's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

At first I thought writing might get a bit annoying as sort of pretentious but actually I really enjoyed it

martinej's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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? Yes

4.0

_poppy_'s review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Gives Sarah Winman vibes - veeerry nice 😁. Very well written

celticthistle's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

ludivinev's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

tinkerbell2706's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

3.25

I found the book good but I wasn’t rushing to go back to it… it was a good relaxing read but it just wasn’t for me

dannii_megan's review against another edition

hopeful reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

wickedccat's review against another edition

This is the first book club book I've had dnf. Everyone said that after the first 75 pages you really get in to it, I shouldn't find the first 35 the hardest. Nevermind 75. I wouldn't say it's bad. I'd say it just wasn't written for me 

jacki_f's review against another edition

3.0

I got strong Sarah Winmanesque vibes from this story of two families who are close for a time and then drift apart. It's peopled with loveable and eccentric characters who care deeply for one another.

It moves between two time periods - 1984 and 2018 - and it took me a while to get into it because I wasn't sure initially what was going on. It opens in 2018 where we meet Daniel, a newly homeless man in his 40s whose relationship has recently ended. Daniel is in Somerset but then we meet Rae in Norfolk who finds her family annoying and doesn't let anyone get close to her. I wasn't clear how these strands were going to marry up, but the connections become evident when the plot goes back to 1984.

This is a warm hearted read about love and acceptance and I'm not sure why I didn't like it more than I did. I think it comes down to my dislike of books with whimsical characters. And these characters were aggressively whimsical. Daniel talks to a river and to a ceramic sheep, both of which talk back to him, while Rae escapes to an imaginary island and hires strangers to accompany her everywhere. Even the writing style is very whimsical: jumping around in time, trying on different styles for different chapters, enigmatic chapter titles. This is my own bias and if you loved the early Winman books you will probably love this too.

Flamingo is longlisted for the Womens Prize for Fiction.