Review by serendipitysbooks - The Coast Road

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serendipitysbooks 's review for:

The Coast Road by Alan Murrin

4.25

emotional 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: Yes

The Coast Road is set in small town County Donegal in 1994, a time when divorce was illegal in Ireland. It tells the interconnected stories of three women and their marriages. Colette had left her husband and moved to Dublin, but following the breakup of her new relationship she returns to town hoping to convince her husband to permit her to have contact with their son. Izzy is married to a local politician, bored and dissatisfied with her life and her husband's frequent absences and controlling nature. Dolores is pregnant with her fourth child and suspects, with good reason, her husband of sleeping with other women. While there is some mention of renewed attempts to legalise divorce, that is not the focus of the book. Rather, Murrin shows the reader the realities of these women's lives, their lack of options, the inherent power imbalances they face. He leaves them to wonder what they would do if they were in the position of Colette or Izzy or Dolores, and to draw their own conclusions about the costs and benfits of divorce, and what the lack of divorce meant for these characters and what it could mean for them. If a certain US political group has its way, lack of divorce could again become a reality for many readers, making this an especially timely read. While all women were flawed, Colette especially, I was able to relate to them all and found myself hoping they'd find a way to build more satisfying lives for themselves. The writing was strong, convincingly depicting both time and place. I was also impressed with the way the women were drawn. They felt believable and real, different from one and other but not mere stereotypes. With one exception, the male characters were not at all sympathetic and were not afforded any real depth or nuance. Since the focus of the book was on the women, this didn't bother me. The plot develops in ways that are far more dramatic than the premise might suggest while never feeling unrealistic or over the top. This book held my attention from beginning to end and continues my lengthy run of success with Irish authors.

Content Warnings