Tag: Irish Book

Intermezzo – book review

Intermezzo, by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney gives us here an almost perfect story. Five main characters, interlinked, each well rounded and complicated with their own goals and challenges, a set up which could go one of many ways, some deep subplots and an ending all tied up. Sounds a bit contrived, perhaps? There is nothing very experimental, no sweeping poetical passages, nothing clever. No ramping up the heartbeat with triggers and button pushing. It’s just a story of five people. And with that simplicity, it is exceptionally good.

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Long Island – book review

Long Island, by Colm Tóibín

I didn’t read Tóibín’s Brooklyn before picking up Long Island which was a mistake, because apparently it helps a lot if you already know the characters, and people say Brooklyn is great. So there you go, don’t jump into Long Island unprepped, or you might, like me, find the story missing background depth. Like why did a woman like Eilis marry Tony (and his entire wrap-around Italian/American family) in the first place? And why was she so resigned when a stranger tells her that Tony-the-plumber had plumbed his wife, and he intended to deliver the baby to him when it was born? Interesting premise to begin a book, but what then?

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Grand – book review

Grand, becoming my mother’s daughter by Noelle McCarthy

Memoirs are so deeply personal they make me terrified. I can’t imagine ever wanting to write one. Now I know so much about Noelle McCarthy she’s no longer just that engaging, Irish voice on the radio. We’re so much closer than that. Things got personal very fast. I feel I’ve seen her naked. Why do people do this?

Saying that, it’s terrific for a reader. Who doesn’t want to wander through someone else’s thoughts for a while? Especially someone this smart and interesting. We can access their memories, become a voyeur of their lives. Judge them. A memoir is very different to a story (fact or fiction) told about someone else; psychologically a totally different thing. Noelle (usually I refer to an author by surname, but we’re intimates) tells us how she sees herself, with access to all that interior landscape. OK, so the book is ostensibly about her mother, but it’s about her. Noelle McCarthy. What a great woman.

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