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feralbookwife's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Just when I was ready to take a break from memoirs, this one knocked my socks off. Went into this one completely blind, just liking the title and cover style, and could not have picked a more poignant book. This is a powerful, deeply honest text with lots of tears along the way.
CW: animal death, pregnancy, birth trauma, murder, violence, sexism, mental health, autopsy
CW: animal death, pregnancy, birth trauma, murder, violence, sexism, mental health, autopsy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Grief, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Car accident, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Child death
jesshindes's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
'A Ghost in the Throat' isn't a novel but a piece of creative non-fiction: I'd probably call it a memoir, although it is also (and is also about) an act of biography. This question of form or genre is something that the book repeatedly reverts to: 'this is a female text'. The phrase runs through the whole book like a refrain. Female texts might be bodies, clothes, wounds. The question of how women inscribe themselves on history is central.
The narrator - a version of the author, Doireann Ni Ghriofa - is a young mother, raising three babies, then a fourth. She is fascinated by an 18th-century Irish poem, Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, a lament written by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill after her husband was murdered. The book recounts Ni Ghriofa's relationship with the poem and its author, which is lived alongside and against the repetitive actions and rhythms of caring for her young children: cleaning the house, running the washing machine, feeding the babies. Breastfeeding in particular is another recurrent melody in the music of the book (and it is musical, beautifully written - you can tell that Ni Ghriofa is a poet): the narrator uses it to explore her own impulse toward self-sacrifice.
I really enjoyed this. There's a freedom about its unorthodox form: Ni Ghriofa can move forward through parallels and images without the constraints of traditional plot, although there is certainly an impulsive force that carries the book along. There's also something really effective about how all the sensations of Ni Ghriofa's everyday sit against the historical content of the book. Ni Ghriofa is very interested in the sensory experiences of Eibhlín Dubh's life (sharing a womb with her twin, birthing children, a startling moment in the poem where she drinks her dead husband's blood), and focusing on her own body proves a persuasive way of fleshing out the architectural and archival traces of the past. I also liked that 'A Ghost in the Throat' was so concerned with family life. At first I wondered why this particular poem - which is largely a love poem about a romantic relationship - was Ni Ghriofa's chosen vehicle for exploring her experiences, which felt much more focused on her children - but as the book continues Ni Ghriofa's husband emerges into more centrality and the ending in particular I think does a lot to enrich and complicate some of the issues that Ni Ghriofa has been exploring, and to show how their partnership underpins their family life.
I will also say that reading this book made me realise how much I read aloud in my head to myself, and that when I hit a word I can't pronounce (i.e. most of Irish Gaelic, although I was trying to look things up all the time) my brain just goes "???" instead. But that is VERY much a me problem. In general this was a really likable, thought-provoking book.
The narrator - a version of the author, Doireann Ni Ghriofa - is a young mother, raising three babies, then a fourth. She is fascinated by an 18th-century Irish poem, Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, a lament written by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill after her husband was murdered. The book recounts Ni Ghriofa's relationship with the poem and its author, which is lived alongside and against the repetitive actions and rhythms of caring for her young children: cleaning the house, running the washing machine, feeding the babies. Breastfeeding in particular is another recurrent melody in the music of the book (and it is musical, beautifully written - you can tell that Ni Ghriofa is a poet): the narrator uses it to explore her own impulse toward self-sacrifice.
I really enjoyed this. There's a freedom about its unorthodox form: Ni Ghriofa can move forward through parallels and images without the constraints of traditional plot, although there is certainly an impulsive force that carries the book along. There's also something really effective about how all the sensations of Ni Ghriofa's everyday sit against the historical content of the book. Ni Ghriofa is very interested in the sensory experiences of Eibhlín Dubh's life (sharing a womb with her twin, birthing children, a startling moment in the poem where she drinks her dead husband's blood), and focusing on her own body proves a persuasive way of fleshing out the architectural and archival traces of the past. I also liked that 'A Ghost in the Throat' was so concerned with family life. At first I wondered why this particular poem - which is largely a love poem about a romantic relationship - was Ni Ghriofa's chosen vehicle for exploring her experiences, which felt much more focused on her children - but as the book continues Ni Ghriofa's husband emerges into more centrality and the ending in particular I think does a lot to enrich and complicate some of the issues that Ni Ghriofa has been exploring, and to show how their partnership underpins their family life.
I will also say that reading this book made me realise how much I read aloud in my head to myself, and that when I hit a word I can't pronounce (i.e. most of Irish Gaelic, although I was trying to look things up all the time) my brain just goes "???" instead. But that is VERY much a me problem. In general this was a really likable, thought-provoking book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Cancer
lifeinsherds's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This is one of those books I wish I could read for the first time again. I remember deciding to read this book because of the gorgeous cover and I haven't read a lot of Irish fiction. This novel absolutely blew me away. It's a quiet little book that makes such massive and important statements about the expectations of motherhood and growing up from a protagonist who is looking back on her own past. She further relates her own past and present limitations (and small joys) with those of an Irish poet who lived centuries before her.
Part memoir, part historical fiction, this book stunned me with every chapter. There is not one thing I would have wanted different from this book. And this is the author's prose debut!
Part memoir, part historical fiction, this book stunned me with every chapter. There is not one thing I would have wanted different from this book. And this is the author's prose debut!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Pregnancy
Moderate: Cancer and Child death
Minor: Death, Violence, and Suicide attempt
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A Ghost in the Throat is an utterly gorgeous book that spoke to me on so many levels. It’s a memoir about the author’s fascination with the poem “ Caoineadh Áirt Úi Laoghaire”, her determination to translate it to English and to find out more about the life of the poet eighteenth century noblewoman Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill. This is set against the broader background of the author’s own life, especially the all-encompassing years of parenting young children. It’s been nearly two decades since I was the mother of a baby or small child yet this book instantly transported me back there - the delightful (for me - I know I’m fortunate in my experience) rhythm of breastfeeding, the drudgery and repetitiveness of many days balanced against the overwhelming love for the small people in your care. As a historian (again in a former life - this one closer to thirty years ago) I could sympathise with her frustrations regarding the limitations of traditional sources when it comes to learning about the lives of women. I loved the ways she attempted to fill in the gaps, using her knowledge and experiences as the basis for informed imaginations. As a feminist I loved the constant refrain “this is a female text” and the widening conceptions of what a text is and what stories deserve to be told.
If you don’t speak Irish do yourself a favour a listen to the audiobook to hear the poem read aloud in its original language. It’s lushly beautiful. Then listen to the author’s translation. It’s so powerful - the love, passion, grief and desire for revenge are so raw and palpable. Life has not yet delivered me that sort of grief and yet I felt it in my bones.
I just adored this book. It cleverly took several disparate strands, and wove them into a gorgeous tapestry using the most exquisite prose - the author is also a poet and it shows in the best way. This book is stunning, unique and all sorts of other gushy wonderful adjectives. Many thanks to @cheriebooksreadthisyear whose review put this one on my radar. I’m so glad I finally read it.
If you don’t speak Irish do yourself a favour a listen to the audiobook to hear the poem read aloud in its original language. It’s lushly beautiful. Then listen to the author’s translation. It’s so powerful - the love, passion, grief and desire for revenge are so raw and palpable. Life has not yet delivered me that sort of grief and yet I felt it in my bones.
I just adored this book. It cleverly took several disparate strands, and wove them into a gorgeous tapestry using the most exquisite prose - the author is also a poet and it shows in the best way. This book is stunning, unique and all sorts of other gushy wonderful adjectives. Many thanks to @cheriebooksreadthisyear whose review put this one on my radar. I’m so glad I finally read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Minor: Cancer and Suicide attempt
carabones's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Cancer and Sexual content
lou_o_donnell's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Miscarriage, and Murder
Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry
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