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A review by croscot
Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I'm glad I didn't DNF the book at 32%. After skimming through a few negative/neutral reviews, I was about to agree that the narrator was a bit too unreliable for my liking. To say that following the plot was extremely challenging at times would be a colossal understatement.
However, at some point it all just... clicked. The more I was getting to know Tom Kettle, the more I realised that it made total sense for him to unfold the story the way he did. Sure, it was confusing for me as a reader to discern what was real in Tom's story and what wasn't, but then I thought how disorienting and even scary it must have been for him to go through moments like these, where he himself couldn't tell fantasy and reality apart. Tom Kettle is a very complicated character, and I believe no other way of narration would've done him and his story justice.
However, at some point it all just... clicked. The more I was getting to know Tom Kettle, the more I realised that it made total sense for him to unfold the story the way he did. Sure, it was confusing for me as a reader to discern what was real in Tom's story and what wasn't, but then I thought how disorienting and even scary it must have been for him to go through moments like these, where he himself couldn't tell fantasy and reality apart. Tom Kettle is a very complicated character, and I believe no other way of narration would've done him and his story justice.