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ez_heath's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol
unfiltered_fiction's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
ameliasbooks's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
This was a bit too repetitive in parts and also a bit too woo-woo for my taste sometimes. I am not talking about folklore or the history of a land here, which I deeply respect. I am only talking about some personal reflections by the author.
The story is mainly about the author's personal trauma caused by The Troubles (and other somehow related incidents in her life), but not to the extent, I expected it to be. It's also about the author's relationship with nature in general, but especially with her home country. It didn't need to be that long for what it was able to say, so it definitely could have done with some better editing.
What I liked most about this book were the reflections on the devastating impact Brexit has on Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the valid fears that come with that.
Some beautiful sentences and reflections in there though, but just not enough for me to fall in love with this book completely.
The story is mainly about the author's personal trauma caused by The Troubles (and other somehow related incidents in her life), but not to the extent, I expected it to be. It's also about the author's relationship with nature in general, but especially with her home country. It didn't need to be that long for what it was able to say, so it definitely could have done with some better editing.
What I liked most about this book were the reflections on the devastating impact Brexit has on Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the valid fears that come with that.
Some beautiful sentences and reflections in there though, but just not enough for me to fall in love with this book completely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Alcohol
monalyisha's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
I feel strongly about this book as a physical object; I think it might be the prettiest book I’ve ever seen, with the gossamer wings of a moth gracing its cover. My feelings about the words inside are more complicated. The author tells of her life growing up in Ireland, specifically in Derry, at the center of the Troubles, in a mixed religion household. Her childhood home is bombed with her inside.
Though she and her family escape, the rest of her life is marked by this trauma and more. Her best friend is senselessly murdered when she’s 16, in a place (not Derry) that she’d just begun to think of as “safe.” She battles alcoholism, depression, and suicidal ideation, as well as physical illness. She struggles to escape abusive relationships with others and with herself.
Though she finds sanctuary in nature (especially in the water, as well as through a connection with winged things), this isn’t an easy book. The story the words tell isn’t an easy one. Neither are the words themselves easy; oftentimes, sentences are fractured, mirroring the brokenness inside. The teller is also unabashedly in love with certain ideas — liminal spaces, in particular (see: title) — and I think the voice of those ideas sometimes overshadows her own, unique voice.
I wish there had been more structure, too - that each chapter had been more like a separate essay. It almost feels as though each page is written like it’s the end of the book, like the language is coming together and everything is wrapping up, continually. But then…it doesn’t. It keeps going. It’s as if she has become so sick of boundaries that her words and her work have none of the typical ones I’ve come to expect. And that’s not wrong. It’s just not easy. Dochartaigh’s deep consciousness of language sometimes reads as affected; when it doesn’t, it dips, soars, and sparkles.
I struggled as a reader at times. But on some level, that feels sort-of right. I’m glad that the author has come to a place where she’s so herself and is no longer afraid if her story makes other people feel unsettled. Even if I was unsure about the particulars of the telling, I was never uninterested or unbothered. I would read more by Kerri ni Dochartaigh - with the foreknowledge that I’d need to be comfortable with moving through her words slowly and with patient attention - which, fittingly, is also what nature asks of us.
Though she and her family escape, the rest of her life is marked by this trauma and more. Her best friend is senselessly murdered when she’s 16, in a place (not Derry) that she’d just begun to think of as “safe.” She battles alcoholism, depression, and suicidal ideation, as well as physical illness. She struggles to escape abusive relationships with others and with herself.
Though she finds sanctuary in nature (especially in the water, as well as through a connection with winged things), this isn’t an easy book. The story the words tell isn’t an easy one. Neither are the words themselves easy; oftentimes, sentences are fractured, mirroring the brokenness inside. The teller is also unabashedly in love with certain ideas — liminal spaces, in particular (see: title) — and I think the voice of those ideas sometimes overshadows her own, unique voice.
I wish there had been more structure, too - that each chapter had been more like a separate essay. It almost feels as though each page is written like it’s the end of the book, like the language is coming together and everything is wrapping up, continually. But then…it doesn’t. It keeps going. It’s as if she has become so sick of boundaries that her words and her work have none of the typical ones I’ve come to expect. And that’s not wrong. It’s just not easy. Dochartaigh’s deep consciousness of language sometimes reads as affected; when it doesn’t, it dips, soars, and sparkles.
I struggled as a reader at times. But on some level, that feels sort-of right. I’m glad that the author has come to a place where she’s so herself and is no longer afraid if her story makes other people feel unsettled. Even if I was unsure about the particulars of the telling, I was never uninterested or unbothered. I would read more by Kerri ni Dochartaigh - with the foreknowledge that I’d need to be comfortable with moving through her words slowly and with patient attention - which, fittingly, is also what nature asks of us.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and War
grace_lola14's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Emotional abuse and Suicide attempt
travelseatsreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
This is one of the more unusual books I've read in a while and probably one I normally would have steered clear of. I generally am not a fan of over elaborate writing or indeed nature writing.
That aside this book captivated me fully. It is one of those books that while not a whole lot is actually happening, so much happens under the surface. Kerri's use of language is something special in itself. Through multiple layers of symbolism she looks at her ever changing aspects of trauma she has experienced over the years. She allows you in so deep into her struggles and how she dealt with them. The good the bad and very often the ugly.
Kerri delves quite deeply into the topics of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, her own mental health issues and experienced trauma and can be a little bit wordy at times. So, it may not be one to read while in a fragile place, but it is a truly beautiful piece of work that is worth putting the effort into.
That aside this book captivated me fully. It is one of those books that while not a whole lot is actually happening, so much happens under the surface. Kerri's use of language is something special in itself. Through multiple layers of symbolism she looks at her ever changing aspects of trauma she has experienced over the years. She allows you in so deep into her struggles and how she dealt with them. The good the bad and very often the ugly.
Kerri delves quite deeply into the topics of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, her own mental health issues and experienced trauma and can be a little bit wordy at times. So, it may not be one to read while in a fragile place, but it is a truly beautiful piece of work that is worth putting the effort into.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Suicide attempt