Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
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.”
hopeful
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Awesome book, but that first 25% is hard to get your bearings. Worth the push through!
reflective
slow-paced
Convoluted sentence structure that demanded attention. Slow, quiet story. I might have enjoyed it better at a different time-- it rarely matched my mood and was tough to get through.