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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Beautiful writing but I found the story - or, more accurately, stories - and how they (very tenuously) hung together to be quite difficult to ‘enjoy’. Particularly the first one - it was such a tough read that I was so pleased to establish that it was a (sort of) short story because I was just at the point of stopping readings
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
From A Low And Quiet Sea / Donal Ryan
⭐️⭐️✨
~ What's in the past can't be changed and what's to come can't be known and you can't give your life to worry-ing. Sure you can't. All you have to do is be kind and you'll have lived a good life… ~
It was time to get back into Donal Ryan after so many years of missing out, and HBAP put him back on my radar. And this one, I don’t know if it was the best one to start out with. Nobody writes misery like the Irish, and this is no exception.
Three separate stories, but each bearing the hallmarks of Ryan’s writing, it’s gorgeous, and misery. Why is everybody so sad? Farouk’s story is heartbreaking. The other two are different lampposts though, Lampy’s being his aloneness and growing up and the break that can be love. And John? Well he’s just a cowboy. Living life without ever processing his brother’s death.
The final section - it brings it all together. The innings from the side characters make a break for the better. And the final reveal I kinda saw coming but didn’t make it any the less revealing. 30 pages can instantly tie in the previous that felt like three completely seperate stories.
This book teaches you that kindness is what is needed. You don’t know what people are going through, or the lengths that they go to seek what they need.
But when all is said and done, I didn’t enjoy this as other books by Ryan. I’ll go back through his back catalog more, but as beautiful as it is written, it didn’t reach its full potential for me.
Picked up from the TBR Pile: Louisburgh
Bought from: Mayo Hospice Household, Castlebar - 28/09/24
- Read: 03/03/25 - 11/03/25
- Release Date: 22/05/18
- ISBN: 9781781620304
Once I started this, I found it really hard to put down. The first protagonist we hear from, Farouk, his story is devastating and everyone should read this account. It would make us all a little kinder when we see displaced people around the world asking for help. I connected to many of the characters, having grown up in a similar small town, I recognised the family and community dynamics.
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Beautifully written.