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A review by snoakes7001
Almost Love by Louise O'Neill
5.0
Louise O'Neill is starting to specialise in deeply flawed female characters - ones that are hard to like but all too easy to identify with. Almost Love is about Sarah, a young artist and teacher who starts seeing Matthew, a wealthy man 20 years her senior. He is quite clear about what he wants from her, but that doesn't stop Sarah from measuring her self worth by their encounters, validating herself in his desire for her and convincing herself that if only she was better then he would want a proper relationship with her. Her obsession with him is absolute, living only for their clandestine trysts, spending the rest of her days desperate for just a single text from him. Her friends and family worry for her, but slowly Sarah drives them all away.
The narrative documents this dysfunctional and destructive non-relationship in chapters headed Then, intertwined with chapters labelled Now. In the present, Sarah is living with OisÃn and on paper she has everything she wanted - a man who loves and respects her for who she is. But the toxic affair with Matthew has left Sarah with cripplingly low self esteem. She's damaged and, not believing herself worthy to be loved, she lashes out at everyone who cares for her.
It's realistic and raw, drawing the reader right into Sarah's world. She's spiky, intolerant and frequently a total bitch to her friends and family. Her addictive and destructive obsession doesn't excuse that behaviour, but it makes her a fascinating character and the book a compulsive read.
The narrative documents this dysfunctional and destructive non-relationship in chapters headed Then, intertwined with chapters labelled Now. In the present, Sarah is living with OisÃn and on paper she has everything she wanted - a man who loves and respects her for who she is. But the toxic affair with Matthew has left Sarah with cripplingly low self esteem. She's damaged and, not believing herself worthy to be loved, she lashes out at everyone who cares for her.
It's realistic and raw, drawing the reader right into Sarah's world. She's spiky, intolerant and frequently a total bitch to her friends and family. Her addictive and destructive obsession doesn't excuse that behaviour, but it makes her a fascinating character and the book a compulsive read.