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A review by dani_sherlock
Firefly Summer (Coronet Books) by Maeve Binchy
4.0
I find this book quite tough to review for the simple reason that the writing and pace were inconsistent.
The first 3/4 of the book were fantastic, Binchy exquisitely captures the ache, longing, malaise and discontent of being teenager. So much so that I could get over the unnecessary details about secondary characcters like Papers Flynn, Marianne Johnson and Sheelah Whelan. The Ryan family are great protagonists and, like all Binchy's main characters, are drawn with complexity and nuance. I liked the O'Neill characters, with the exception of Kerry who is a bit too much of stereotype.
However, the last quarter was slow and I did not enjoy the end of the book. Grace's change in personality was not believable and made me feel let down.. I do not like an ending where everything is neatly explained but I did feel that Micheal, Dara and Grace needed more resolution as characters.
I read Maeve Benchy vociferously as a teenager and her books made me fall in love with Irish literature, so much so that I wrote a thesis on trauma and memory in Irish literature. So my judgement will always clouded by these memories of reading her writing.
The first 3/4 of the book were fantastic, Binchy exquisitely captures the ache, longing, malaise and discontent of being teenager. So much so that I could get over the unnecessary details about secondary characcters like Papers Flynn, Marianne Johnson and Sheelah Whelan. The Ryan family are great protagonists and, like all Binchy's main characters, are drawn with complexity and nuance. I liked the O'Neill characters, with the exception of Kerry who is a bit too much of stereotype.
However, the last quarter was slow and I did not enjoy the end of the book. Grace's change in personality was not believable and made me feel let down.. I do not like an ending where everything is neatly explained but I did feel that Micheal, Dara and Grace needed more resolution as characters.
I read Maeve Benchy vociferously as a teenager and her books made me fall in love with Irish literature, so much so that I wrote a thesis on trauma and memory in Irish literature. So my judgement will always clouded by these memories of reading her writing.