Reviews

Not for me - bleak, sweary, violent, unredemptive. The first chapters overused the thesaurus to make up new metaphors and images and this writing style grated on me throughout.

poojagodh's review against another edition

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3.0

Took a while to get into it but really enjoyed it by the second half

dhall58's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

alwaysbooking's review against another edition

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1.0

This book was definitely not for me and I really think I’m among the minority here. While I expected it to be quite chaotic due to the fact we were following multiple people. I wasn’t expecting it to be chaotic within each character. This book does have a lot of graphic horrible things happen in it. It follows multiple people through their lives in Cork, Ireland and how they all intersect at one point in time or another. While the plot was obviously thought out well, it felt almost over done.

Some points of the book would have such realism to them, and then others would be glossed over. The fact that Ryan’s dad can never own up to anything kind of ticked me off. Ryan who looked like he might have an out since he was so bright, then decided to say F it all and become a mob boss? Phelan seemed like the A-typical gangster. I couldn’t follow along with his mother Maureen at all which may have been the point since she is a little off her rocker.

This book was supposed to be in our era, but most of the plot felt like it should be in the 60’s/70’s. The author was constantly attacking religion. I’m not sure if that was her intent or not but when anyone woman got herself into a situation (ie. Getting pregnant, or attacked) she was shamed. Basically it seemed everything the women did was shameful while it was okay for the men to be abusive, drug addicted, and gangsters. There was no revelation with any characters, also there was no forward growth.. just drugs, death, gangs, etc. Everything bad that was happening was because of some sort of religion.

I’m not sure this book was for me at all. I really hate to start off the month with a bad read and this is an award winning book. Again I think I’m in the minority in this… I would never tell anyone not to read a book but if you can sample it at your local bookstore or online I would read a couple chapters before deciding on if it’s the read for you.

Thank you blogging for books and Tim Duggan books for this book in lieu of my honest review.

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