If you're unfamiliar, it's a recent book about a fascist takeover of Ireland, from the perspective of a scientist and wife of a trade unionist, who is one of the first targeted and removed.
The writing was very good. Descriptive and poignant without getting too flowery or moralistic. Part of its notoriety is from its intentional lack of paragraph structure. I did not find this added to the reading. I understand it may contribute to the relentless tone but it forced dialogue to always ping-pong in order to be readable. This caused needless confusion at times, even though some sections were well done and I didn't need to back up and check who's "turn" it was. I don't mind breaking structural rules, I'm a Cormac McCarthy fan, but I didn't think it totally worked here.
The characters were generally quite well done. Eilish made me so mad by her faulty optimism, but it's sadly realistic. I'm a scientist, we're also fallible, and I appreciated her depth, while also being pissed at her not looking three steps ahead. Her creepy ally neighbor and her dementia-ridden dad were also well done and pulled my heartstrings.
Ultimately though, I had to put it down. I got about 70% through. I live in Minneapolis, in the US, and the book simply felt too much like reality.
by forever_erratic
1 Comment
You didnt even finish it? Lol how lame. It was great.