Scan barcode
emilyfrizz's review
4.0
3.5 - I loved the premise of this book - a protagonist who works as a cleaner while dealing with the disintegration of their own family. The story world and characters felt real, and it brought those communities to life in an honest and unglamorous way. I felt that the pacing and plot was slightly lacking, there's a lot of build up with a slightly underwhelming ending. However, it was a great listen.
feelin_toasty's review
5.0
I was apprehensive when starting this book, because pay day to pay day situations are often glamourised in Australian fiction, but this book defied my expectations. I really enjoyed it (devoured it) a really solid read.
archytas's review
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
I loved the sections of this which featured the daily banter, support and silent solidarity between main character Lily and her cleaning partner-best friend Shannon. I would happily have read an entire book centered around this: O'Reilly gets so right not only the desperate unfairness and stress of poverty, the inevitable downward cycle of it, but she captures the solidarity and love that so many working class women feel for their coworkers, relationships forged out of shared miseries and the ways in which those can feel like the only bonds preventing you from drifting away on the winds. The particular layering of sexism, mothering, mothering-in-sexism, poverty line wages can only be countered with a steady stream of wisecracks, supplemented by shared eye rolling and hugs. O'Reilly also perfectly captures the way so many minimum wage women still invest, often despite themselves, emotional energy in their clients and employers. It is a startingly portrait, and not entirely a depressing one.
However, the rest of the book didn't really work together for me. It felt a little like two different narratives stiched together, with its weakest at the intersection points. The depth of realism in Lily's storyline did not feel as if it carried through to Janks - whose storyline increasingly baffled me. And while I accept that teenagers are in fact confusing, here Lily's daughter's swings seemed more aligned with plot needs than characterisation.
If I'm whinging I'll add my pet hate at the moment is storylines where individuals with a long history of constant opioid use do a single residential treatment and get clean. It's a unicorn (general relapse rates for abstinence inpatient programs are around 80% in 6 months and the 20% are those with shorter and more sporadic histories as a rule). So many people pour their energies and money into these programs, because in books and TV, they always work. Grr)
But a prequel with a Lily and Shannon meet-cute I'd be totally up for.
However, the rest of the book didn't really work together for me. It felt a little like two different narratives stiched together, with its weakest at the intersection points. The depth of realism in Lily's storyline did not feel as if it carried through to Janks - whose storyline increasingly baffled me. And while I accept that teenagers are in fact confusing, here Lily's daughter's swings seemed more aligned with plot needs than characterisation.
If I'm whinging I'll add my pet hate at the moment is storylines where individuals with a long history of constant opioid use do a single residential treatment and get clean. It's a unicorn (general relapse rates for abstinence inpatient programs are around 80% in 6 months and the 20% are those with shorter and more sporadic histories as a rule). So many people pour their energies and money into these programs, because in books and TV, they always work. Grr)
But a prequel with a Lily and Shannon meet-cute I'd be totally up for.
boos_books's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0