A review by carrioncollector
When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

When We Lost Our Heads is extremely strong in the beginning, when the main characters are children. The descriptions of Montreal are vivid and the children are deliciously psychopathic. Unfortunately I found the rest of the book a slog to get through. The narrative style, which many people really enjoyed, felt like a lot of "telling" and not very much "showing". This is an obvious stylistic choice, but it was one that I wasn't big on. "As if she were" was probably the most commonly used phrase in the book and by the end of it, I couldn't wait to be done! That said, there were a lot of beautifully described moments. I loved the description of
Mary falling through the ice and then having her neck snap at the gallows
. George was also fantastic. I think in addition to the prose not working for me, I kept waiting for some larger commentary on capitalism. Ultimately the commentary that was there felt shallow and very second wave feminist. If you like reading Victorian novels, then I think O'Neill has done an fanstic job replicating the feeling of that style of writing. Personally, it's not something I'm a huge fan of. 
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