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ronanmcd's review
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoy McGahern's writing usually. But not so much this. It's a seminal work, but I feel it's one that set the template for what followed. As in his books, nothing much happens other than all of life. It's evocative, a lost time that looks back on other lost times. But ultimately it felt a little flat compared to the rich communities he went on to build in books like That They May Face the Rising Sun.
roisin_prendergast's review against another edition
5.0
Really intimate view into a family home; the ritual of domesticity - the way in which it is at times a saving grace - the threat of sickness and the shadow that looms when it is found out. A simple story full of so much basic human emotion that it lends layers to the darkest depths.
rwalsh04's review
4.0
A simple story of a dying middle aged woman. Sentimental, but also frightening. And it ends with uncomfortable uncertainty.
finbarros_33's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
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