Reviews

A Swift Pure Cry takes place in 1984 Ireland, and the time and place are so utterly crucial for the book. Some of the themes are timeless—family troubles, and first love, and uncertainty—but the circumstances change things.

Spoiler

Shell falls pregnant, and there's a significant plotline—one I didn't expect—that would be easily wrapped up today, with DNA testing readily available. Location matters, too; it's not only that it's a small town but that Ireland is so heavily Catholic, and pregnancy scandals mean something different when religion is thrown into the mix.

There's so much going on here, and none of it went the way I'd expected, and that's a good thing—for all that there's a lot, it's done in an understated enough way that even the more dramatic elements don't feel overdone. Also, though it's complete as is, there's a nice sense that many of the other characters have fuller stories worth reading.

jbojkov's review against another edition

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Ok- to be fair, I should say upfront that I did not make it through this book. I'm not sure why- I just did not find it that interesting. I really wanted to like this book. The author has gotten major props for her work and then add to that her untimely death at age 47 from cancer about 5 years ago; it really made me want to enjoy her work. I could not get into it. I liked the story idea, but I have too much to read nowadays to waste it on anything I do not find engaging.

avrilhj's review against another edition

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5.0

A little strange to read a young adult novel set in Ireland in the 1980s in which a Catholic priest and a drunken, grieving father are among the main characters - and yet neither the priest nor the father are responsible for the two illegitimate babies who are born and die in the course of the novel (thought, of course, they are suspected). This book was written in the early 2000s, before the real depths of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and the cover-up of the deaths of illegitimate babies by nuns had been revealed. I wonder whether the same book could be written today, portraying the Catholic Church as a generally benign presence in Ireland. This is a beautiful book, about mourning and death and life and family and coming of age, but all the way through I found it hard to trust that the priest was really the good but troubled young man he was portrayed as. It wasn’t until the last few chapters that I finally relaxed; the context in which I read this book is so far removed from the context in which it was written.

kickpleat's review against another edition

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3.0

A quick and compelling read about 'Shell, a girl coming of age in poverty, with a drunken dad and dealing with the aftermath of being without a mother in Cork, Ireland. 3.5 stars.

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