The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

4.15 AVERAGE

rlmontgomery19's profile picture

rlmontgomery19's review against another edition

3.5
emotional funny reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
rosierivets's profile picture

rosierivets's review against another edition

4.0
Why are some of my favorite books lately Irish? Coming of age story of Rachel and her best friend James, and why can’t all book just let best friends be good friends?

nefelibata_x's review against another edition

4.0
emotional funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
breezybree's profile picture

breezybree's review against another edition

3.75
a quick & fun(?) book about rachel (mostly) and james and the messy intersections of their lives in their early 20s. i wish there was more before it ended - one second they’re living completely unstable lives and the next the story is being wrapped up in a bow
tinimore's profile picture

tinimore's review against another edition

2.25
dark emotional funny sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
ellabynight's profile picture

ellabynight's review against another edition

3.5
emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
I liked this book, but in the middle it felt like a bit of a chore to keep coming back to it.  This book is very Irish and very Great Recession-y and it doesn't bother to do any handholding if you're not familiar with the these references, which I liked about it.  I could see the major plot points coming and I think it intentionally felt like watching a train wreck in slow motion because you knew that Rachel was not going to make the best decisions and that this was all going to end in disaster.  I liked the characters generally, but I felt like we didn't get to know Rachel as well as we could have.  She felt like the conduit through which the story was told rather than a really well defined character.  Overall, I like this but did not love it.

haleyadee's review against another edition

4.5
emotional funny reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
twin1's profile picture

twin1's review against another edition

4.5
challenging emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

claireclaeys's review against another edition

4.0
Sally Rooney meets Dolly Alderton
Het einde vond ik wat teleurstellend.
Ik weet niet of je dat kan indelen onder een bepaald genre/term, maar als een boek start met een introductie van het heden en er telkens naar het verleden wordt gegaan zonder écht terug te blikken, maar dat het wel duidelijk is over welke tijdsperiode het gaat en waardoor we telkens wat meer helderheid krijgen over waar het zal eindigen, dan kan ik zeggen dat dat mijn favoriete manier is van een boek te lezen!!!! Of is dit voor de handliggend en omschrijf ik nu praktisch bijna elk boek? haha waarschijnlijk, maar bij dit boek is dat echt goed gelukt! en dan wil ik ook nog effe vermelden dat als een boek in het ik is geschreven ik véél sneller hooked ben!!!

jess_c_wg's review against another edition

4.0
emotional funny reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes