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sadhbhprice's review
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Cancer and Miscarriage
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy
maddiep333's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
feralbookwife's review against another edition
3.75
CW: animal death, pregnancy, birth trauma, murder, violence, sexism, mental health, autopsy
Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Car accident, and Colonisation
jesshindes's review against another edition
4.5
The narrator - a version of the author, Doireann Ni Ghriofa - is a young mother, raising three babies, then a fourth. She is fascinated by an 18th-century Irish poem, Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, a lament written by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill after her husband was murdered. The book recounts Ni Ghriofa's relationship with the poem and its author, which is lived alongside and against the repetitive actions and rhythms of caring for her young children: cleaning the house, running the washing machine, feeding the babies. Breastfeeding in particular is another recurrent melody in the music of the book (and it is musical, beautifully written - you can tell that Ni Ghriofa is a poet): the narrator uses it to explore her own impulse toward self-sacrifice.
I really enjoyed this. There's a freedom about its unorthodox form: Ni Ghriofa can move forward through parallels and images without the constraints of traditional plot, although there is certainly an impulsive force that carries the book along. There's also something really effective about how all the sensations of Ni Ghriofa's everyday sit against the historical content of the book. Ni Ghriofa is very interested in the sensory experiences of Eibhlín Dubh's life (sharing a womb with her twin, birthing children, a startling moment in the poem where she drinks her dead husband's blood), and focusing on her own body proves a persuasive way of fleshing out the architectural and archival traces of the past. I also liked that 'A Ghost in the Throat' was so concerned with family life. At first I wondered why this particular poem - which is largely a love poem about a romantic relationship - was Ni Ghriofa's chosen vehicle for exploring her experiences, which felt much more focused on her children - but as the book continues Ni Ghriofa's husband emerges into more centrality and the ending in particular I think does a lot to enrich and complicate some of the issues that Ni Ghriofa has been exploring, and to show how their partnership underpins their family life.
I will also say that reading this book made me realise how much I read aloud in my head to myself, and that when I hit a word I can't pronounce (i.e. most of Irish Gaelic, although I was trying to look things up all the time) my brain just goes "???" instead. But that is VERY much a me problem. In general this was a really likable, thought-provoking book.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Cancer
woweewhoa's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Medical content, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Car accident
aisclaradm's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
lifeinsherds's review against another edition
5.0
Part memoir, part historical fiction, this book stunned me with every chapter. There is not one thing I would have wanted different from this book. And this is the author's prose debut!
Graphic: Grief and Pregnancy
Moderate: Cancer and Child death
Minor: Death, Violence, and Suicide attempt
cereads's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
wrackcity's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Death and Pregnancy