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The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
“We all lived in an unwalled city, that was it. I saw lines scored across the map of Ireland; carved all over the globe. Train tracks, roads, shipping channels, a web of human traffic that connected all all nations into one great suffer body.” This is the third novel I’ve read by Emma Donoghue…
1910s, 1918 influenza, 1st pov, 20th century, abuse, Adult, Dublin, Emma Donoghue, f/f, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, HOSPITAL, illness, IRELAND, IRISH AUTHOR, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, mental health, motherhood, netgalley, no quotations marks, Poverty, pregnancy, published in 2020, queer, read in 2020, sapphic, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, The Pull of the Stars, tragedy, trauma, war, war related ptsd, wwi -
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan — book review
“I felt I had hitherto woefully misdirected my energies in attempting to cultivate a personality. If you didn’t have one then that left more room for everyone else’s.” With so many professional reviewers hailing Exciting Times as one of the best debut novels of 2020, praising Naoise Dolan for her wit and her razor-sharp social…
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, cheating, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, Dublin, Exciting Times, existentialism, f/f, female authors, hong kong, Hyped new releases, introspective, IRELAND, IRISH AUTHOR, language, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, millennial, mumblecore, Naoise Dolan, navel gazing, Neurodiversity, published in 2020, queer, read in 2020, reading, REVIEWS, ROMANCE, sapphic, teachers -
Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent
The opening lines of this novel are wonderfully theatrical: “All three of the Drumm brothers were at the funeral, although one of us was in a coffin.” Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent is a gleefully dark novel, filled with mean, selfish, and cruel individuals. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Nugent’s latest…
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 20th century, 3 STARS, addiction, Adult, affairs, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, brothers, Contemporary, domestic thriller, drama, Dublin, family, female authors, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, illness, IRELAND, IRISH AUTHOR, LIZ NUGENT, MELODRAMA, mental health, MYSTERY, netgalley, Our Little Cruelties, psychological, Psychological thriller, published in 2020, read in 2020, REVIEW, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, unreliable narrators -
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Review of Normal People by Sally Rooney ★★✰✰✰ 2 of 5 stars If you believe that characters who dislike themselves, shrug a lot and say “I don’t know” a lot, are very deep and realistic, well this is the perfect read for you. If you are thinking about reading this novel, I suggest you listen…
2 STARS, 2010s, abuse, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, cold tone, coming of age, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, Dublin, IRELAND, IRISH AUTHOR, LITERARY FICTION, navel gazing, no quotations marks, Normal People, published in 2018, read in 2018, ROMANCE, Sally Rooney, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, why the hype, will they won't they -
Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent
I won’t deny that –initially– there is an underlying tension that renders some portions of the story to be gripping. The first opening lines propel us into what promises – and fails – to be an intriguing mystery. My main reservation about this novel is that it switches tones too often: there is an unbalanced…
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Broken Harbor by Tana French
Broken Harbour is a gripping novel that portrays – with much intensity – complex relationships between friends, partners and family members. French, as per usual, pays close attention to the human psychology rather than focusing solely on the ‘crime’ itself. Tense and frayed relationships aside, the story is one peppered with doubt: throughout the investigation,…
luce [is reading] 