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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Messy characters, messy friendships, and messy families trying to untangle themselves and find happiness. Despite main themes including loss, mental illness, addiction, and dysfunctional families, Louise Nealons writing is charming and darkly funny in the way that Irish authors often are. This book is guilty of paving a somewhat uncomplicated, romanticised path to mental wellness and forgiveness, although it makes up for this in its unique and honest portrayal of the uglier aspects of mental illness and the judgement that comes with showing symptoms. An Irish coming of age story with beautiful language and layered characters. Read! This! Book!
4 stars. This book took me by surprise. The comparisons to Sally Rooney made me wary of reading it but I much preferred this book to Rooney’s spare writing. This book was so full of love and hints of magic. I found the main character to be funny and incredibly relatable especially at this time in my life (going to trinity, living in Ireland, dealing with mental health issues, etc).
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i liked this so much! and am also very annoyed by rooney comparisons - yes, this is a bildungsroman about a young woman beginning her studies at trinity. however i can attest from personal experience that actually shit tonnes of young women go to trinity, and they all have very different stories and different ways of telling them. both the rural setting and the touches of magic realism put this novel in a very different category of irish writing. debbie is a beautifully likeable, complicated, and well rounded character, and reading this was like entering into a cosy dreamworld. yes, i am biased and enjoyed recognising the streets, classes, and types of people who populated my own undergrad experience but fuck it we all deserve to have more than one writer on the literary marketplace telling stories we recognise ourselves in
A coming of age story set in Ireland that follows Debbie leaving her rural dairy farm to attend university in the city. It begins like a common contemporary novel but quickly veers off into something a bit deeper. We see her struggle through the complexities of home life, as well as her friendships and her romantic relationships. Some parts got a little bizarre but I think most scenarios showcased how fragile these characters are. There are clear observations of mental health throughout the book.
52Books2022 Reading Challenge: Set in a rural area
I won an ARC through Goodreads Giveaway
52Books2022 Reading Challenge: Set in a rural area
I won an ARC through Goodreads Giveaway
4.5 stars
initially, i was attracted to louise nealon’s snowflake as it was being compared to both my favourite irish novelists' works, sally rooney and naoise dolan. naturally, being a huge fan of rooney’s works, it had to go into my personal tbr straight away and i was thrilled to have received a copy of this book from definitely books by pansing. despite the endless comparisons between nealon’s debut to these acclaimed irish literary works, snowflake stands on its own with its natural uniqueness that dives into the deeper side of relationships we formed on a daily basis.
debbie is THE main character in this coming-of-age story, and by emphasizing that i truly do mean that she is one of us. we are the main character in our coming-of-age story just as much as she is in this story of hers. i find myself relating to every aspect of debbie’s new life entering college, more so to being in our early twenties era. the way that she thinks of the world felt like my own personal thoughts was being projected onto the paper, like it was calling me out for being just as insufferable as debbie are from time to time. my annotations truly consisted of the words “ouch” and “felt” nearly 99% of the way through and i cherished this experience with my whole heart because as sick as i am, i love nothing more than a book that calls me out on my insufferable behaviour.
as said before, this book dives into the deeper side of relationships and it’s more than just following debbie’s story on being that “different country girl”. we also follow her close-knit relationship with her uncle billy and with her mother, maeve. all of which i find to be so heartwarming and yet so tragic as i dive into their story further. i love how beautifully connected the greek mythology references are to their lives, and even maeve’s infatuation with the philosophical wondering of dreams. recollecting, dissecting, and reliving her dreams almost as if they were prophecies which she and debbie somehow slowly comes to believe as the book progresses. debbie’s rollercoaster of a friendship with xanthe was also very fulfilling to read. i somewhat relate to their friendship so much, especially with my own branches of friendships that i’ve had previously and even now. this book is just charming with its simplicity and that dash of magical realism to it.
speaking of simplicity, i adore nealon’s writing as it is simple and yet it hits you in your heart just in the right spot. it somewhat echoes of rooney’s writing which i find understandable now as to how it’s being heavily compared to rooney’s work but as far as the plot goes, snowflake is an entirely different being from any of rooney’s works. it stands brightfully on its own and it definitely deserves more recognition. louise nealon is a brilliant writer and i cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.
content warning: mentions of suicide, mental health issues, death and more but this is all i have on the top of my head for now. nevertheless, approach with caution!
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”when we fall asleep, we go to a place where words dissolve and become meaningless, like rain dropping into the ocean. as soon as rain hits the ocean it is no longer called rain. as soon as a dreamer enters a dream there is no longer the dreamer. there is only the dream.”
initially, i was attracted to louise nealon’s snowflake as it was being compared to both my favourite irish novelists' works, sally rooney and naoise dolan. naturally, being a huge fan of rooney’s works, it had to go into my personal tbr straight away and i was thrilled to have received a copy of this book from definitely books by pansing. despite the endless comparisons between nealon’s debut to these acclaimed irish literary works, snowflake stands on its own with its natural uniqueness that dives into the deeper side of relationships we formed on a daily basis.
debbie is THE main character in this coming-of-age story, and by emphasizing that i truly do mean that she is one of us. we are the main character in our coming-of-age story just as much as she is in this story of hers. i find myself relating to every aspect of debbie’s new life entering college, more so to being in our early twenties era. the way that she thinks of the world felt like my own personal thoughts was being projected onto the paper, like it was calling me out for being just as insufferable as debbie are from time to time. my annotations truly consisted of the words “ouch” and “felt” nearly 99% of the way through and i cherished this experience with my whole heart because as sick as i am, i love nothing more than a book that calls me out on my insufferable behaviour.
as said before, this book dives into the deeper side of relationships and it’s more than just following debbie’s story on being that “different country girl”. we also follow her close-knit relationship with her uncle billy and with her mother, maeve. all of which i find to be so heartwarming and yet so tragic as i dive into their story further. i love how beautifully connected the greek mythology references are to their lives, and even maeve’s infatuation with the philosophical wondering of dreams. recollecting, dissecting, and reliving her dreams almost as if they were prophecies which she and debbie somehow slowly comes to believe as the book progresses. debbie’s rollercoaster of a friendship with xanthe was also very fulfilling to read. i somewhat relate to their friendship so much, especially with my own branches of friendships that i’ve had previously and even now. this book is just charming with its simplicity and that dash of magical realism to it.
speaking of simplicity, i adore nealon’s writing as it is simple and yet it hits you in your heart just in the right spot. it somewhat echoes of rooney’s writing which i find understandable now as to how it’s being heavily compared to rooney’s work but as far as the plot goes, snowflake is an entirely different being from any of rooney’s works. it stands brightfully on its own and it definitely deserves more recognition. louise nealon is a brilliant writer and i cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.
content warning: mentions of suicide, mental health issues, death and more but this is all i have on the top of my head for now. nevertheless, approach with caution!
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For the generation of ‘Snowflakes’ trying to manoeuvre their way into adulthood. I had to take a break between reading and reviewing this book to put my thoughts into words. I think what it comes down to is, I really enjoyed the witty dialogue and fallible characters, but some storylines felt a little too on the nose for me (though this is probably just personal preference). Nevertheless, it deals with coming of age themes and mental health very poignantly, and also has elements of the culture/class shock when moving to uni (for those with Sally Rooney withdrawal symptoms). All in all, another new Irish novel worthy of its praise.
[TWs: graphic depiction of mental illness, sexual assault, mentions of alcoholism and suicide attempt]
[TWs: graphic depiction of mental illness, sexual assault, mentions of alcoholism and suicide attempt]
Debbie White is eighteen and living on the family dairy farm. Her family life is a little unconventional with her mother Maeve obsessed with dreams and her uncle Billy a heavy drinker. Debbie’s life is about to change though as she is heading off to Trinity College in Dublin. For this country girl student life is daunting and she is soon trying to balance new friends in a big city with a series of issues back home.
Snowflake is an unflinching and moving account of a young woman’s first tentative steps into adulthood and a life beyond her small town and family home. A coming of age novel that is at times melancholy but ultimately hopeful. I loved how the rural Irish setting helped to bring Debbie as a character to life. Watching Debbie become close friends with Xanthe and the awkwardness that is young people as they leave high school and start playing at being adults was quite relatable. I also thought Nealon did a great job at exploring mental health and grief.
I really enjoyed reading Snowflake and my only slight issue was with how the dreams storyline played out right at the end. I just felt that this arc lost a little believability for me. But this was a small issue within an otherwise well written and interesting novel. Looking forward to reading more from Louise Nealon.
Snowflake is an unflinching and moving account of a young woman’s first tentative steps into adulthood and a life beyond her small town and family home. A coming of age novel that is at times melancholy but ultimately hopeful. I loved how the rural Irish setting helped to bring Debbie as a character to life. Watching Debbie become close friends with Xanthe and the awkwardness that is young people as they leave high school and start playing at being adults was quite relatable. I also thought Nealon did a great job at exploring mental health and grief.
I really enjoyed reading Snowflake and my only slight issue was with how the dreams storyline played out right at the end. I just felt that this arc lost a little believability for me. But this was a small issue within an otherwise well written and interesting novel. Looking forward to reading more from Louise Nealon.
i REALLY loved this and i think i'll love it more when i reread it in a couple years from now. i loved the narrative voice and the use of language in this. i loooved the atmosphere and setting invoked & how real and lively everything and everybody was. there's a lot of complexity here, but i think the language used to evoke it is SO! BEAUTIFUL! sometimes, i fear that that makes it sound like it's pretentious but this book just isn't. i think it's so irish & lovely & interested in madness and mental health. this is so well written and it's so propulsive too? i feel like i flew through about 300 pages in the last couple hours. it's so witty and fresh and complicated and full of depth of feeling. so fucking lovely. i wish she had a whole stack of books i could devour bc i would