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A review by becca_thegrimreader
It Could Never Happen Here by Eithne Shortall
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Small town school, over involved parents, drama, gossip, and a dead body….. have we heard of this before? From the very start this gave off very strong “Big Little Lies” vibes, and to be honest it never really shook them off. Told in a similar style to Liane Moriarty’s novel, we get several different viewpoints on events which leads to a lot of drama.
I think there was too much going on in this book to be able to keep track of everything. From school drama, kidnapped cats, a drunk driving incident, school children sending nudes, to a dead body, it was a bit much. Not only that but there were far too many characters, and a lot of them completely pointless to the plot. As the book continued it became quite hard with the changing narratives to remember what exactly was going on. Possibly it would have worked much better with a small bit of editing down the material (the bizarre kidnapped cats plot could have easily been taken out).
I did enjoy the conversation around sex education in schools, and to be honest would have loved the book to focus a little more on how underdeveloped any sex education programme is in Ireland. It is a topic that is unfortunately taboo, and we see the consequences of that very clearly in the novel. However, it just didn’t go further than glossing over it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atlantic Books, Corvus for the copy of this book. My review is honest and unbiased.
I think there was too much going on in this book to be able to keep track of everything. From school drama, kidnapped cats, a drunk driving incident, school children sending nudes, to a dead body, it was a bit much. Not only that but there were far too many characters, and a lot of them completely pointless to the plot. As the book continued it became quite hard with the changing narratives to remember what exactly was going on. Possibly it would have worked much better with a small bit of editing down the material (the bizarre kidnapped cats plot could have easily been taken out).
I did enjoy the conversation around sex education in schools, and to be honest would have loved the book to focus a little more on how underdeveloped any sex education programme is in Ireland. It is a topic that is unfortunately taboo, and we see the consequences of that very clearly in the novel. However, it just didn’t go further than glossing over it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atlantic Books, Corvus for the copy of this book. My review is honest and unbiased.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, and Car accident
Minor: Pedophilia