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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
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:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Complicated
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
funny
relaxing
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:
No
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Infidelity
This holds a sublime voice. The type of book you can point to when people go on about “overwriting”, and at any given point in a page show how editing down the prose would absolutely be cutting the legs off of the character work put into the winding, evocative sentences.
The plot is a simple kind of recounting and therefor preservation, of an Ireland long past. One of my favourite sequences is when the town is to be fitted with electricity for the first time and the man set to do the job wanders each dwelling, mumbling about how difficult a job it would be. Ranging from bit of a problem to small miracle. Suppose you’ll be wanting a light in here, of all places!? (The living room). If you wouldn’t mind. Grumble grumble grumble.
It meanders in a coming-of-age way, but also, almost, cradle-to-grave. Marinating in the absolutes of his memory, high highs and low lows. And in all of it is a portrait of the land and people and community well rendered from each simulacrum. There is a bit of a through line, but not something remotely driven by plot. It’s quintessentially Irish in its telling of a life. It’s close to a 5 star read for me, but it doesn’t feel decisive enough in the end to reach that quite a height, for me.
The plot is a simple kind of recounting and therefor preservation, of an Ireland long past. One of my favourite sequences is when the town is to be fitted with electricity for the first time and the man set to do the job wanders each dwelling, mumbling about how difficult a job it would be. Ranging from bit of a problem to small miracle. Suppose you’ll be wanting a light in here, of all places!? (The living room). If you wouldn’t mind. Grumble grumble grumble.
It meanders in a coming-of-age way, but also, almost, cradle-to-grave. Marinating in the absolutes of his memory, high highs and low lows. And in all of it is a portrait of the land and people and community well rendered from each simulacrum. There is a bit of a through line, but not something remotely driven by plot. It’s quintessentially Irish in its telling of a life. It’s close to a 5 star read for me, but it doesn’t feel decisive enough in the end to reach that quite a height, for me.