A review by jamieastone
Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh

3.0

I struggled with whether to give this 3 or 4 stars--at different points in the book, I could have gone either way. There is a lot to love about this book and a lot that I was interested in--memoir, learning about what it is like to live in Ireland, and nature writing. However, this was very difficult to read because the author experienced so much trauma and violence growing up in Ireland during the Troubles. Much of the memoir is focused on her dealing with that trauma, and it isn't until the very end that there seems to be any kind of redemption for her. I struggled a bit with the timeline--this is not told in chronological order, and sometimes that left me confused and/or wanting more details about the events she shares. I also think that mixing memoir with nature writing felt a bit off at times, and it sometimes left me feeling disjointed and disconnected from the author's story. I feel like I learned a little about Ireland and I'm glad I read this, but in the end the story was so bleak that it was just really hard to read.