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christiek's review against another edition
4.0
The characters and the progression of their changes are compelling, but what really captures my attention with this book is the way Enright unfolds the story. The structure is common enough with alternating povs, but who tells what part when and the way that part differs from the other narrator is so interesting. Little nuggets of wisdom they have to offer each other are lightly floated to apparent low impact, but they stick in both the characters' and the readers' minds to surface later. Sad to say, I could have done without Phil.
finajevans5's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.0
When I say I love Irish fiction, this is what I mean. The complexities of strained familial relationships, the generational tug of self sabotage, and how all of this contradicts with love. I especially enjoyed the character of Phili McDaragh, and how his talent, fame and charm hung over the family he abandoned, forced to publicly declare the man a genius when he had discarded their family decades ago and still demanded their adoration. Whilst this book is definitely a contender for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2024 Long list, it does suffer due to the overwhelming amount of books surrounding motherhood that have been nominated this year. Luckily, Enright's novel develops into more of a generational tale, but I still felt that fatigue of this repeated theme has impacted my enjoyment.
ninabruinhof's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
michele21's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
marywinzig's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
daja57's review against another edition
5.0
The story consists of periods, shuffled chronologically, in the lives of three members of an Irish family. Each has their chance to narrate. Phil, the grandfather was a poet; he remembers his boyhood in the country. Carmel, one of his daughters, ran, or perhaps runs, a language school and brought up her daughter, Nell, as a single parent. Nell is a freelance writer, working for influencers and producing work to market, for example, travel destinations. No-one seems to need to work very hard in order to earn a decent living and, in Nell's case, travel the world but we're not focusing on their economic activity. Rather, the book targets their sex lives.
Phil believes that all poetry is about unrequited love, and that all love is unrequited. He deserts his wife and daughters to travel and marry an American; he probably had multiple affairs as well. Carmel has divorced sex and relationships; the only real loves in her life are her Dadda and her daughter and she abandons a potential partner when it becomes clear that he might expect her to look after him. Nell is trapped in a physically abusive relationship with a man who is clearly seeing other women but whom she is in love with.
Men certainly don't come out of this well. Most of them are portrayed as violent. The nice ones are needy but they all (except the gay one) expect to be looked after and serviced. And yet Phil the poet seems irresistible to women, Nell can't leave the man who hits her because she loves him. So why can't the women treat the men as potential sperm donors and live without them? Perhaps because, as Mal, the gay friend in Utrecht, tells Nell: "The thing women don't understand is that love and sex are opposite things ... Love requires ... two acts of submission, and sex ... really doesn't." (p 201)
But the joy in this book doesn't lie in its characters, strong though they are, nor in its fragmented and meandering plot, nor in its exploration of the issue of domestic violence, but in its words. The narratives are separated by Phil's poetry, and I don't really understand poetry, but scattered throughout are phrases and sentences of pure gold. Some are descriptive, some are nuggets of wisdom,
It's not so much a novel as a beautiful piece of jewellery, its scintillations catching your eye as you look at if under different slants of light.
Phil believes that all poetry is about unrequited love, and that all love is unrequited. He deserts his wife and daughters to travel and marry an American; he probably had multiple affairs as well. Carmel has divorced sex and relationships; the only real loves in her life are her Dadda and her daughter and she abandons a potential partner when it becomes clear that he might expect her to look after him. Nell is trapped in a physically abusive relationship with a man who is clearly seeing other women but whom she is in love with.
Men certainly don't come out of this well. Most of them are portrayed as violent. The nice ones are needy but they all (except the gay one) expect to be looked after and serviced. And yet Phil the poet seems irresistible to women, Nell can't leave the man who hits her because she loves him. So why can't the women treat the men as potential sperm donors and live without them? Perhaps because, as Mal, the gay friend in Utrecht, tells Nell: "The thing women don't understand is that love and sex are opposite things ... Love requires ... two acts of submission, and sex ... really doesn't." (p 201)
But the joy in this book doesn't lie in its characters, strong though they are, nor in its fragmented and meandering plot, nor in its exploration of the issue of domestic violence, but in its words. The narratives are separated by Phil's poetry, and I don't really understand poetry, but scattered throughout are phrases and sentences of pure gold. Some are descriptive, some are nuggets of wisdom,
It's not so much a novel as a beautiful piece of jewellery, its scintillations catching your eye as you look at if under different slants of light.
maseklin's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.75
heather_belmonte's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0