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americattt's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
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
5.0
“If only I had never spotted the torturous loveliness of her. If only I wasn’t afraid to look inside myself, that way I might know better who I am. As it stands, I don’t know whether I might want a boy or another girl, or whether my heart has been spoiled beyond any other love by Susannah. How can I defend myself to Mother when I don’t understand what I’m defending? How is it that when you grow up and get stuck in love, that love is forgotten about? My love now seems to be an aggressive, political thing. It is the ceaseless search for an identity and then committing to that identity. It is a fight to exist in my own home. Is that not exhausting? Is it worth it?”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Abandonment
Moderate: Emotional abuse
bookishpip's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I received this book as a gift and I’m so glad that I did.
This is an absolutely gorgeous, heartwarming and heartbreaking account of growing up in a small Irish village. Very insular and religious, Lucy feels discomfort at the expectations of the people around her. She can’t understand why - until one summer when she begins to grow closer to her school friend, Susannah.
It’s an incredibly insightful account of coming to terms with a queer identity in the face of prejudice and discrimination. The fight between being true to herself and her love for Susannah or being accepted by everyone she knows and loves, is an internal turmoil so intimate and true to so many in the LGBTQ+ community, even today.
Although I’m so glad that this book exists and was so thankful to read this (and easy 5*!), go easy with this if LGBTQ+ discrimination (especially linked to religion) might be triggering for you.
🧡
This is an absolutely gorgeous, heartwarming and heartbreaking account of growing up in a small Irish village. Very insular and religious, Lucy feels discomfort at the expectations of the people around her. She can’t understand why - until one summer when she begins to grow closer to her school friend, Susannah.
It’s an incredibly insightful account of coming to terms with a queer identity in the face of prejudice and discrimination. The fight between being true to herself and her love for Susannah or being accepted by everyone she knows and loves, is an internal turmoil so intimate and true to so many in the LGBTQ+ community, even today.
Although I’m so glad that this book exists and was so thankful to read this (and easy 5*!), go easy with this if LGBTQ+ discrimination (especially linked to religion) might be triggering for you.
🧡
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry and Homophobia
Moderate: Eating disorder and Emotional abuse
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Sunburn is a beautifully written sapphic coming of age story. Lucy has grown up in a small rural Irish town. Everyone expects her to marry her childhood best friend Martin. However in her teen years she develops an intense relationship with Susannah. As a reader you really want them to be together. Yet Lucy is unsure of herself, her feelings, and what she wants to do with her life. And this is Ireland in the early 1990s so publicly admitting her feelings for Susannah would almost certainly have resulted in ostracism. While I was sometimes frustrated by Lucy I could always understand exactly where she was coming from and why she was making the decisions she did. The real highlight of this novel was the depiction of the relationship between Lucy and Susannah. It was gorgeous, tender, passionate and utterly romantic, especially the letters between the two of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse
seventhswan's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Read #2 for book group, 3.5 stars: I've never felt so disappointed to have quite liked a book. From the synopsis I thought I would love it, and the first half of the book held up to this expectation, but as the story went on, the plot got sillier and the pace got stranger, until by the end of the book I felt frustrated and let down. Some of the prose didn't do it for me either - although that's more of a taste thing - while other parts, particularly Lucy and Susannah's letters, were beautifully crafted. I enjoyed the setting very much and admire any writer who can make me feel a bit sorry for a man, but like actual sunburn, this book was patchy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Emotional abuse
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