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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Just lovely and atmospheric, you really felt like you were in this small town. Rang true to adolescence too.
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is Happiness by Niall Williams is like sitting with an old Irish man while he goes on and on and on telling you about one particular summer when he was a young man and lived with his grandparents in the small town of Faha. that summer the rain had stopped and electricity came to town.
it took me almost a month to get through this book, it's very slow paced. our main character Noel would start in one place and then go off telling all sorts of little stories within the larger story, the way a person sometimes does when telling a story in real life. I'm not sure if it was this narrative style that didn't fully work for me or if it was the story itself.
I read the physical book along side the audiobook. the audiobook was very good, it really made you feel like you were sitting there with Noel as he told you all about that one summer.
it took me almost a month to get through this book, it's very slow paced. our main character Noel would start in one place and then go off telling all sorts of little stories within the larger story, the way a person sometimes does when telling a story in real life. I'm not sure if it was this narrative style that didn't fully work for me or if it was the story itself.
I read the physical book along side the audiobook. the audiobook was very good, it really made you feel like you were sitting there with Noel as he told you all about that one summer.
nothing in the story held me and made me want to continue. DNF
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Set during the author's 17th year in 50s rural Ireland and the coming of electricity. It's about not taking life for granted, ultimately, and lost love, and first love. It's a gentle book.
reflective
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
This is a novel for a very particular mood.
Takes a very patient approach to reveal its characters and their nature. And that is slowed further by a sentence structure that follows the speech patterns of older, rural Ireland. The author is in no rush to progress his story but that seems to be the point. This is a story told by an older, wiser man who is deliberately trying to slow down the racing and urgent instincts of his youth (and the modern world) by retrospection.
Placing the story at such a mundane but era-defining event as the introduction of electricity to a small rural village presents some really interesting ideas. It's not something that gets talked about but electrification was a seismic event. The author makes some beautiful observations in terms of how locals lives that were largely unchanged for centuries, overnight are rendered almost unrecognisable.
I found it a comforting, nostalgic read with enough thought-provoking observations to raise it above "just" a comfort read. But I can't lie and say there weren't times when I was flicking ahead to see how many more pages before the chapter/book ended. This finished strong but much of it is very slow paced.
Takes a very patient approach to reveal its characters and their nature. And that is slowed further by a sentence structure that follows the speech patterns of older, rural Ireland. The author is in no rush to progress his story but that seems to be the point. This is a story told by an older, wiser man who is deliberately trying to slow down the racing and urgent instincts of his youth (and the modern world) by retrospection.
Placing the story at such a mundane but era-defining event as the introduction of electricity to a small rural village presents some really interesting ideas. It's not something that gets talked about but electrification was a seismic event. The author makes some beautiful observations in terms of how locals lives that were largely unchanged for centuries, overnight are rendered almost unrecognisable.
I found it a comforting, nostalgic read with enough thought-provoking observations to raise it above "just" a comfort read. But I can't lie and say there weren't times when I was flicking ahead to see how many more pages before the chapter/book ended. This finished strong but much of it is very slow paced.
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
funny
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
This was so lovely and sad and stunningly written and genuinely hilarious.
“By the grace of new chapters, it was morning.”
“By the grace of new chapters, it was morning.”