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Post by elliej84 on Sept 30, 2017 10:25:19 GMT
It's that time again and I know some of you have a head start on this quarters book choice. So tell me what you think, but remember to use the white out part if you are going to talk about any spoilers. We don't want to be ruining the book for other people. If you don't know how to do this, you should hit the reply button not quick reply. You will then get all the options for changing the font. Once you have written your review, highlight the text and hit the colour wheel. Select the white and this will change the text colour. It will then only show when someone highlights over it. Thanks all and happy reading
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Post by natsplatt on Oct 1, 2017 21:19:04 GMT
So, I finished this earlier this week, a really interesting book!
I really loved the style, I found it unique, interesting and really engaging! I was worried that having loads of different voices that it would get samey and repetitive, and so I really enjoyed the fact that it wasn't the same story from different perspectives, it was one continual narrative, but you shifted voice each chapter, so the entire story flowed beautifully, in individual sections, it was very cleverly done, and so my worries were completely put to rest. I really liked that the voices were all quite different too, and I never felt lost or confused about who I was with, they all were distinct, and the author definitely deserves recognition for getting so many into one book, as it must have taken some work to get that many voices and to still keep the flow of the story! My only complaint is that the ending felt totally rushed, it just felt like the story was warming up to an explosive finale, and then it just ended, there didn't feel to me like there was a definitive ending, it just seemed to stop, and that felt somewhat unsatisfactory to me, and consequently left me wondering if the author just ran out of new voices to speak with, and so just went, oh well, I'm done! I feel a bit sad about that, as it could have been a real contender for my cracker of the month, but instead, I just finished feeling a little short changed, such a shame when it had been so good until that point!
Nat I've whited out, I don't think there are actually any spoilers, but just in case!!
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Post by belletinker on Oct 2, 2017 7:41:25 GMT
I found it an interesting read and totally agree with Nat about the ending I wonder if he plans a sequel to tie up those bits that had no ending?
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peppercricket
Book Assistant
Batley Townswoman's Guild presents the Battle of Pearl Harbour
Posts: 7,073
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Post by peppercricket on Oct 2, 2017 8:36:10 GMT
Pretty much what Nat has said for me too. One of the character's narrative drove me to distraction with the "should of, could of", etc, but apart from that, I enjoyed it, but just as it was getting interesting, it fizzled out.
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Post by geminii on Oct 4, 2017 11:42:19 GMT
I've been thinking long and hard about what my actual feelings were about this book ..
" And to be frank, I still have no idea .. as has already been said, with each chapter being the voice of a different character brought the story alive and at the beginning I was quite happy following along, practising an Irish lilt in my head .. but then, half way through .. Aaaaargh !! Can writers not find a better word ?? I'm no prude, but there are a couple of words that when used will cause me to just close a book and forget the whole thing .. Although I continued, it all went Marmite for me after that .. all the repetitive slang in the second half made it hard going. How many times do we need to read 'wan' ?? The child abduction element was completely unnecessary and the ending was unfulfilling and about 30 pages too short .. What happens to Bobby ??
My conclusion : Lose the abduction and write a decent ending .. "
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Post by janetandjohn on Oct 24, 2017 16:09:50 GMT
Well - here we are then. Done and dusted:
This tale of a failed building firm operating in/near a small Irish town in individual character's voices is interesting; each character has a chapter, and they tell you their part in the story. The downfall affects everyone, especially those left with nothing when the builder does a runner. Yes, there is swearing. Yes, people gossip, and yes there is violence. All of this is real life - has to be expected. I loved (wrong word? perhaps appreciated is a better one?) the telling, chapter by chapter, of a business collapse which led on to a murder, a possible child abduction, and the gossip that small towns seem to thrive on, horrible and untrue though it might be.
The swearing doesn't worry me. Some people do swear a lot. Some use words I don't, but each of these characters had to make the reader feel, and if this is the way the author chooses to show who that character was, so be it. The use of "wan" (for one, as in that one or this one) is common practice in some places so it didn't worry me, in fact my MIH (long gone) was of Irish stock and lived in Glasgow, and used it as an insult about most women she came across including me). I certainly knew I didn't want to live anywhere near most of the characters.
Short number of pages, but it didn't feel like a short book.
I am with Nat on this one, and I certainly thought it a really good first novel.
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Post by mandyj on Oct 24, 2017 16:59:05 GMT
I thought it was brilliant. I read it when it came out and was so impressed. I do think it needs careful reading though. When I'd finished it I read it again writing down who was narrating each chapter and what their relationship to the others was. That helped! I think he captures their voices so well. Now, Mrs Mac, far be it for me to be pedantic.....but I think "wan" means specifically girl or woman.....(I'm in an Irish book group!!) Anyway, I reviewed it at the time so for what it's worth here's what I thought.....
Donal Ryan’s accomplished and deeply moving first novel is a portrait of a small rural community in contemporary south-west Ireland as they confront the repercussions of the financial downturn. The story is narrated in 21 short chapters, each one in the voice of a different character, and it is through these multiple viewpoints that the truth gradually emerges. The plot, such as it is, revolves around a local developer, Pokey Burke, who has fled abroad leaving large debts, an unfinished housing estate, and a crew of angry unpaid workers. All the characters are connected to each other in some way and each is connected to Bobby Mahon, who is the pivotal presence around whom everyone revolves, the “spinning heart” and moral centre of the novel, who gives cohesion to the disparate narratives. Although each character only has a few pages, such is the skill and power of Ryan’s writing that each emerges as a fully-rounded and sympathetic (or at least comprehensible) person. All are wounded in some way as the recession hits their previously thriving community. All are victims of broken promises and shattered dreams, and each has to find a way forward. Bobby’s chapter opens the book and sets the stage, and it is his wife Triona’s generous, loving and clear-sighted account that closes it, and brings some sort of resolution. The language is lyrical and spare, and accurately captures the rhythms and cadences of rural Irish speech. Certain phrases continue to resonate with me. The spinning heart of the title, for example (Donal Ryan remembers seeing one set into a gate as a child) and The Teapot Taliban to describe the gossipmongers who thrive on spreading rumours. I would love to hear an audio version. There is one sub-plot that I found less convincing and possibly unnecessary, and the two characters who are primarily concerned in it are the least successful, but these are minor quibbles. Overall this is a beautifully written and compelling novel, and one that deserves not only reading but also re-reading, when the nuances of plot and character development, and Ryan’s skilful attention to detail become even more impressive.
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Post by pennyt on Oct 25, 2017 7:09:25 GMT
It's just over a year since I read this so it's all a bit hazy now and, since it was just before Mum died, I don't seem to have kept a record of my thoughts at the time. However, I did find a copy in a charity shop the other day and spent a good 10 minutes skimming through it to refresh my memory a bit! [Highlight to read on...] To be honest I think Mrs Mac and Mandy have said it all for me: I too loved the way the story is gradually revealed by the different voices which sustained my interest as reader throughout. As Mandy said, some of the threads of the plot were less credible/convincing than others, but the voices of the characters felt very authentic to me, as did the depiction of a segment of Irish society under huge economic pressure, with all the tensions that creates. Like a fair amount of Irish writing it felt a little bleak at times, but as so often that's what drives the power of the emotions within the book and in the reader's response; and if I remember correctly Ryan relieves the bleakness with a nice dose of wit (even if it's sometimes slightly dark humour).
Overall for me it's one of those short books that punches well above its weight - skilful, spare writing that's a superb example of the "show, don't tell" maxim of good writing. I can understand completely, however, people's comments about the ending being unsatisfactory and feeling rush and incomplete. I don't remember feeling that when I read it: I think I saw the child (Bobby?) as a hapless pawn at the mercy of the reckless impulses of his kidnapper, which in turn I felt might be a sort of metaphor for the way the lives of the adults were shipwrecked by the financial crisis, caused by people miles away playing fairly reckless games. There's no neat ending to the Bobby storyline just as there isn't one for the 2008 crash... But maybe that's reading way too much into things!
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Post by littlereader on Oct 25, 2017 10:21:16 GMT
I read this a month or two ago and thought it was absolutely superb. It's so few pages and yet it does so, so much with the words and characters it has. The authentic tone, the way the stories ran through like a thread, the different personalities, the thoughts on society and life, a brilliant achievement when some books are twice or three times the length and say less. I can't seem to write full reviews lately but wish I'd managed it for this one. I think Mandy and Penny have said a lot of what I thought.
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Post by celia48 on Oct 29, 2017 21:26:11 GMT
I have very mixed feelings about this book. I almost gave up on it more than once but persevered to the end. The story being told by individual characters certainly is an interesting way of telling a story but I found it so depressing. There didn't seem to be a happy person in the community - I know times were tough but there was so much moaning. I don't think I warmed to any of them, even Bobby came across as a wimp at the end. Some parts were more interesting than others and, like some of you, I couldn't see the point of the abduction and I too have an aversion to that much swearing. Have to say, I was glad when it ended even though the ending wasn't very satisfactory. If it had been longer, I would have felt as depressed as most of the characters!
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Post by rosemary3 on Dec 9, 2017 13:28:40 GMT
Finally joining in (soon!) - just picked it up from the library today.
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Post by elliej84 on Dec 9, 2017 18:01:35 GMT
Thank you to everyone who has read this so far, I'm moving on to it tomorrow so I'll soon be able to add my thoughts x
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Post by elliej84 on Dec 12, 2017 7:37:21 GMT
Well this certainly is a marmite book, I really didn't enjoy it. I read it I took the words I understood in and then it slipped from my memory (and I only finished it yesterday).
I just didn't get it, I couldn't connect to the characters because there just wasn't enough of each of them. The slang words meant I didn't know what was being said or had to make up what I thought was said. I did find myself trying to read in an Irish accent to try to understand.
We didn't get enough of the abduction story it was inconsequential and didn't really need to be there, at least the murder got solved, kind of.
The swearing wasn't a problem as I'm quite hardened to it working around a lot of men in my previous jobs, although to be fair most of the women were swearing just as much!
Sorry guys.
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peppercricket
Book Assistant
Batley Townswoman's Guild presents the Battle of Pearl Harbour
Posts: 7,073
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Post by peppercricket on Dec 12, 2017 8:28:13 GMT
Ellie, don't apologise! We can't all like the same things.
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Post by janetandjohn on Dec 12, 2017 9:40:35 GMT
Ellie, don't apologise! We can't all like the same things. Certainly not, Ellie! It wasn't my read of the year either, but I have read several this year that I wouldn't have if not for the circle, and the book club, so horizons have been widened, as they say! elliej84
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