Atmospheric ... Feeney effortlessly combines the overwhelming ebb and flow of life with her boat-building plot ... Feeney’s prose is both careful and relaxed — detailed in its description of place and character and of the effortful human urge to find order in the natural world; casual in its approach to storytelling, the point of view shifting throughout scenes ... In some places, the novel stumbles ... Yet the difficult winter carries the reader into a hopeful spring. Life is random; our connections are as essential and uncontrollable as the tides, the book seems to say. All we can do is learn how to float.
Feeney... creates real, fiercely believable people, the kind you will never want to forget ... It is a privilege to read such a novel, and it richly deserves its place on this year’s Booker longlist.
Perfectly fine ... Why doesn’t Feeney’s second novel...quite take off? Perhaps it’s because the characters all feel reliant on broad single personality traits ... The subplots and side characters are left underdeveloped ... Readers in search of something warm but a bit literary might like it a lot. It’s just that its odd inclusion on the Booker list (I reckon the judges wanted to throw something cuddly in with all the heavy stuff) came at the expense of a lot of better books.
A writer treads a fine line when creating dialogue for a child with learning difficulties and, while Feeney generally avoids cliche, Jamie makes the occasional remark that seems unlikely to come from a boy of his age ... Second novels are notoriously difficult affairs. It takes many years to acquire the skill to produce a debut and, from the third book onwards, confidence allows the writer to take more risks. For that reason, with a few honourable exceptions, second novels often become showcases for a writer’s gifts while disappointing a little on the level of story engagement. How to Build a Boat is a good example of this. It is filled with interesting characters but is occasionally undermined by a narrative that feels a little flimsy and prose that suffers from a lack of boldness. However, there’s enough to admire to make one look forward to Feeney’s next book.
Her writing is strongest when she takes us inside Jamie’s head ... It is to Feeney’s credit that Jamie never fully buys into these notions to sentimental effect. But the tides of the novel carry him elsewhere, towards a reunion of sorts with his mother, and on the way Jamie learns to cede control, for a short while at least, and go with the flow.
Broadly speaking, Feeney’s story aligns with those kinds of rousing cinematic stories...that induce welling eyes and resounding applause. On seat edges, the audience yearns for those underdogs to overcome the odds and win, and they’re gratified and misty-eyed in the third act when they do. Feeney’s titular boat, a handcrafted currach technically, features prominently in the novel’s final pages, and damned if I wasn’t wiping tears and holding back sniffles as the thing floated downriver ... A poet, Feeney’s prose remains dextrous and aptly poetic, especially in representing Jamie’s thoughts ... The author celebrates Jamie. Whether he’s observing behavior, making a joke or being assailed by catastrophic thoughts, the character thrums with life ... Fumbling but continuing to strive to give life’s terminal messiness some shape, Feeney’s trio captivate with their everyday heroism of muddling though; they ask important questions and make do with provisional answers.
...a wonderful book that earned its rightful place on this year's Booker Prize longlist. Feeney doesn't just track her young neurodivergent protagonist's movements, she also takes us into 'the crevasses of his busy brain,' capturing and conveying the thoughts and ideas that are 'fleeting around' in streaming sentences or jaggedly lyrical phrasings.
Simultaneously quiet and riotous and equal parts light and darkness ... Feeney layers in cutting commentary on gender politics, and the dangers that can lurk in conservative single-sex schools. Employing Jamie's unvarnished but occasionally oblivious perspective, Feeney balances direct critique with more subtle implications or questions raised.
Ending with a scene of quiet beauty, like the first beam of sunshine after a rainstorm, that cannot last forever but whose serenity is memorable and relieving, How to Build a Boat is a novel about the pressure that people face to mold to the expectations of others—and the relief of being able to shove that pressure aside.
Touching ... The author has a beautiful, crystal-clear prose style that penetrates to the emotional core of her three main characters, whose hurts and desires are achingly rendered on the way to a quietly triumphant ending. Readers will not soon forget Jamie and his quest to make sense of a confusing world.
