RaveIrish Times (IRE)In this intelligent and subtle novel, an atmosphere both eerie and summery is the backdrop for her disturbing psychological undoing ... In her debut, Daisy Lafarge unsettles brilliantly. The writing is crisp and elegant, the sentences both vivid and precise. There is a timelessness, a sort of folk-horror aspect ... That said, the book also feels part of a modern trend for novels on toxic relationships and broken heterosexuality ... Lafarge invokes and plays with the tropes of the Gothic ... Lafarge also seems to draw on the spiralling structure of Jean Rhys’s narratives, in which the narrator becomes increasingly lost to the reader as the novel continues. Objectification seems to result in a metaphorical and psychological process of becoming-object ... Though at first Lafarge leaves Frances’ relationship with AB hazy, she knows just when to deliver the pieces of the jigsaw. The narrator’s instability is complex and well handled ... The possible endings of the book are kept in abeyance throughout, partly through the mainly present-tense narration. Split into three parts, with chapters named for days of the week, an initial crescendo gives way to reflection, and then onwards to a new and disturbing tenor of violence ... With an intelligence lightly worn, this is an immersive, maddening, unsettling read.
Lennie Goodings
RaveThe Irish Times (IRE)... Goodings would become the Publisher at Virago, one of the most influential and renowned presses of the 20th century. A Bite of the Apple tells the history of over 40 years of the publishing house, through its books, its characters, its finances, and its drama. It is part memoir, part history, and part an exploration of feminism, publishing, and the place of literature in affecting social progress ... Not only does [Goodings] recover Virago’s story, but she loops in the narratives of various authors and movements, building up a rich and textured historical fabric ... Bringing us right through to the work of Lola Olufemi, Joanna Bourke and the impact of #MeToo, A Bite of the Apple is an engagingly-written, thoughtful, and fast-paced book that captures the infectious enthusiasm of Virago. Sometimes eccentric, dedicated, with rare holidays and working lunches, this is an inspiring, entertaining and insightful read, full of the energy and fervour of hard-won wisdom.
Michelle Gallen
MixedThe Times (UK)Some of these quirks feel a little overdone, and for a novel that rests on being a character-study of sorts, Big Girl, Small Town’s protagonist is exaggerated. That does not mean Majella is not lovable. In fact, this novel is, at its heart, a charming book — though it would be hard to say it was genuinely comic. The everydayness of the structure can become repetitive, even when that is the intended effect. The real light comes from Gallen’s vibrant description of a \'normal\' town, which is off-kilter and deeply troubled. If the tone is a little uneven and the oddities sometimes forced, there is an easy warmth to Big Girl, Small Town that compensates ... It is difficult to know why she chose not to use the first person: Majella’s voice inflects the narrative heavily, with dialect being used freely and convincingly in the narrative prose. This means there are moments when the language jolts us out...This is nit-picking, but it makes a difference to whether a reader can relax into a book and inhabit it fully ... We feel a queasiness in how Majella is treated — often as someone to be abused, grabbed, exploited — and her bolshie attitude is refreshing. She’s a lovable character, and the reader becomes attached to her as the novel unfolds. She is sharp and distant, warm but no-nonsense. Gallen is not a queasy writer, and there’s a real attentiveness to the body, which is sometimes grotesque and at other times genuinely tender ... The tone is sometimes uneven: for the most part, this is quite a light-hearted book, despite the tragedy that spurs it forward, but there are moments when the prose makes Big Girl, Small Town feel like a YA book, and others where the language is explicit, and seems geared for a brutality that the otherwise comic lightness struggles to accommodate ... This routine-bound book is most effective in its attention to grief, which permeates \'normality\' and rears up at inopportune moments, manifesting strangely. Majella herself is a compelling character, and perhaps a novel told from her point of view, saturated in her mind, might have been more effective ... an easy read, but the protagonist may stay with readers for longer than the novel as a whole.
Marilynne Robinson
PositiveThe Irish Times (IRE)Her plots are simple and the voices of her characters both indelible and compelling ... What is new about Jack is that here Robinson has excavated the story head-on. Whereas in the earlier novels the deeply affecting stories are felt most painfully through Jack’s attempts at reconciliation and his difficult but entrancing waywardness, here Robinson has moved outside the familiar frame of contemporaneity ... In its better moments, Jack is undoubtedly a beautiful book; nevertheless, it requires a fair deal of perseverance.
Claudia Rankine
RaveThe Irish Times (IRE)Claudia Rankine solidifies her position as one of our time’s most incisive, brilliant and necessary intellectuals. We often hear that a book is necessary; but Rankine redefines that term. Just Us is a work that challenges binary thought to such a degree as to break the world (and the reader) open in new ways, allowing space for real, considered transformation ... Rankine is at her most generous, empathic and radical, seeking to open up a dialogue beneath the veneer of easy language ... what is radical about Just Us is the range of Rankine’s empathy, which refuses dismissal in favour of conversation, rooting into the substrata of thought that exists behind everyday racism ... Just Us left this white reader with the sense that I had witnessed the raising of the moral and intellectual standard.
Merlin Sheldrake
RaveThe Irish Times (UK)Entangled Life is both expertly explained and easy to read. In fact, this is a gorgeous, intelligent, utterly absorbing account of fungi ... In what can sometimes feel like an oversaturated market for nature writing, Sheldrake’s book stands apart, and does what all the best books do: it expands our world, and makes us look up from the page with renewed wonder.
Paul Lynch
MixedThe Irish Times (IRE)This is a spare and often precise novel. It attains a certain lyricism that is a testament to Lynch’s restraint and eye for a sharp image. Observing the stasis and sudden event of life on a lost boat, far at sea, it takes on a dreamlike, even hallucinatory quality towards the end, and earns this through the clarity of its vision ... However, Beyond the Sea’s mirroring of the stasis of being stuck at sea—of time blurring and slowing, of long days passing uneventfully—sometimes lags, and the prose itself is not enough to carry the book ... Lynch’s writing is, in places, a little florid. This isn’t always a bad thing (there are times when the language attains a poetic intensity that is unusual and well-earned); however, at times this tendency towards slightly purple prose leads him to make awkward constructions ... What Lynch gives us is a good story, though it is not gripping enough in its plot for the story alone to make it memorable. Its prose is lucid, but is not concerned with depth of thought in a way that would excuse the lack of event. This is not to say that the novel isn’t solid, or that it isn’t enjoyable, but it does mean that the capacity for the narrative to make a lasting impact is unfortunately limited.
Rebecca Solnit
RaveThe Irish Times (IRE)In this new book, Solnit is more concerned with memoir than with argument per se, though this never curtails her expansive, connective vision ... This careful balancing, and this subtle exploration of the mutability of personality, identity, and selfhood, characterises this memoir ... The first two chapters capture beautifully the precarity of youth, and the exhausting but liberating job of creating the self and imagining a future for it ... It is this galvanising prose, coupled with Solnit’s personal experience, that give this book its brightest and most effective moments. Though Recollections of My Non-Existence doesn’t have the same sort of focused exposition we find in Solnit’s other book-length works, its lifelong scope allows for change and development. Offering a deeply-considered exploration of consciousness and the mutability of selfhood, this memoir is generous in the breadth of its ideas, and generative in the clarity of its arguments.
William Gibson
MixedThe Irish Times (IRELAND)This novel’s attempt to depict the present times through the dark mirror of an imagined 2136 is a tough task, when the political situation we find ourselves in is evolving at such a rapid, irrational pace. Perhaps Gibson’s delaying of the novel is a reflection of this climate, and his difficulty in ascertaining enough clarity on it to fix it into a satisfying plot. Whatever the case may be, it is quite difficult to tell what we are supposed to think of his alternative 2017 ... the first half of the novel is slow-going, concerned with exposition, and often confusing. Characters are introduced without introduction; settings, and new technologies, suffer the same fate. We shift quickly between both timelines, without either being fully explained except through hints and asides. In fact, it is not until the second half of the book, when the two timelines begin to intertwine more closely, that the plot of the novel becomes clearer. From here on in, Agency is an enjoyable, even feverish, read, but the opening section is difficult to get through. Gibson’s prose, here as in his other novels, is stylish and to-the-point. His dialogue is sharp, full of contemporary life ... Although the development of the characters is lacking (and there are a few too many to keep track of), Gibson’s world is detailed and convincing ... Regardless, this is an exciting read, and won’t disappoint Gibson’s many fans.
Isabel Allende, Trans. by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson
MixedThe Irish Times (IRE)Though this novel does not have the magical realism of some of Allende’s other work, it retains a romantic sweep ... stacked with historical detail, though it often feels like the research takes prominence, and characters take a back seat in their own story. Often, that means that stereotypes come into play, or the characters themselves become emblematic of certain archetypal figures ... The book is taut with desire, and the practicalities of marriage, births and familial relationships provide an effective network of restrictions against which Allende can explore the tug of lust and love. That said, Allende often succumbs to broad brushstrokes in defining her characters’ sexual relationships, which again become essentially emblematic of societal binaries ... descriptions are carefully done, but all serve the basic traditionalism of the plot, which is quite old-fashioned in its epic, romantic arc and can lapse into dullness ... Allende’s prose style in A Long Petal of the Sea can become tiring, which is disappointing considering the potential of the plot. There is a huge amount of surface detail, both historical and personal, and a reader can only admire the extent to which Allende must have researched some of the scenes here. However, we never fully see through the eyes of the characters, nor is the emotional resonance of the book really drawn out. Rather, Allende moves quickly, filling each page with detail ... Despite the violence of its historical focus, Allende’s book is ultimately optimistic, and dovetails purposefully though implicitly with our current political climate ... the world opened to the reader is rich and varied, though its potential is greater than the emotional voltage it carries.
Bart D. Ehrman
PanThe Irish Times (IRE)Bart D Ehrman’s latest work of popular scholarship is boldly subtitled A History of the Afterlife, but it is a history in only the most rudimentary sense. An unsatisfying read, Heaven and Hell is more of a bulked-up timeline, which evades close historical work and nuanced contextual thought by either dismissing the possibility of such work or wilfully misunderstanding the nature and function of literary texts ... On reading the work, it is hard not to think that its failures can be attributed to laziness – certainly, no book published for a scholarly audience could get away with such looseness or generalisation, and no book for a popular audience should be afforded such slackness. Rather, the lack of evidence of in-depth research which this book conveys, and Ehrman’s willingness to simply relate and explain (in the loosest terms) a series of texts, acts as though the general reading public is incapable of grasping rigorous argument ... If one is to attempt a sweeping, grand narrative encompassing the whole span of the history of the Christian afterlife, one must be prepared to think rigorously, and to put in significant time and thought. Ehrman, on the other hand, publishes his books roughly two years apart, and in this instance does a disservice to the complexity and interest of his subject.
Edoardo Albinati, Trans. by Antony Shugaar
PanThe Irish Times (UK)Though the book does have some interesting things to say on fascism and its endurance, these are buried amongst such a heavy word-load that such insights are practically impenetrable ... There is, principally, something deeply unsettling about the way that Albinati chooses to withhold the central incident of the book as though it is bait or an incentive to continue ... A more ethically-minded book would have put the rape (if it needed to be included at all) at the beginning, avoiding its use as a device to create this sort of narrative suspense ... one finds oneself reluctantly and disturbingly wishing he would get on with it ... leeches its narrative energy from their rape and murder ... There is, to my mind, a deep irony in a book that attempts, over nearly 1,300 pages, to explain masculinity to its reader. This is a profoundly masculine endeavour, and one which I imagine most readers will tire of quickly ... Even if Albinati would defend his character as representative of the toxic masculinity the book seeks to explore, surely we have heard enough from such voices. Any woman or LGBTQ+ person has endured such explanations and provocations on innumerable occasions. We do not need more novels that simulate the experience.
Robert Macfarlane
RaveThe Irish TimesBuilt on an epic scale, and delivered with a beautifully eloquent and sensitive language, this is a book of underground temples, catacombs, the underworld of myth, of root-systems, and submerged rivers ... this is not a stale book of non-fiction: rather, it is an account of adventure, terror, discovery and hope. In fact, this is a plea for the world seen in mythic proportions – it is compulsive, and human ... Combining a wish \'for a language that recognises and advances the animacy of the world\' with an engaged and often humorous vision of the interconnectedness of things, this is a book of deep wisdom and touching humanity.
Ocean Vuong
MixedThe Irish TimesThose readers who are familiar with Vuong’s poetry will recognize in this book the same lyricism, the same skill in turning a beautiful and poignant phrase which renders many of Vuong’s pronouncements timeless, lending them the quality of adages and deeply-earned wisdom ... Occasionally, these lines can verge on being precious, or just on the right side of vague to seem meaningful...reductive or cloying ... This book asks how grief and trauma is transmitted. It also asks profound questions about the inheritance of language, and of silence. In some of the most moving passages, Vuong interplays dark humor and horror ... Vuong has a skilled eye for image, for the connections of theme, for turning his sections poetically by returning to an idea, changing the terms, offering a sort of volta in prose. He has a formidable mind for poignancy, and for telling detail. However, the skill here isn’t always for narrative on the larger scale, and the book is slow, and often samey, as a result. As compelled as a reader might be by the beauty of the language, or the political force and wisdom of Vuong’s insights, this is a novel that loses its voltage through repetition, with many of the better sentences or observations being dulled by the presence of so many similar ones throughout the book ... what it gives in hard-earned and careful thought, it lacks in compelling structure or focus. The committed reader will find much of value, but others may give up before they reach the end.
Jonathan Carr
MixedThe Irish Times[The book\'s] development through characters means that there is little in the way of plot propelling the novel, which takes a chronological approach mirroring the various directions of the city’s progress. At just under 500 pages, many readers might need more to hold their attention. Taking in the stories of immigrants, predominantly from Ireland, Germany and Sweden, Carr gives their accounts in modes that are sometimes successful, but at other points are overblown and stereotyped ... This is an ambitious book, and its prose is often entertaining and very readable. However, its formal aspirations never quite ring true, and sometimes the inhabitation of different voices and genres falls from imitation into parody ... This is an unruly novel: daring and sometimes entertaining, but unfortunately falling short of its own ambition.
Anuradha Roy
RaveThe Irish TimesThe scope of All the Lives We Never Lived is vast but also personal, both in temporal and geographical terms. It manages to retain a closely observed and restrained tone without omitting all of the outside factors that shape a person. Part of the joy of the novel is Myshkin’s narratorial strategy itself, a flowing, somewhat unreliable elegy, which challenges the certitudes of memory, history and nation. As Myshkin reflects, summarising in a way the fluid textures of Roy’s novel, and hinting at the ways in which Roy allows history to unsettle our closely held myths, \'Our memories come to us as images, feelings, glimpses, sometimes fleshed out, sometimes in outline. Time solidifies as well as dissolves.\'
Colm Tóibín
RaveThe Irish Times\"Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know is not a book of new material per se, and the very readability of the essays might perhaps obscure what is innovative and exciting about them ... Tóibín finds the human, the personal connection between father and son, the realignment of family relationships, and in turn rehumanises through context these canonical writers and their works ... These are essays in the best sense of the word: searching, funny, exploratory, generous, with a willingness to reach out and humanise, through frequent acts of empathy, both the major and minor figures of these three families. Throughout them, Tóibín holds the gaze, is watchful and intent and charming, and (as a welcome bonus) tells us more than a little about our own selves along the way.\
Yan Lianke, Trans. by Carlos Rojas
RaveThe Irish TimesPublished originally in 2015, Yan Lianke’s latest novel The Day the Sun Died explores with a strange elegance and dark, masterful experiment these twin themes of night and death, dreams and reality. The book takes place over the course of a single night, beginning at 5pm and ending early the next morning ... This is a brave and unforgettable novel, full of tragic poise and political resonance, masterfully shifting between genres and ways of storytelling, exploring the ways in which history and memory are resurrected, how dark, private desires seep or flood out.\
John Boyne
MixedThe Irish Times\"The way shame runs through the narrative, and the tortuous reading of signs and social cues on Erich’s part, all combine to make a forceful and guilt-ridden tale. Likewise, Boyne’s clear authority on historical detail in this period, put to such effect in his previous novels, shines through, and gives a convincingly-researched air of believability to the story ... As the plot continues, however, Boyne’s conceits start to fall apart, and none of the subsequent sections live up to the scope and detail of the first ... The novel’s title might almost make this seem deliberate: we climb a ladder to the sky, admiring the ascent, but eventually, looking back, we find ourselves further and further from solid ground.\
Sarah Perry
PositiveThe Irish Times\"In Melmoth, the prose is rich, elegant, atmospheric – the sentences carefully made, full of turns and delicate, closely observed detail. Perry can sketch a character in the sort of quick accuracy that is the hallmark of her Victorian model ... The prose is so luscious, in fact, that at times it feels as though it has been worked at the expense of character and plot. Perry’s eye is so sharp, so attuned to detail and so beautiful at phrasing, that sometimes the characters are described vividly, but not always developed ... Above all, Melmoth is a truly human novel, a plea for responsibility, for witness, for the need to avoid abandoning oneself to guilt, to resist being overwhelmed.\
Lisa Halliday
RaveThe Irish TimesThe asymmetries of Halliday’s assured debut, its daring structure placing three distinct sections obliquely alongside each other, might be similarly described, though the experience of Asymmetry is often one of withheld rather than released intensity ... a testament to the great intelligence of this novel, and to Halliday’s trust in the reader, that she allows us to connect the parts for ourselves ... a masterfully written book ... It is difficult to summarise without resorting to dichotomies (it offers one thing, then quickly reverses or questions it), and becomes more fascinating after you’ve finished reading.
