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jayhall's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
...the song of the prophets is but the same song sung across time, the coming of the sword, the world devoured by fire, the sun gone down into the earth at noon and the world cast in darkness, the fury of some god incarnate in the mouth of the prophet raging at the wickedness that will be cast out of sight, and the prophet sings not of the end of the world but of what has been done and what will be done and what is being done to some but not others, that 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 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...
A masterful and meaningful story that encapsulates the feelings of futility and desperation present in the plights of refugees and migrants the world over, but does so in a way that touches very close to home for Western readers, making the news stories feel as though they could be the life story of a neighbour or colleague, at least to this reader.
The only reason this isn't a 5 for me is the writing style. Lynch foregoes the use of paragraph breaks and punctuation, cultivating rambling, stream-of-consciousness sentences as Eilish jumps from thought to thought. While this effectively conveys the panic and claustrophobia of the narrator to the reader, it made this story slower paced than a feel it could have been, as I often had to re-read and go back to understand what was actually said. I would have preferred something similar that moved the reader along quicker, to really hammer home the panic.
While several plot points were left unresolved,
Overall, an incredible and important novel, fully deserving of the accolades that have come in Paul Lynch's direction!
Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Police brutality, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Blood, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
cibani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Murder, Gaslighting, and War
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
sakisreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Classism, and Deportation