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florenceassetto's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and War
edward_eb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Torture, Police brutality, Dementia, and War
Minor: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder
eons_19's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and War
Moderate: Trafficking
Minor: Sexual violence and Torture
eilidhmacq's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Torture, and War
Moderate: Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Grief
ronanmcd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's almost too much to read. It's affecting my sleep. It's affecting how I'm looking at my surroundings.
I never take stock of prizes, but it's easy to see how this has been winning awards. You are in it. It's inescapable.
It's set in local places, Mount Temple, Joey's school, the promenade in Clontarf. And nothing happens for stretches, but real fear simmers. That's what makes it so powerful. It's believable. It captures so well the boiling frog metaphor. Changes come in and are accepted, however begrudgingly, until it's too late and everything has changed. It's not hard to see this happening around us, particularly as the Overton window has been shunted aside.
There are moments of clarity throughout, that leap from the text. Simon, Eilish's deteriorating father, points out none of this is new. There has always been a wing that will deny truth and facts, until they are irrelevant and unverifiable. Until you believe their lies, but even then truth comes back, as facts cannot be overruled.
And later Eilish's son, Mark, says fear attracts exactly what it is most afraid of.
But then...
We see what brings this migration about, what it's really like to be forced to leave your own place, why we do it, why we try not to. The book's aims are huge.
But it is exceedingly grim.
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
kiwichill's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Excrement, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
nessreadsalot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Mother of 4 Eilis, is the main protagonist in this story and we follow her journey coming to terms with the changes and eventual collapse of society and her struggle to keep her family safe and together.
I found the unconventional writing style a little off putting to start but once I got settled into the story I found it added to the building feeling of claustrophobia and urgency. I really would have liked chapters shorter than 30+ pages though as someone who likes to use chapters as stopping points.
Eilis frustrated me so much at times with her insistence that everything was going to be OK soon but my heart was utterly broken for her by the end.
I can't say that I enjoyed this book because it's not an enjoyable subject. It was a book to be experienced that gives that little nudge to the fear that we are lucky by accident of birth that this is not our current reality.
"the world is always ending over and over again in one place but not another and that the end of the world is always a local event, it comes to your country and visits your town and knocks on the door of your house and becomes to others but some distant warning, a brief report on the news, an echo of events that has passed into folklore,”
Graphic: Child death and Torture
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lianne_rooney's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and War
el90's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Dementia, and Trafficking
geoatrophy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment