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fernbartree 's review for:
The Colony
by Audrey Magee
Good stuff. I see why it made the list but I m not in awe.
It is carefully constructed, but also repetitive. The murder descriptions didn‘t cut the mustard for me. At first they were kinda without context and were embedded in the story further down the line. It makes sense and all but it is a stark contrast to the subtle nature of the rest of the book. I guess with intention. So this showed that colonialism is tackled through the conflict in Ireland, the troubles. Interesting choice and very much a Irish / British book - a booker book?
Side note the first book Magee acknowledges is co authored by Seamus aka James.
The writing style is nice and effortless I think this describes it rather well. There is not a lot of plot and only two characters that to me felt alive - James and my personal favorite/main character Mairead. The Frenchman and his English counterpart have a backstory but are very two dimensional and again I think this was intentional.
The effortlessness of the writing, the structure (apart from the incident reports) almost make it too streamlined though. Everybody is always drinking tea, catching rabbits and making similar conversation…again I think intentionally so.
Alright I m starting to like it more because everything seems to be there for a reason even the stuff I didn’t like. But even with 3,5 stars I would adjust downwards to three because everyone else is rounding up and I could feel the prestige of the Booker creeping up on my, trying to portray it in a favorable light.
Lastly I have to talk about the covers. The original one in the style of a drawing is brilliant because it just looks beautiful but also has a freshness to it. The water is rough just as the life on the island. The line on the horizon is crisp and clean, sharp even, like the impact of the foreigners - cutting the island in half or at least taking part of it away.
The other one with faceless Mairead applying lipstick, her identity cut in half through the interloping water& island scene feels not as fresh as the other because the cover style is not as unique. It focuses more on Mairead (duh) so more on the personal level than on the historic element of the novel. And since Mairead is Queen this cover is bloody brilliant too. Full stars for the cover.
Cheers!
It is carefully constructed, but also repetitive. The murder descriptions didn‘t cut the mustard for me. At first they were kinda without context and were embedded in the story further down the line. It makes sense and all but it is a stark contrast to the subtle nature of the rest of the book. I guess with intention. So this showed that colonialism is tackled through the conflict in Ireland, the troubles. Interesting choice and very much a Irish / British book - a booker book?
Side note the first book Magee acknowledges is co authored by Seamus aka James.
The writing style is nice and effortless I think this describes it rather well. There is not a lot of plot and only two characters that to me felt alive - James and my personal favorite/main character Mairead. The Frenchman and his English counterpart have a backstory but are very two dimensional and again I think this was intentional.
The effortlessness of the writing, the structure (apart from the incident reports) almost make it too streamlined though. Everybody is always drinking tea, catching rabbits and making similar conversation…again I think intentionally so.
Alright I m starting to like it more because everything seems to be there for a reason even the stuff I didn’t like. But even with 3,5 stars I would adjust downwards to three because everyone else is rounding up and I could feel the prestige of the Booker creeping up on my, trying to portray it in a favorable light.
Lastly I have to talk about the covers. The original one in the style of a drawing is brilliant because it just looks beautiful but also has a freshness to it. The water is rough just as the life on the island. The line on the horizon is crisp and clean, sharp even, like the impact of the foreigners - cutting the island in half or at least taking part of it away.
The other one with faceless Mairead applying lipstick, her identity cut in half through the interloping water& island scene feels not as fresh as the other because the cover style is not as unique. It focuses more on Mairead (duh) so more on the personal level than on the historic element of the novel. And since Mairead is Queen this cover is bloody brilliant too. Full stars for the cover.
Cheers!