_cararichardson's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious sad slow-paced

4.75

This book was extremely well done and thoughtfully researched. I got a lot of quotes from this one. It’s a fairly dense (not in a bad way) and was a fairly slow read for me, although that’s usually the case with non fiction. It’s a very complicated issue and I liked how Radden Keefe slowly unraveled the story  and it’s players. I didn’t know anything about the Troubles before going into this. I will say it took me a while to get a firm grasp on who supported what and what the different political groups stood for. At first I didn’t know how me or the author felt about the conflict, but as the narrative built I got a better understanding of the factors at play (what any great nonfiction book hopes to do!). Keefe managed to tow the line between sympathetic and scrutinizing. Overall, while this wasn’t an ~enjoyable~ read in the tropical sense, it was very heavy subject matter, I came away from this book with a lot to think about. Where should our ideals end, and how far should we be willing to go for our ideals?

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theunfinishedbookshelf's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

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atalea's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.25


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popsicleplease's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25


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laurenkimoto's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

Going into this my knowledge of the troubles was limited to Derry Girls and that small plot point in Criminal Minds, so to start I was a little confused (and I’m still not 100% confident) but overall was explained in an interesting and clear way. 

The audiobook gets a bonus 0.5 star (not included) because it is narrated by an Irish man and every time he said “poor” it added a week to my life. 

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meredith_peruzzi's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative fast-paced

4.75


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chelseylb1988's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

4.0


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imds's review against another edition

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4.5


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222abbi's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

This book is incredible, it’s a non fiction history book but reads like fiction. It is amazing how it is weaved together key characters from the troubles into a story. It sympathetically told a complicated history in a understanding, entertaining and enlightening way. It is genuinely such an interesting and engaging look at history and present. 

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travisppe's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Very interesting narrative, almost reads like a novel. 

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