Spontaneous-ish read from the 2022 Booker Prize longlist (and okay, at ~100 pages maybe a way to buffer my Goodreads book reading goal for the year) .Spontaneous-ish read from the 2022 Booker Prize longlist (and okay, at ~100 pages maybe a way to buffer my Goodreads book reading goal for the year) ... and a tough call. This is certainly a well-written and intriguing book about some dark subject matter, but the best words I can come up with is to call it are "quaint" and "pleasant." It dances around the mysterious topics of the protagonist's birth parent and scandalous behavior involving the church/organized religion but never quite goes there - but maybe that's the point? I was unaware of this real-life Irish scandal and maybe how Keegan is handling it here is an evocative approach to folks who are quite familiar with the facts, but alas I was not one of those people/readers. And while I do not always have issues with open-ended endings, it was a tad frustrating that this novella ends just when things would get *really* interesting.
Definitely worth the (short) read for the wonderful prose, its sense of place and time, and the educational aspects of it (further explained in an afterword), but don't feel like this would make the cut for the Booker shortlist but also wouldn't have any major quibbles if it does (though maybe not to win it all)....more
I suspect I will always be too old and cranky in a 'get off my lawn!' way for Sally Rooney novels. I only jumped onto the Rooney bandwagon with 'Norma I suspect I will always be too old and cranky in a 'get off my lawn!' way for Sally Rooney novels. I only jumped onto the Rooney bandwagon with 'Normal People' and granted the characters are older in this one (getting up there, at ~30 years old! So yeah, 20+ years my junior), but still it feels like this is going to be an issue with Rooney and me going forward. So while I found myself frustrated and befuddled (is anyone mostly straight anymore? I know, I know some of the them are here) by these quartet of characters and not having a whole lot of lot of empathy for them, I love a good "buzz" book, so I suspect I will keep trying with Rooney. Maybe once she starts writing about 40- or 50-year olds, I'll have that a-ha/"now there you go!" moment -- tho I am guessing not, I have a hunch millennials (and younger) will be different enough middle-agers than my generation.
That said, while I didn't love the book, I didn't hate it either. Rooney is a clearly talented writer and it is easy for me to see how she connects with a broad audience of readers. After reading some heavy material, I was looking for something lighter -- and while there are certainly serious issues going on here, it was still a fun, quick, entertaining, and perfectly harmless read. With the primary character of Alice being a young, successful and often maligned female author, there are some interesting takes and meta moments in regards to the contemporary fiction novel. There were parts of this that were hyper-literary and not terribly believable. LIke who writes emails anymore? Let alone the very philosophical/psuedo-intellectual and very long (and also kind of out of character) emails that Alice and Eileen exchange. But again, I think Rooney knows this and is playing with things. Like a musical where real life almost never bursts out into song, anything goes (well, almost anything) when it comes to "real life" on the written page and that's one of the fun parts of reading.
Going with a unofficial 3.5 stars here. Like this one better than 'Normal People' and do agree there is an increased maturity here (been reading that phrase often in the buzz surrounding this one, which honestly seems pretty condescending/a backhanded compliment) and Rooney does more interesting things here structurally and thematically that engaged me more this time around, but still have to do the official round-down to a Goodreads 3 stars for having "liked it" more than "loved it."
Never did get around to Sally Rooney's debut novel 'Conversations with Friends,' so I took the usual route when stuff like that happens and read the a Never did get around to Sally Rooney's debut novel 'Conversations with Friends,' so I took the usual route when stuff like that happens and read the author's latest book, 'Normal People.' Was curious about what all the Rooney fuss was about other than seemingly being one of the first "it" millennial authors.
While as a 50-ish gay male, I am quite likely not the target market for this book, I really don't think my age/generational gap had anything to do with my it-was-good-not-great/wow/amazing take on this one as I have been charmed by time-jumping, on-off romances like this before - David Nicholl's 'One Day' jumps to mind. Tho I just did a quick look back at my review of that book and see that Nicholls is pretty much my age -- so maybe it does make a difference. If this novel perfectly capture the life and loves of millennials then I fully admit to missing the boat!
While none of us are 'normal people' I just felt like some of the baggage of two protagonist just came out of nowhere or was a big over-manufactured (I won't call anyone snowflakes, ha!). Likewise, I was a bit frustrated with the ending which just seemed a cliffhanger for a sequel (conveniently the book ends in 2015) and if not (and worse), it was just a non-ending... and one that could have been any of the previous chapters if Rooney decided to close up shop there. I am not one that needs tidy knots and bows ending, but just something more than what is here.
While the above may seem harsh, it's really a fine and perfectly harmless novel. I was happy to pick it up, read it pretty quickly... but yeah, no ringing endorsement - but not bad!
This book was impossible for me *not* to love, but along the way I just kept on thinking I can't give this 5 stars. This life (and a bit of pre-life) This book was impossible for me *not* to love, but along the way I just kept on thinking I can't give this 5 stars. This life (and a bit of pre-life) story of Cyril Avery is soooooo chockful of coincidences/serendipity, "shocking twists," sentimentality, and melodrama that my the portion of my heart and brain that's pretty cynical said "Don't even think about it!" So I'll compromise and give it an unofficial 4.5 stars, but since Goodreads doesn't allow it -- I'll just have to round it up to 5 stars for being such an entertaining epic with both memorable characters and snappy dialogue. Funny and heartbreaking -- while it felt like it took me way too long to get through it (and it is indeed quite lengthy -- but I'll place a good amount of blame on real-life interruptions and (bleck!) work), it was always easy to dive right back into and want to know what was going to happen next.
And as a gay man, who may be in the last (or near last) generation of feeling the need to hide/be shameful/feel alone about their sexuality, I could very much relate to Cyril despite his flaws and cringe-worthy mistakes as well as being at least a generation (maybe 2? 1.5?) older than myself. It's also a history of Ireland of sorts and the role it (and the church) played in hindering Cyril's truth, but a personal memory from a trip to Ireland in 2015 was never far from my mind. I was with my then newlywed husband (and my parental in-laws!) and we saw two young men holding hands walking along the River Liffey in a very busy part of Dublin. It something that I will never forget as I had honestly never seen such daring (holding hands, !) same-sex PDA "out in the wild".. never thought it would never happen in my lifetime, but more so the smiles that were exchanged between my husband and in-laws as we realized how far things have come (tho never quite done either). So a lot of "good baggage" that sends this novel into a personal favorite territory....more
I had planned on reading/finishing Anne Enright's The Green Road before a trip to Ireland but it didn't quite happen, so I read most of it prior and t I had planned on reading/finishing Anne Enright's The Green Road before a trip to Ireland but it didn't quite happen, so I read most of it prior and the rest of it on the plane ride home. I am not sure if that 10-day interruption hurt my opinion of the book. While it was good and Enright certainly has quite a bit of talent, I just did not find myself overly engaged with it. I think my initial (and unfair) issue with it was going in, I was expecting it to be novel that took place primarily in Ireland, so I was quite thrown off initially as the novel starts almost of a bunch of short stories centered on each member of the Madigan family, with a few of them totally not related to/taking place in the Ireland.
All the threads come together as the family reunites for a Christmas holiday. But again, I found myself wondering what was the point. There were some nice observations about families and life in general, but it just didn't grab me. And likewise, while there is humor as a whole, I just did not find this bunch very entertaining.
Again, my divided attention may be more the issue than Enright's work. I would certainly give her another try, but this just did not get passed good/alright status for me. ...more
There is no way I can feel I can give Nora Webster a completely honest and accurate review. Thanks to some life interruptions (some good, some not), i There is no way I can feel I can give Nora Webster a completely honest and accurate review. Thanks to some life interruptions (some good, some not), it took me about 5 times as long to read this book than it typically would have. So absolutely no momentum and a lack of focus while reading the vast majority of it.
Having read one Colm Toibin before, it did however confirm my initial impression that he is a wonderful and talented writer. This is one big (huge!) character study, so not very plot-driven -- a novel where nothing really happens, but by the end everything happens (it's called life!). But given my circumstances, it was a slog to get through and I never felt motivated to pick it up. I needed a page-turner and this was not -- but quiet and reflective. Again, I place no fault of Toibon or the book, but a classic case of probably right book at seriously wrong/bad time.
So take my 3 star rating with the proverbial grain of salt. Despite my tough time with it, I can see through the fog that there was some really good stuff in there. ...more
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