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A review by jacki_f
Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon
4.0
This is a book about grief. And marriage, and the parts of you that you sacrifice to make it work. It's about how life can change in an instant. It's about learning to move forwards after you've been derailed.
David lost his wife Mary Rose around 18 months ago. They used to go to the Costa Brava every summer and so he has travelled there again this year, but this has stirred up memories. As he tells us about their marriage he and (we realise) that while it was a good marriage, it was also a flawed one.
Kathleen MacMahon's writing is descriptive and real and often I felt myself nodding in recognition at her observations. At the halfway point I was convinced that it was a book without a plot and I was getting irritated by the way every little thing sent David down memory lane. But towards the end I realised how things tied back in and that there was a payoff for coming to understand David's back story so well. The ending was both moving and satisfying.
David lost his wife Mary Rose around 18 months ago. They used to go to the Costa Brava every summer and so he has travelled there again this year, but this has stirred up memories. As he tells us about their marriage he and (we realise) that while it was a good marriage, it was also a flawed one.
Kathleen MacMahon's writing is descriptive and real and often I felt myself nodding in recognition at her observations. At the halfway point I was convinced that it was a book without a plot and I was getting irritated by the way every little thing sent David down memory lane. But towards the end I realised how things tied back in and that there was a payoff for coming to understand David's back story so well. The ending was both moving and satisfying.