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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
I didn't think it was as good as a lot of people seem to think, but I got sucked in pretty good.
The unique writing style made it go a little slow for me at first, but I got used to it. Donal Ryan shows his genius by precisely capturing universal emotional experiences and then turning up the volume on them in this book.
The story is about intense guilt with a longing for atonement. Although the protagonist is in a situation that is foreign to me, her suffering was relatable. It is normal to feel shame and guilt over our own small infractions. To feel that on behalf of the protagonist, she needed to be uniquely awful and she was. Internally, she roiled with regret. Externally, she continued with her harmful patterns. I think that is the relationship most of us have with our negative patterns even after we’ve recognized them.
Similarly, the protagonist was uniquely alienated in her own life. She’s given a chance for redemption and because her situation is so exaggerated, I couldn’t help but feel the desperation of her situation on her behalf, which echoed the smaller, lower stakes situations in my own life.
The most impressive part is that Ryan makes an unlikeable protagonist sympathetic to the reader by creating this relatable emotional landscape.
The story is about intense guilt with a longing for atonement. Although the protagonist is in a situation that is foreign to me, her suffering was relatable. It is normal to feel shame and guilt over our own small infractions. To feel that on behalf of the protagonist, she needed to be uniquely awful and she was. Internally, she roiled with regret. Externally, she continued with her harmful patterns. I think that is the relationship most of us have with our negative patterns even after we’ve recognized them.
Similarly, the protagonist was uniquely alienated in her own life. She’s given a chance for redemption and because her situation is so exaggerated, I couldn’t help but feel the desperation of her situation on her behalf, which echoed the smaller, lower stakes situations in my own life.
The most impressive part is that Ryan makes an unlikeable protagonist sympathetic to the reader by creating this relatable emotional landscape.
4.5, rounded up.
As in Ryan's two Booker nominated novels, the prose here is absolutely gorgeous, and though the story he tells is rather bleak, the end feeling is one of total satisfaction. Ryan also does an incredible job in narrating the story through the protagonist, Melody Shee, a pregnant 30-something Irish woman, a feat of alchemy that is spot-on in all respects. The half star taken off is for the fact that, unlike his other books, I felt this dragged a bit in spots, and took me far longer to get through than it should have.
As in Ryan's two Booker nominated novels, the prose here is absolutely gorgeous, and though the story he tells is rather bleak, the end feeling is one of total satisfaction. Ryan also does an incredible job in narrating the story through the protagonist, Melody Shee, a pregnant 30-something Irish woman, a feat of alchemy that is spot-on in all respects. The half star taken off is for the fact that, unlike his other books, I felt this dragged a bit in spots, and took me far longer to get through than it should have.
Donal Ryan's prose is absolutely exquisite. There is so much heart to this story, so much human joy and pain. Truly beautiful.
This review is also posted on www.ramblingsthebookblog.tumblr.com
"All the marks we ever made will fade away, and all the memories of all things we ever did will die, and it will be as though we never existed."
So says Melody Shee, the awful, compelling protagonist of All We Shall Know. Melody is married and pregnant by a seventeen year old Irish Traveller she was supposed to be tutoring. Her husband Pat is addicted to porn and sleeps around with prostitutes. Meldoy's life is an endless spiral of poor decisions backed up with terrible behaviour. In All We Shall Know, Ryan hurls you right into this shitshow. You won't want to leave.
All We Shall Know is an uneasy read but a brilliant one. The characters are complex and unabashedly real. There's no tip toeing around the story and the subject matter is never sugar coated, every dark corner teased out and explored. The story twists and turns and it ended up in a place I didn't expect.
Melody is terrible, nasty and compelling. She's unlike any female protagonist I've encountered this year. Melody finds herself in an impossible situation but it's entirely of her own making. What she does, taking advantage of a young man while she's in a position of trust, isn't justified. The details of that encounter are uncomfortable reading but they're handled well. I expected to hear a sad back story to Meldoy's actions, perhaps a miserable, mean husband, but I was glad this didn't exist. Melody's past, the reasons for her marriage, her behaviour towards her best friend in school are shocking, the details unfolding as the book develops. When the truth about her friend Breedie Flynn emerged, I had to put the book down.
But this is the power of Donal Ryan's writing. Despite disliking her, I was completely invested in Melody's story. She's a fantastically complex character. Melody recognises that she's cruel and owns that behaviour. I loved that she refused to be a victim. Melody is brash and rude, unafraid to say what she thinks. It was great to read about unapologetic female anger.
What drew me this book, apart from the reviews, was the fact that this story included characters from the travelling community. It's fair to say that travellers get scant representation in irish literature and when they do it doesn't paint them in a positive light. I did worry when I read the back story to Melody's pregnancy. Ryan walks a fine line by having his protagonist seduce Martin Tappy, a young traveller. It's a very dicey plot device but I think Ryan gets away with it.
Mary Crothery, a nineteen year old, married traveller is the central traveller character in the book. Mary is estranged from her husband because she can't have children. She claims to have the sight and is punished in her family circle for being infertile. Together, Mary and Melody make for an unlikely pair. Mary sees a kindred spirit in Melody, recognises her for what she is. Melody, in turn, sees Mary as a pathway to redemption, a way to make up for past mistakes.
It's hard to get away from the fact that Mary is only there to humanise Melody. At the same time, she's a a fully realised character and, despite her narrative purpose, Mary stands out on her own. Like Melody, I became invested in Mary's story.
It's hard to say whether Donal Ryan presents travellers in a good light here (I have little experience with that community). My copy of this book included a short essay by Donal Ryan where he talked about travellers and where he found inspiration for his characters. Ryan has experience of the travelling community but, as he says himself, "I've known lots of travellers and never known any." I enjoyed this book immensely...but is this Donal Ryan's story to tell?
"All the marks we ever made will fade away, and all the memories of all things we ever did will die, and it will be as though we never existed."
So says Melody Shee, the awful, compelling protagonist of All We Shall Know. Melody is married and pregnant by a seventeen year old Irish Traveller she was supposed to be tutoring. Her husband Pat is addicted to porn and sleeps around with prostitutes. Meldoy's life is an endless spiral of poor decisions backed up with terrible behaviour. In All We Shall Know, Ryan hurls you right into this shitshow. You won't want to leave.
All We Shall Know is an uneasy read but a brilliant one. The characters are complex and unabashedly real. There's no tip toeing around the story and the subject matter is never sugar coated, every dark corner teased out and explored. The story twists and turns and it ended up in a place I didn't expect.
Melody is terrible, nasty and compelling. She's unlike any female protagonist I've encountered this year. Melody finds herself in an impossible situation but it's entirely of her own making. What she does, taking advantage of a young man while she's in a position of trust, isn't justified. The details of that encounter are uncomfortable reading but they're handled well. I expected to hear a sad back story to Meldoy's actions, perhaps a miserable, mean husband, but I was glad this didn't exist. Melody's past, the reasons for her marriage, her behaviour towards her best friend in school are shocking, the details unfolding as the book develops. When the truth about her friend Breedie Flynn emerged, I had to put the book down.
But this is the power of Donal Ryan's writing. Despite disliking her, I was completely invested in Melody's story. She's a fantastically complex character. Melody recognises that she's cruel and owns that behaviour. I loved that she refused to be a victim. Melody is brash and rude, unafraid to say what she thinks. It was great to read about unapologetic female anger.
What drew me this book, apart from the reviews, was the fact that this story included characters from the travelling community. It's fair to say that travellers get scant representation in irish literature and when they do it doesn't paint them in a positive light. I did worry when I read the back story to Melody's pregnancy. Ryan walks a fine line by having his protagonist seduce Martin Tappy, a young traveller. It's a very dicey plot device but I think Ryan gets away with it.
Mary Crothery, a nineteen year old, married traveller is the central traveller character in the book. Mary is estranged from her husband because she can't have children. She claims to have the sight and is punished in her family circle for being infertile. Together, Mary and Melody make for an unlikely pair. Mary sees a kindred spirit in Melody, recognises her for what she is. Melody, in turn, sees Mary as a pathway to redemption, a way to make up for past mistakes.
It's hard to get away from the fact that Mary is only there to humanise Melody. At the same time, she's a a fully realised character and, despite her narrative purpose, Mary stands out on her own. Like Melody, I became invested in Mary's story.
It's hard to say whether Donal Ryan presents travellers in a good light here (I have little experience with that community). My copy of this book included a short essay by Donal Ryan where he talked about travellers and where he found inspiration for his characters. Ryan has experience of the travelling community but, as he says himself, "I've known lots of travellers and never known any." I enjoyed this book immensely...but is this Donal Ryan's story to tell?
Donal Ryan's writing has an elegance and depth of feeling which is so rare. I was incredibly moved reading his novel “The Thing About December” and his short story collection “A Slanting of the Sun.” But his new novel “All We Shall Know” actually had me crying in some scenes – and that happens very rarely when I'm reading. It's also not often I'll turn the last page of a novel and say 'Wow!' Not only does Ryan completely draw the reader into the narrator Melody's dilemma (a thirty-three year old married woman who is pregnant from her younger student) and create a suspenseful story of broken families and conflicts within the Traveller community in Ireland, but his writing is also stunningly beautiful. The chapter headings in this novel chart the weeks of Melody's pregnancy. As the baby grows, the crisis of her situation becomes more alarming. This is a powerful novel about relationships, guilt and betrayal.
Read my full review of All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan on LonesomeReader
Read my full review of All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan on LonesomeReader
3.5 stars Donal Ryan creates incredibly wounded and broken characters that are fantastic to read. At only 180 pages it feels like you're reading a much longer book - and that is not a bad thing at all!
Melody Shee is a 33-year-0ld woman that is now pregnant by her 17-year-old Traveller student, Martin. Her marriage, already volatile and broken, ends and she contemplates suicide on a daily basis. While Melody is lamenting at her life and where she is at right now, she also remembers how she destroyed her best friendship with another broken and sad girl in school. To read of these characters and their stories was really great, however as it nears the end, the predictability of it, and knowing how it was going to end took away some of its power over me. My favourite of Donal Ryan's remains [b:The Thing About December: A Novel|20945539|The Thing About December A Novel|Donal Ryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1411336211s/20945539.jpg|24577046].
Melody Shee is a 33-year-0ld woman that is now pregnant by her 17-year-old Traveller student, Martin. Her marriage, already volatile and broken, ends and she contemplates suicide on a daily basis. While Melody is lamenting at her life and where she is at right now, she also remembers how she destroyed her best friendship with another broken and sad girl in school. To read of these characters and their stories was really great, however as it nears the end, the predictability of it, and knowing how it was going to end took away some of its power over me. My favourite of Donal Ryan's remains [b:The Thing About December: A Novel|20945539|The Thing About December A Novel|Donal Ryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1411336211s/20945539.jpg|24577046].
It’s always easy for me to read Donal Ryan’s books. He has a magical way with words and what seems to be a talent for creating honest and real characters. A joy to read even if it is quite emotive and heart breaking in places.