adamtjeerdsma 's review for:

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
5.0
adventurous dark emotional hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
I loved this book. The writing style through me off at first but it really worked to help get into Eilish's head. Everything was essentially a stream of consciousness but it was still easy to decipher what was going on the whole time.

(Light spoilers below)

This story did a great job of getting inside someone's head when they live in an increasingly authoritarian government
and later a peaceful town transitioning into a warzone.
You understand Eilish's rationale for every decision she makes even when you, as an outsider looking in, don't agree, you still understand.

Pulling from one of the last pages (pg. 302 in my edition), I think Mona really sums up the thoughts and feelings of Eilish (and yes, this is all one sentence):

"We were offered visas, you know, to Australia, and return them down, my husband said no, plan and simple, he said it was impossible to go at the time and I suppose he was right, and how could he have known anyhow, how could any of us have known what was going to happen, I suppose other people seem to know, but I never understood how they were so certain, what I mean is, you can never have imagined it, not in a million years, all that was to happen, and I could never understand those that left, how they could just leave like that, leave everything behind, all that life, all that living, it was absolutely impossible for us to do so at the time and the more I look at it the more it seems there was nothing we can do anyhow, what I mean is there was never any real room for action, that time with the visas, how were we supposed to go when we had so many commitments, so many responsibilities, everything has got worse there was just no room for maneuver, I think what I'm trying to say is that I used to believe in free will, if you had asked me before all this I would have told you I was as free as a bird, but now I'm not so sure, now, I don't see how free will is possible when you are cut up within such a monstrosity, one thing leads to another thing until the damn thing has its own momentum and there is nothing you can do, I can see now that what I thought of as freedom was really just struggle and that there was no freedom all along, but look, she says, taking Ben by the hand and dancing him, we are here now aren't we in so many other people are gone, we're the lucky ones seeking a better life, there is only looking forward now, isn't that right, perhaps there's a little freedom to be found and that thought because at least you can make the future your own in your thoughts and if we keep looking back we will die in a way and there is still some living to be done..."
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