Reviews

morvern is an excellent time though I'd have to describe the experience of reading it as something like a 3am tennents waterboarding. I mean that nicely. In truth the novel does run with constant submersions, bathing, dunking, pouring out & pouring in. It's one of my favourite elements everything is liquids slopping about and I think Alan did very well there

on the alan note I feel his 2015 afterword is very revealing, in positive directions. It unpacked her character in a way that respected her agency - I have one or two reservations with him still but I'll leave them at the door. I like that she's the chaos agent and bundles her way through the novel like a meteor saying fuck any sense of structure or foreshadowing since she's doing it her way. She's also one of the most desperately sad characters I've encountered in a good while & that's so emphatically felt yet one knows she can't be scooped up and helped along.

freyaeiou's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

tinybigthings's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

roisin_prendergast's review against another edition

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4.0

I am entranced by Morvern Callar and I feel nauseated - which is always a good sign for me.

erincataldi's review against another edition

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3.0

I don't know how I feel about this or what it was I just read.... This was a difficult read because I'm not Scottish. I don't know Scottish slang or shorthand and had to google phrases every other page (hint: greeting means crying... don't ask me why). The book is written as free flowing thought from the mind of a young twenty something Scottish gal. The book opens up with her finding the body of her boyfriend in her kitchen after he commits suicide. From there the book takes off into a weird spiral. After crying initially she leaves the body for a few days and chain-smokes and drinks her way through town with her best friend. She is the emotionally oddest character I have ever read. Beyond that there is: sex, raves, drugs, drunks, introductions to people with weird names, body disposal, and the horror of working at a shitty supermarket.

If you can handle reading Irvine Walsh (Trainspotting) and Scottish prose then I am sure you will love the book and understand what in the hell is going on. I finished it. It wasn't awful, but I'm still confused. Perhaps the movie adaptation will shed some light on what in the hell is going on. Not for light readers or those easily confused.

vorpalblad's review against another edition

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3.0

While difficult to connect with this disconnected title character it is a novel that sticks with me.

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