A novel about your late 20s as you stare down 30—when do you tire of morning hangovers, days of dead-end entry-level jobs, and late nights at bars? This friend group is about to find out.
For much of the novel, our fierce yet vulnerable protagonists are stuck in a doom loop of partying and comedowns, always on the run from reality. There’s a risk of monotony here, but O’Hare’s writing is bright and energetic, and often very funny ... Chaotic and engaging characters.
The work of a writer with a distinctive sensibility and with gifts and perceptions of her own ... The sort of book that involves you skilfully in the thoughts and feelings of persuasive characters. It bounces along, cracking jokes, scarcely putting a foot wrong, except in the (slightly too sentimental) epilogue. It is enormously impressive and fun. As the marketing department might say: if you like good books, try this.
Insightful and humorous ... It’s a little harder than it should be to keep the characters and their supporting cast straight, and the witty writing works better than the more serious aspects of the story, but these are forgivable flaws in a promising debut. The New Sobriety will have to wait—the party novel is not dead. At least in Ireland.
