A review by apmreads
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was pleasantly surprised by The Rachel Incident. It's another sad girl litfic/disaster girl novel with all the things you can expect from those: character-driven, slower paced, nuanced and detailed, all with characters who make questionable decisions. In the end, though, I loved these characters and I loved this story.

The Rachel Incident follows Rachel Murray in her last semester of college in 2010 and then a bit afterward, occasionally jumping to her present-day life. We see her move in with a co-worker from the bookstore she works at, James, who is a closeted gay man. They immediately hit it off, and in his plot to get Rachel to hook up with the English professor she has a crush on, he ends up hooking up with the professor instead. After Rachel graduates, she interns for the professor's wife, who works in publishing, and a myriad of chaos ensues all alongside Rachel trying to figure out life and find stable work during the 2010 economic crisis.

I really related to Rachel in a lot of ways. I felt like the general topics of finding friendship, making any kind of connection, searching for a career, and trying to find a place in the world after college were all very relatable. It made me laugh out loud at times. I loved the overall arc of the story, and the journeys these characters took from start to finish. I enjoyed the writing style and the ways in which the author caught the essence of scene-building with her words. I pictured everything vividly. I felt every emotion. And, unlike some disaster girl novels, I enjoyed watching Rachel grow into a person with merit.
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