Reviews

This book was a lot of things.

It was a slow and quiet examination of a family, building to an unanticipated crescendo. It was infuriating, having to read over 100 pages with no periods. It started with the story of Cass and PJ, but ultimately was about Dickie and Emelda. It brought in lots of different themes, that eventually came to light. It was a beast of a book, yet still kept me engaged.

I liked this book. It is a feat, and deserves a solid 4 stars. I don’t think the lack of periods was necessary, and to me comes across as a little too cocky - thinking the writing was good enough rules need not apply. For me, I guess it was, but I don’t think it will be for everyone. I’m also curious to see how the ending will be received as more reviews come in.

anikaas's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I love a long family saga, that is my jam. But this novel centering around four members of an Irish family as their economic outlook changes, was not my jam. It was just too long. They were each interesting - Cassie as the teen figuring out her life and friendships, PJ as the overlooked younger son talking to *who??* on the internet, Imelda as the beauty who hates her life, and Dickie as the haunted man living his dead brother's life. But there was absolutely no reason, to me, this needed to be almost 700 pages. It was in the last 150 pages or so that the stories finally began to move and the haunting of the ghosts and the sort of Pet Semetary theme (yes, I said what I said) that they all have come back wrong comes together. Honestly not worth all the energy to read it all but minus about 300 pages it could have been great.

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