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A review by nessreadsalot
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
In this dystopian story Ireland is falling under a tyrannical government party who draw the country into a civil war.
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,”
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,”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Torture
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail