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suebarsby's review against another edition
5.0
A slow start to this but I’m glad I persevered. The voice of the main character is the driving force of this novel. Maurice sits at the bar of a hotel he half owns, drinking five toasts and telling the story of his life. From humble beginnings, facing humiliations and devastating loss until he makes something of his life and tries to find revenge. And yet, this isn’t a ‘revenge’ type book. It’s one man’s misguided grudges and lack of empathy for others, until later in life. Maurice is an old git, but entertaining and strong willed. His end is not a surprise but still moving nontheless. An excellent debut.
josemosle's review against another edition
2.0
It could’ve been good, and it started good. But then it just didn’t do it for me.
samzueta's review against another edition
5.0
I think Irish novelists are my favorites! Anne Griffin's ability to make you feel like you're sitting next to Maurice as he retells his life story is like no other. Heart-wrenching, touching, and undeniably sad but fulfilling, this first-person narration will make you truly think about the human connections we make and their impact on us over time.
bookslifeandeverythingnice's review against another edition
4.0
I won this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways. Thank you to Goodreads, Thomas Dunne Books and Anne Griffin for an ARC copy. As always, an honest review from me.
My rating is actually 3.5/5 stars but since there aren’t half stars I always round up.
When All Is Said is a heartbreakingly beautiful and poignant piece of literary fiction. The main character, Maurice, is near the end of his life. When we find him, he’s in a bar ordering very specific drinks one evening. One drink for each important person that he would like to toast.
Each chapter is about one important person over his lifetime. The chapters about his late wife and sister in law are especially touching. The writing is elegant without being overly pretentious or stuffy. I think this book is a wonderful way to tell the stories of a person’s life.
However it made for some very long chapters. Over 50 pages for most to be exact. I hate stopping in the middle of chapter, which I was forced to do. It’s not realistic to finish up the few pages left in the chapter when you have 35 pages left. Also, while some of the people’s stories were captivating, others didn’t hold my attention at all. Very hit or miss.
All in all, When All Is Said is beautiful, sad, and relatable. A wonderful way to honor the older adults in society. Often their feelings and wishes are overlooked with others telling them what they must do. The author tells a story of a man honoring his own life and making decisions for himself. The book will stay with me for a long time.
My rating is actually 3.5/5 stars but since there aren’t half stars I always round up.
When All Is Said is a heartbreakingly beautiful and poignant piece of literary fiction. The main character, Maurice, is near the end of his life. When we find him, he’s in a bar ordering very specific drinks one evening. One drink for each important person that he would like to toast.
Each chapter is about one important person over his lifetime. The chapters about his late wife and sister in law are especially touching. The writing is elegant without being overly pretentious or stuffy. I think this book is a wonderful way to tell the stories of a person’s life.
However it made for some very long chapters. Over 50 pages for most to be exact. I hate stopping in the middle of chapter, which I was forced to do. It’s not realistic to finish up the few pages left in the chapter when you have 35 pages left. Also, while some of the people’s stories were captivating, others didn’t hold my attention at all. Very hit or miss.
All in all, When All Is Said is beautiful, sad, and relatable. A wonderful way to honor the older adults in society. Often their feelings and wishes are overlooked with others telling them what they must do. The author tells a story of a man honoring his own life and making decisions for himself. The book will stay with me for a long time.
rachhenderson's review against another edition
4.0
Maurice Hannigan is 84 years old. One night, he sits at a bar and toasts five key people in his life - his older brother, his still born daughter, his sister in law, his son and his wife. The book is broken into seven chapters - an intro, one chapter per "toast", and then a conclusion. I put "toast" in quotation marks, because it's really more a telling of his life story than a toast. Some of the subjects of the toasts actually make only minor appearances in their own toasts.
Running through the whole book is one key story. As a boy, Maurice was employed by rich neighbours as a farm hand and treated poorly. When a valuable item goes missing and he finds it on the ground, he chooses to pocket it, rather than returning it, and that has lasting impacts on the family. The conclusion of this is a little messy, not neatly wrapped up, but maybe that was the point - life isn't neat and tidy with a clear moral or learning.
The ending is predictable and worthy of a trigger warning. But I enjoyed it - interesting and easy to read.
Running through the whole book is one key story. As a boy, Maurice was employed by rich neighbours as a farm hand and treated poorly. When a valuable item goes missing and he finds it on the ground, he chooses to pocket it, rather than returning it, and that has lasting impacts on the family. The conclusion of this is a little messy, not neatly wrapped up, but maybe that was the point - life isn't neat and tidy with a clear moral or learning.
The ending is predictable and worthy of a trigger warning. But I enjoyed it - interesting and easy to read.
audreyk62005's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I just finished the book and I’m still crying. The story of Maurice’s life was written so beautifully and the way it was split was never confusing. Knowing the impact that people had on his life was so incredibly powerful because it has you thinking about the impact you could have on others. The ending pushed it to five stars for me, his voicemail thing to Kevin. Incredible story
adamrbrooks's review against another edition
4.0
Read at another time, I suspect this book would have left me sobbing multiple times. How can the story of a rich life -- including rich in regrets -- not have that effect?
But because I read in snippets at bad times, I didn't get the wallop it deserved. So, my rating reflects how the way I should have felt.
Because it's well-told and integrated and smart and defies convention just enough to make a reader think and pay attention and wonder.
But because I read in snippets at bad times, I didn't get the wallop it deserved. So, my rating reflects how the way I should have felt.
Because it's well-told and integrated and smart and defies convention just enough to make a reader think and pay attention and wonder.
iavladints's review against another edition
5.0
Трогателна книга, която ще ни накара да се замислим за това кое е наистина важно в този живот.
bookladykatie's review against another edition
2.0
hard to follow on audiobook but good premise. Loved the narrator's Irish accent and the idea behind the storyline. struggled to keep up with the plot audibly
margaret21's review against another edition
5.0
Maurice Hanigan, now widowed, and aged 84, sits in a bar and raises a toast, one by one, to the most influential people in his life. We learn about his life, from his spectacularly unsuccessful school career, to his spectacularly successful career as an entrepreneur. We grow to hear about his complicated relationship with the family that first employed him while he was still at school, the Dollards. And his complicated relationship with a unique Edward VIII sovereign, which belonged to the Dollards, and which Maurice - er - found. It has a legacy, and bears a curse. This is an engaging, compassionate man, who's well aware of his failings and of the stereotypes he lives up to. Each toast, each story is a stand-alone which weaves together into a narrative of the life of a man both wily and mean, loving and grudging for whom in the end, I felt a great deal of understanding.