|
Post by janetandjohn on Sept 5, 2016 21:28:45 GMT
From the twelfth week of her pregnancy, Melody Shee talks to her computer, recording all the things that got her to where she is currently. How the pregnancy came about first of all, as the child is not the child of her husband. And when she tells her husband, we begin to understand that her marriage had already turned messy, and why. We hear her innermost thoughts about the child, it's father, the best friend she lost along the way and the new friend she has made. It's heartbreaking to realise how she needs to punish herself and those around her. But for what? Did she do something so dreadful in her life that makes her so bitter and frightened and angry now? From the back cover we have already been told that the father of the baby is Martin Toppy, a seventeen year old Traveller, and Melody is over thirty. She was teaching him to read and write....... Descriptions of Traveller life may shock if you have no knowledge of their way of life - but those descriptions are necessary to make the reader understand the issues involved. The big surprise is that Donal Ryan is a man. A man, an author who is able to get into the mind of a woman. Colm Toibin can do this too - and it is no surprise that they are both Irish - the people who tell stories so well. I will be looking for more by this author - if he tells his other stories as well as this I need to read them.
[copy of my Amazon Vine review]
|
|
|
Post by pennyt on Sept 6, 2016 6:49:20 GMT
I like the sound of this one, mainly on the strength of your comparison of him to Colm Toibin who you know I love! I shall have to look out for it. Though I have a copy of Ryan's first book, The Spinning Heart, somewhere, still unread...
|
|
|
Post by janetandjohn on Sept 6, 2016 7:45:49 GMT
Penny - will gladly send this to you if you'd like it.... was just going to add it to my swaps. It is short (200 pages), and whilst not in Toibin's class, it is certainly worth the read. pennyt
|
|
|
Post by pennyt on Sept 6, 2016 7:51:51 GMT
Penny - will gladly send this to you if you'd like it.... was just going to add it to my swaps. It is short (200 pages), and whilst not in Toibin's class, it is certainly worth the read. pennyt Well, even though I've not read his first one yet, I can't say no to that offer! Thank you Mrs M - but PLEASE take a look at my swaplist first and see if I can send you something in return.
|
|
|
Post by dramioneforever on Sept 29, 2016 19:53:37 GMT
I have this on request at the library so looking forward to reading it.
|
|
|
Post by mandyj on Sept 30, 2016 16:58:04 GMT
I loved Ryan's first two novels, thought they were excellent, but was disappointed with this one. Not that it was bad particularly but it just didn't have the passion of his earlier books and I can't help wondering whether his publisher had been putting pressure on him to bring out another book. I found the description of the Traveller community quite stereotyped, and I could never really understand why the protagonist seduced the boy in the first place. Didn't like the ending either......
|
|
|
Post by janetandjohn on Sept 30, 2016 17:49:17 GMT
I loved Ryan's first two novels, thought they were excellent, but was disappointed with this one. Not that it was bad particularly but it just didn't have the passion of his earlier books and I can't help wondering whether his publisher had been putting pressure on him to bring out another book. I found the description of the Traveller community quite stereotyped, and I could never really understand why the protagonist seduced the boy in the first place. Didn't like the ending either...... Not read the others so I can't say, Mandy. But (spoiler ahead) I think it was more a spur of the moment joining of two willing participants, rather than a seduction - i.e. a youth ready and willing, and a woman in a bad place with her relationship/marriage just gone, gone, gone. And did you not think it fitting that the child went to it's natural father? Save
|
|