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katndrsn's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Lesbophobia
Minor: War and Homophobia
americattt's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
5.0
“If only I had never spotted the torturous loveliness of her. If only I wasn’t afraid to look inside myself, that way I might know better who I am. As it stands, I don’t know whether I might want a boy or another girl, or whether my heart has been spoiled beyond any other love by Susannah. How can I defend myself to Mother when I don’t understand what I’m defending? How is it that when you grow up and get stuck in love, that love is forgotten about? My love now seems to be an aggressive, political thing. It is the ceaseless search for an identity and then committing to that identity. It is a fight to exist in my own home. Is that not exhausting? Is it worth it?”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Abandonment
Moderate: Emotional abuse
kers_tin's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Classism, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
I found this to be a very immersive audiobook and I got very invested in the characters, even though I disagreed with almost every choice the main character made. 10/10shroff_sanjana's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Infidelity
joensign's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Homophobia
Minor: Death of parent and Eating disorder
bookishlittleme's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
That was exactly the book I needed to read right now. I could not put it down and that’s the first time that’s happened in a while! This book was beautifully written and nailed the inner monologue of a teenage girl. It’s hard to like the protagonist, Lucy, at times but you understand her struggle and desperation which is deeply gut wrenching. Glad she didn’t end up with Susannah though! If you liked Normal People you’ll probably also like this and you should read it cause I want a film adaptation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Outing, Abandonment, and Infidelity
Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Cancer
serendipitysbooks's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Sunburn is a beautifully written sapphic coming of age story. Lucy has grown up in a small rural Irish town. Everyone expects her to marry her childhood best friend Martin. However in her teen years she develops an intense relationship with Susannah. As a reader you really want them to be together. Yet Lucy is unsure of herself, her feelings, and what she wants to do with her life. And this is Ireland in the early 1990s so publicly admitting her feelings for Susannah would almost certainly have resulted in ostracism. While I was sometimes frustrated by Lucy I could always understand exactly where she was coming from and why she was making the decisions she did. The real highlight of this novel was the depiction of the relationship between Lucy and Susannah. It was gorgeous, tender, passionate and utterly romantic, especially the letters between the two of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse
abbys's review against another edition
5.0
This is my favourite book. This is the best book I have ever read. I have so many thoughts and feelings and things that I love about this book that I could talk about it forever and ever. And yet I will have to condense it into some short paragraphs or I will never shut up about Sunburn.
I haven't had an experience quite like this when reading a book before, the tidal wave of emotions which I felt throughout this book could completely alter my mood and my personality. When Lucy and Susannah were happy and love I felt bright, when they were in pain my heart hurt and in the end I felt their hope fill my heart and soul.
The writing and storytelling within the pages of Sunburn are unlike anything I have read before, the world of Crossmore, Ireland, which Chloe Michelle Howarth paints completely engulfed me in a warm and soft blanket, taking ahold of me and never letting me go. Howarth's picturesque and poetic language is pleasing to my brain and my heart as well as my eyes, I could read it forever and never get sick of it. She is an author which I know without doubt that will be a instant buy for me whenever her wonderful and precious mind comes up with a new take for me to find myself within. I do not know how she came up with it nor what inspired her to do so but I am so utterly grateful that she did and can only hope that I may too use such powerful, enchanting prose within my own book series to even replicate a slither of what she has conveyed within the pages of her novel.
Lucy, Susannah and Martin, I could write essay after essay about each of their characters and still I would have more to discuss regarding each of them. Although Sunburn is the story of Lucy, the importance and the thoughts of voices in the novel are also portrayed in the presence of Susannah and Martin, the two most valued people in Lucy's life. Rather than an angel and devil on her shoulder, they represent her heart and her soul, the two paths of her life, the parallel universes that can never meet, the stories written in Lucy's memories and within the depths of her aching heart.
Lucy is not a perfect, and at some points annoying, protagonist and I love her for it. The life of a teenager and a young adult is messy, their thoughts and feelings are confusing, their friendships and relationships morph and grow as they themselves grow into an adult. Lucy knows that she will never love anyone like she loves Susannah, that their love is true, pure and holy, and yet she cannot allow herself to experience the joy of it for the fear of what her family and her friends would think. And because she cannot be with Susannah without judgement of those that she loves so dear, that have been with her for so much or all of her life, she must find a way to please them whilst temporarily smothering the pain within her heart. She uses those around her to keep up experiences whilst feeling nothing close to the heaven that she felt with Susannah and constantly reminds herself how cruel it is but that it will pay off when she and Susannah move away and are free to love each other openly and wholeheartedly. I love how Howarth lets Lucy have these complicated and messy feelings and make these choices that we as the readers may disagree with but can also understand and our frustration, no matter how long it may last, is proven worth enduring by the time we reach the last page and the glimmering, golden, warm feeling of hope fills us up with a relieved smile and a warm heart.
Susannah too is complex, although as is commonly stated, she is more sure about herself and comfortable with her feelings than Lucy. She is unflinching and unmoving, yet she is lonely and desperate for her mother's attention. As the novel progresses Susannah repeatedly makes excuses for her mother and father and brothers as it is easier than facing the painful truth, that they left her, even though she was so young, and are the sole cause of her abandonment issues and her sensitivity in regards to her and Lucy. She wants to get away, she wants to be open about her relationship with Lucy. Even if it hurts her, she puts herself first in offering Lucy an ultimatum after her patience runs out and sticks to it. She is admirable. She is vulnerable. I think that we as readers can learn a lot from the person that Susannah is.
Martin is a character that I am undoubtedly certain that many readers will have come across in their lives, however as far as I am I aware, I have never. The childhood friend that you have spent years of your life growing up with, who knows every single detail about yourself, who is a part of you, a reprieve from what is going on around you, a best friend that wants to be that little bit more than such. But Martin is not shameful nor dislikable. He is Lucy's friend first and foremost. And he is until the end. Loyal, kind, intelligent. Blinded by his love. Ignoring the truth until he can no longer and yet still having so much love in his heart. It is refreshing to see a character not react so angrily nor negatively to their partner loving another, even after he reads what Lucy and Susannah have written about him. Martin too makes mistakes, is emotional, is sentimental, is made up of love. He is not perfect and that is okay.
This debut novel of Chloe Michelle Howarth's has brought me to life, ignited a fire of joy and excitement and hope unlike that which I have felt in a while. I feel as though I have discovered myself within these pages, realised my dreams and recognised that it is possible for me to achieve them. I have heard people say that media has saved their lives and have wondered what that must feel like. I have felt understood by media but it has not had that beautiful power of saving me, only allowing me to relate a small part of myself to a character or storyline. I have heard people say that media has saved their lives, and Sunburn has saved mine.
I haven't had an experience quite like this when reading a book before, the tidal wave of emotions which I felt throughout this book could completely alter my mood and my personality. When Lucy and Susannah were happy and love I felt bright, when they were in pain my heart hurt and in the end I felt their hope fill my heart and soul.
The writing and storytelling within the pages of Sunburn are unlike anything I have read before, the world of Crossmore, Ireland, which Chloe Michelle Howarth paints completely engulfed me in a warm and soft blanket, taking ahold of me and never letting me go. Howarth's picturesque and poetic language is pleasing to my brain and my heart as well as my eyes, I could read it forever and never get sick of it. She is an author which I know without doubt that will be a instant buy for me whenever her wonderful and precious mind comes up with a new take for me to find myself within. I do not know how she came up with it nor what inspired her to do so but I am so utterly grateful that she did and can only hope that I may too use such powerful, enchanting prose within my own book series to even replicate a slither of what she has conveyed within the pages of her novel.
Lucy, Susannah and Martin, I could write essay after essay about each of their characters and still I would have more to discuss regarding each of them. Although Sunburn is the story of Lucy, the importance and the thoughts of voices in the novel are also portrayed in the presence of Susannah and Martin, the two most valued people in Lucy's life. Rather than an angel and devil on her shoulder, they represent her heart and her soul, the two paths of her life, the parallel universes that can never meet, the stories written in Lucy's memories and within the depths of her aching heart.
Lucy is not a perfect, and at some points annoying, protagonist and I love her for it. The life of a teenager and a young adult is messy, their thoughts and feelings are confusing, their friendships and relationships morph and grow as they themselves grow into an adult. Lucy knows that she will never love anyone like she loves Susannah, that their love is true, pure and holy, and yet she cannot allow herself to experience the joy of it for the fear of what her family and her friends would think. And because she cannot be with Susannah without judgement of those that she loves so dear, that have been with her for so much or all of her life, she must find a way to please them whilst temporarily smothering the pain within her heart. She uses those around her to keep up experiences whilst feeling nothing close to the heaven that she felt with Susannah and constantly reminds herself how cruel it is but that it will pay off when she and Susannah move away and are free to love each other openly and wholeheartedly. I love how Howarth lets Lucy have these complicated and messy feelings and make these choices that we as the readers may disagree with but can also understand and our frustration, no matter how long it may last, is proven worth enduring by the time we reach the last page and the glimmering, golden, warm feeling of hope fills us up with a relieved smile and a warm heart.
Susannah too is complex, although as is commonly stated, she is more sure about herself and comfortable with her feelings than Lucy. She is unflinching and unmoving, yet she is lonely and desperate for her mother's attention. As the novel progresses Susannah repeatedly makes excuses for her mother and father and brothers as it is easier than facing the painful truth, that they left her, even though she was so young, and are the sole cause of her abandonment issues and her sensitivity in regards to her and Lucy. She wants to get away, she wants to be open about her relationship with Lucy. Even if it hurts her, she puts herself first in offering Lucy an ultimatum after her patience runs out and sticks to it. She is admirable. She is vulnerable. I think that we as readers can learn a lot from the person that Susannah is.
Martin is a character that I am undoubtedly certain that many readers will have come across in their lives, however as far as I am I aware, I have never. The childhood friend that you have spent years of your life growing up with, who knows every single detail about yourself, who is a part of you, a reprieve from what is going on around you, a best friend that wants to be that little bit more than such. But Martin is not shameful nor dislikable. He is Lucy's friend first and foremost. And he is until the end. Loyal, kind, intelligent. Blinded by his love. Ignoring the truth until he can no longer and yet still having so much love in his heart. It is refreshing to see a character not react so angrily nor negatively to their partner loving another, even after he reads what Lucy and Susannah have written about him. Martin too makes mistakes, is emotional, is sentimental, is made up of love. He is not perfect and that is okay.
This debut novel of Chloe Michelle Howarth's has brought me to life, ignited a fire of joy and excitement and hope unlike that which I have felt in a while. I feel as though I have discovered myself within these pages, realised my dreams and recognised that it is possible for me to achieve them. I have heard people say that media has saved their lives and have wondered what that must feel like. I have felt understood by media but it has not had that beautiful power of saving me, only allowing me to relate a small part of myself to a character or storyline. I have heard people say that media has saved their lives, and Sunburn has saved mine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Abandonment
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Death of parent
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