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A review by louise_green
Rules of the Road by Ciara Geraghty
5.0
A beautifully crafted book written with empathy, compassion and sensitivity
This is a beautifully crafted book written with empathy, compassion and sensitivity and a lot of insight focusing around MS and Dementia as a central theme and also focusing on the importance of families, friends and carers and how people cope with different situations. But most importantly it's about friendship.
Terry wants to surprise her friend Iris with a cake for her 58th birthday at the Yoga retreat she was treating herself to, and while she has found herself unexpectedly, left in charge of her elderly father who is a Dementia sufferer, she discovers Iris is missing. After some investigation Terry discovers what Iris is up to and is frantic to get to her friend, and so with her father in tow she finds Iris and the three of them embark on a totally unplanned road trip from Dublin over to Europe which brings them, fun, laughter, and tears and all the while Terry is trying to change her friends mind about her plan and bring her back home to Dublin.
The characters are wonderful in this story and so very real and you fall in love with them very quickly, I found myself relating to Terry in particular as she was slowly learning lots of things about herself she didn't realise, but I was rooting for all of them right to the last page. The rest of the supporting characters are fabulous, I was particularly fascinated with Vera.
The humour in this book was evident almost immediately and was cleverly interspersed using dialogue or with a lot Terry's thoughts. It is a really funny book that kept me hooked from page one, I laughed and cried with them all the way. There is an underlying difficult subject in the book but the author makes it easier to read about than you would expect it to be. I think Ciara has tremendous insight not just around the the sensitive subjects this book is about but also every thing that goes on around us day to day and what people say and the whole book is peppered with examples.
I really enjoyed reading Rules of the Road and I highly recommend it. I have been waiting for a while for one of those books that you just fall for the characters and for me, this is it. Thank you Ciara Geraghty
This is a beautifully crafted book written with empathy, compassion and sensitivity and a lot of insight focusing around MS and Dementia as a central theme and also focusing on the importance of families, friends and carers and how people cope with different situations. But most importantly it's about friendship.
Terry wants to surprise her friend Iris with a cake for her 58th birthday at the Yoga retreat she was treating herself to, and while she has found herself unexpectedly, left in charge of her elderly father who is a Dementia sufferer, she discovers Iris is missing. After some investigation Terry discovers what Iris is up to and is frantic to get to her friend, and so with her father in tow she finds Iris and the three of them embark on a totally unplanned road trip from Dublin over to Europe which brings them, fun, laughter, and tears and all the while Terry is trying to change her friends mind about her plan and bring her back home to Dublin.
The characters are wonderful in this story and so very real and you fall in love with them very quickly, I found myself relating to Terry in particular as she was slowly learning lots of things about herself she didn't realise, but I was rooting for all of them right to the last page. The rest of the supporting characters are fabulous, I was particularly fascinated with Vera.
The humour in this book was evident almost immediately and was cleverly interspersed using dialogue or with a lot Terry's thoughts. It is a really funny book that kept me hooked from page one, I laughed and cried with them all the way. There is an underlying difficult subject in the book but the author makes it easier to read about than you would expect it to be. I think Ciara has tremendous insight not just around the the sensitive subjects this book is about but also every thing that goes on around us day to day and what people say and the whole book is peppered with examples.
I really enjoyed reading Rules of the Road and I highly recommend it. I have been waiting for a while for one of those books that you just fall for the characters and for me, this is it. Thank you Ciara Geraghty