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

emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

 It detached me from any kind of inherited moral system. I stopped sizing others up in accordance with the values I had been taught: who was a loser, who was closeted, who was cheating on their wife. I learned the value of context, and of people. 
 
When something good happens to you at that age, you can’t settle with the notion that it’s a one-off. You want it to be the beginning of a tradition. That’s how I felt about that night: I wanted it already to be a memory, a foundational one, a first evening of many similar evenings. I wanted future nostalgia, a rear-view, years-old fondness for something that had literally just happened. 
 
There is a certain personality type that is addicted to the concept of its own intellect. They are the people who insist they saw the twist in the movie coming, who always thought that the divorced couple were unhappy, that the female celebrity seemed crazy.they are also the people who always knew you were gay, and they can’t resist talking about it.  
 
It was easy, now that I understood passion properly, to see why you would move heaven and earth to secure it. 
 
Happiness felt very far away, and like something only the innocent were entitled to. 
 
 
This is ultimately a story about love in all of its forms, including but not limited to romantic and platonic. It’s about wrapping your life around people and how much it hurts to stand on your own and make decisions that will be the best for you but might hurt someone else. It’s also a tender exploration into how scary it is to grow up and to have other people make assumptions about you; plus the idea of punishing yourself so much that anything someone else could say/do wouldn’t really compare. 
 
On a similar note, I appreciated the ideas about how morality isn’t always black and white as well as fault; that there’s a certain grace in realizing people are more than their bad decisions. 
 
Having the storyline set against the Irish financial crisis added layers to the discussion of privilege and class and how the circumstances you’re born into dictate the ease with which you’re able to move through life. 
 
I did get a little confused with the jumping around in time but if you’re interested in no-plot-just-vibes Irish lit fic at all, this is a great read. I always love a book where I’m not quite sure how I’m feeling but then the end really sells it to me. There were times when I was genuinely tearing up (which I was not expecting) because I felt for the characters so much. 
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