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rkmelcher's review against another edition
3.0
The last third is a bit slow-going, and the ending is rather harsh and unsatisfying. Not to say it needed a happy ending, but it needed something more. A bit of a shame, given the first two-thirds are pretty page-turning, and the book as a whole is unsurprisingly terrifically well-written. A bit of a letdown after The North Water, but still an overall good read.
johndiconsiglio's review against another edition
3.0
Irish detective hunts free-Ireland mastermind through an 1860s Manchester heavy with atmosphere. The book’s enamored with its gray palette—fog-shrouded streets, billowing smokestacks, coal furnaces, tanning pits. The tough-minded prose goes down easy enough & only occasionally sounds like rusty noir. As in his (better) North Water whaling novel, McGuire doesn’t leave a lotta room for women. It’s a mostly masculine world, unrelentingly grim with violence, vengeance &, yes, lotsa rain. Bring an umbrella.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
3.0
My reviews don't seem to show up anymore? Wonder if this is seen? Don't know if it's just me or a bug with GR
jodiesbookishposts's review against another edition
4.0
I was given the audiobook via Netgalley for an honest review.
This is not the usual sort of book I would have picked up normally. If I dabble in historical fiction, it tends to be more ancient or romance based. This book is set in Manchester in the late 1800's and follows the internal workings of the Irish community on both sides of the law - rebels and police.
Our main protagonist is a policeman, brought over from Ireland to work with the Manchester police.
It is dangerous times and political unrest is rife, causing violence. In the aftermath of the hanging of three Irish men who accidentaly killed a cop, an Irish-American comes to take revenge on the police force.
I was really hooked in this story. It had a Peaky Blinders vibe and I think this would suit fans of that show. I found the main character relatible and felt for the awkward position he was in. This book made me want to read more in this style which is a good marker for how much I enjoyed it. The author did a great job at setting the scene of this tense time in Manchester, it was bleak and felt so real.
Highly recommend for people who want to dive into more historical fiction with political undertones, especially on the subject of soverenity and identity.
This is not the usual sort of book I would have picked up normally. If I dabble in historical fiction, it tends to be more ancient or romance based. This book is set in Manchester in the late 1800's and follows the internal workings of the Irish community on both sides of the law - rebels and police.
Our main protagonist is a policeman, brought over from Ireland to work with the Manchester police.
It is dangerous times and political unrest is rife, causing violence. In the aftermath of the hanging of three Irish men who accidentaly killed a cop, an Irish-American comes to take revenge on the police force.
I was really hooked in this story. It had a Peaky Blinders vibe and I think this would suit fans of that show. I found the main character relatible and felt for the awkward position he was in. This book made me want to read more in this style which is a good marker for how much I enjoyed it. The author did a great job at setting the scene of this tense time in Manchester, it was bleak and felt so real.
Highly recommend for people who want to dive into more historical fiction with political undertones, especially on the subject of soverenity and identity.
goldenassam's review against another edition
3.0
It's hard for me to give "The Abstainer" a rating, as it's better written than many novels I have given more than 3 stars. Especially in the first half, I almost couldn't put the book down and felt it was a worthy successor to "The North Water".
That changed from chapter 18 on; after that I often had the feeling of reading a completely different book. This was actually a bit amusing because I had left off with chapter 17 the night before, was extremely befuddled, and had to flip back several times to make sure I hadn't missed something important.
The final chapter 33 feels as if the author added it because he lost a bet - and I find it intriguing to wonder how it made it through the publisher's editing process. Many other reviewers have noted already that the final chapters violate all rules of storytelling, as the main events take place off-screen while long passages are devoted to remarks by English police officers and lawyers. And that much of what is only hinted at would have made a better book than what is actually detailed. It seems as if the author suddenly lost the desire to write and just wanted to get over and done with it. A symptom of this is that the plot is concluded by a nameless character introduced only in the last three chapters.
While reading the last few chapters and then musing, I made an exercise out of considering,
a.) which story elements could have been easily cut without changing the plot
b.) how I would have finished the book myself (to be fair, much more conventional than the author, with a clash in a deserted location, a dramatic dialogue about Irish identity, and gunshots echoing through the Manchester night).
Overall, "The Abstainer" leaves me perplexed: you have to hand it that the ending is bold in its bleakness and that the writing style remains gripping throughout. I will remember it as a spy drama whose author realized in the middle that he really wanted to write something completely different - and as the book that took me the longest to decide whether it deserved 2, 3 or 4 stars.
That changed from chapter 18 on; after that I often had the feeling of reading a completely different book. This was actually a bit amusing because I had left off with chapter 17 the night before, was extremely befuddled, and had to flip back several times to make sure I hadn't missed something important.
Spoiler
From now on character motivations and locations changed rapidly, there were numerous time jumps, and many plot points (such as O’Connor's bold lie about Peter Rice and the axe murder at the end of the book) turned out to be nothing-burgers that added absolutely f***-all to a resolution. Had the book ended after Chapter 32, I would have been mildly disappointed, but would have drawn the semi-satisfying moral from the story that sometimes it can be good to let bygones be bygones and look forward.The final chapter 33 feels as if the author added it because he lost a bet - and I find it intriguing to wonder how it made it through the publisher's editing process. Many other reviewers have noted already that the final chapters violate all rules of storytelling, as the main events take place off-screen while long passages are devoted to remarks by English police officers and lawyers. And that much of what is only hinted at would have made a better book than what is actually detailed. It seems as if the author suddenly lost the desire to write and just wanted to get over and done with it. A symptom of this is that the plot is concluded by a nameless character introduced only in the last three chapters.
While reading the last few chapters and then musing, I made an exercise out of considering,
a.) which story elements could have been easily cut without changing the plot
b.) how I would have finished the book myself (to be fair, much more conventional than the author, with a clash in a deserted location, a dramatic dialogue about Irish identity, and gunshots echoing through the Manchester night).
Overall, "The Abstainer" leaves me perplexed: you have to hand it that the ending is bold in its bleakness and that the writing style remains gripping throughout. I will remember it as a spy drama whose author realized in the middle that he really wanted to write something completely different - and as the book that took me the longest to decide whether it deserved 2, 3 or 4 stars.
abroadwell's review against another edition
4.0
Gripping account of Fenian groups (Irish revolutionaries) in 19th century England. I was very pleasantly surprised by plot shifts and changes of central character. It ended in a way that was very different from what I would have imagined when I began, and I enjoyed the shifts of action between England and America.
louismunozjr's review against another edition
3.0
Rating this 2 stars, though it could be close to a 2.5, "I sort-of liked it." Unfortunately, I couldn't care enough about the two main characters, and I found both of them to make some rather stupid and not very convincing mistakes, especially the detective. Thus, I stopped reading at page 220, more than 2/3s in, because I ultimately decided the book wasn't going to really "pay off" for me, and life is too short with thousands of other books waiting for me. Having said all that, I can see this book being rewarding for many others, and in a different time frame, maybe for me as well.
thomwallacern's review against another edition
4.0
THIS book. I had read a preview for this book around the time it was published in September 2020 (so, you know, like 12 covid-years ago), and the description intrigued me enough that I decided to check it out. Gritty historical British crime-slash-revenge thriller novels appeal to me. Go figure, right?
Reading this was also a bit unplanned yet timely, being that Ian McGuire’s novel THE NORTH WATER was recently adapted into a BBC series. It’s like one of those cognitive bias things where you’ve never heard of something ever and then you hear of it, and then all of a sudden it’s everywhere like it’s been a part of normal life forever? Like when you hear someone call an umbrella a bumbershoot, and you know you’ve never heard that term before. But, all of a sudden, everyone says it like they’ve always said it when you know specifically that they have not.
It’s called Frequency Illusion. I just looked it up. Anyway.
This book fulfilled all the reading challenges for me: The #bpodread2022 category “a revenge”, the bookriot reading journal entry for a book about an immigrant, and OF COURSE the Taylor Swift 1989 Album Reading Challenge for “a book about a feud”. This book had everything.
The novel is set in 1867, months after the hanging of three Irish Nationalists charged and executed for the death of a British police officer. Which, come to find out, was an actual event.
James O’Connor, the only Irish police officer in Manchester UK, is having doubts over the suppression of the Fenians–the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who were fighting for Irish Independence. Also, an actual thing.
Irish-American Stephen Doyle, an American Civil War vet (real war, fictional person), has come to the UK to assist the Fenians in carrying out a terrorist attack. And hijinks ensue. And murder.
The first half of the book was gripping and engaging. Bleak. Lots of intrigue and suspense. The start of the second half, though, was very…how should I say…very EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Like, it wasn’t the best in the trilogy. It kinda dragged a bit. And I get that I will be argued with due to my EMPIRE opinions, but I feel the same way about THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS. That film was literally three hours worth of Hobbits walking. Come at me.
But then, THE ABSTAINER picks back up in the third portion. Just like the returns of both the Jedi and the King. And that ending is not the way I wanted it to end. But it's the way the author needed it to end. And I respect that. But I was upset. I yelled WHAT THE HELL at a book. It was a very interesting subject matter. It did not, though, leave me wanting to read more from the author. Although, I may still watch THE NORTH WATER.
Reading this was also a bit unplanned yet timely, being that Ian McGuire’s novel THE NORTH WATER was recently adapted into a BBC series. It’s like one of those cognitive bias things where you’ve never heard of something ever and then you hear of it, and then all of a sudden it’s everywhere like it’s been a part of normal life forever? Like when you hear someone call an umbrella a bumbershoot, and you know you’ve never heard that term before. But, all of a sudden, everyone says it like they’ve always said it when you know specifically that they have not.
It’s called Frequency Illusion. I just looked it up. Anyway.
This book fulfilled all the reading challenges for me: The #bpodread2022 category “a revenge”, the bookriot reading journal entry for a book about an immigrant, and OF COURSE the Taylor Swift 1989 Album Reading Challenge for “a book about a feud”. This book had everything.
The novel is set in 1867, months after the hanging of three Irish Nationalists charged and executed for the death of a British police officer. Which, come to find out, was an actual event.
James O’Connor, the only Irish police officer in Manchester UK, is having doubts over the suppression of the Fenians–the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who were fighting for Irish Independence. Also, an actual thing.
Irish-American Stephen Doyle, an American Civil War vet (real war, fictional person), has come to the UK to assist the Fenians in carrying out a terrorist attack. And hijinks ensue. And murder.
The first half of the book was gripping and engaging. Bleak. Lots of intrigue and suspense. The start of the second half, though, was very…how should I say…very EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Like, it wasn’t the best in the trilogy. It kinda dragged a bit. And I get that I will be argued with due to my EMPIRE opinions, but I feel the same way about THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS. That film was literally three hours worth of Hobbits walking. Come at me.
But then, THE ABSTAINER picks back up in the third portion. Just like the returns of both the Jedi and the King. And that ending is not the way I wanted it to end. But it's the way the author needed it to end. And I respect that. But I was upset. I yelled WHAT THE HELL at a book. It was a very interesting subject matter. It did not, though, leave me wanting to read more from the author. Although, I may still watch THE NORTH WATER.