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A review by emmabeckman
Eggshells by Caitriona Lally
3.0
I feel like now that I've finished this one, I quite liked the symbolism and exploration of Ireland and Irish culture embedded in this book, but my actual reading experience was just all right. So I'm giving it a middle-of-the-road 3 stars.
I particularly enjoyed the walks around Dublin, as I could picture nearly everywhere she went (many of the locations were of particular importance to where I spent a lot of time during my Dialogue in 2016). I also really liked how the author presented Vivian and her trauma so vividly without explaining explicitly what her actual experience was. Vivian has clearly had a very traumatic life, which is hinted at by stating that her parents thought she was a changeling (and I could see how the significance of this might go right over non-Irish readers' heads--I know I probably do not understand the full connotations of this statement). There are allusions to other trauma, such as time spent in hospital and not crying over parents' deaths and past physical abuse, but not much is stated explicitly. Being stuck in Vivian's head means that she is not required to provide the reader with an explanation, which means that the author has made exceptional use of the first-person voice.
I admire what was done with this book, but I didn't specifically enjoy the reading experience. I had been avoiding reading this book because of the relatively low average rating, but I'm glad I finally did. And I get why it is rated in such a way.
For anyone out there who actually got this far in my review: I wouldn't recommend picking up this book if you need a book to have lots of plot. I WOULD recommend it if you like books where you are fully immersed in the mind of a single character.
I particularly enjoyed the walks around Dublin, as I could picture nearly everywhere she went (many of the locations were of particular importance to where I spent a lot of time during my Dialogue in 2016). I also really liked how the author presented Vivian and her trauma so vividly without explaining explicitly what her actual experience was. Vivian has clearly had a very traumatic life, which is hinted at by stating that her parents thought she was a changeling (and I could see how the significance of this might go right over non-Irish readers' heads--I know I probably do not understand the full connotations of this statement). There are allusions to other trauma, such as time spent in hospital and not crying over parents' deaths and past physical abuse, but not much is stated explicitly. Being stuck in Vivian's head means that she is not required to provide the reader with an explanation, which means that the author has made exceptional use of the first-person voice.
I admire what was done with this book, but I didn't specifically enjoy the reading experience. I had been avoiding reading this book because of the relatively low average rating, but I'm glad I finally did. And I get why it is rated in such a way.
For anyone out there who actually got this far in my review: I wouldn't recommend picking up this book if you need a book to have lots of plot. I WOULD recommend it if you like books where you are fully immersed in the mind of a single character.