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claudiaslibrarycard's review
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed this story of the aftermath of a murder in post 2008 crash Ireland. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was the same for both male and female characters and without chapter headings to indicate narrator shifts, I was often confused. So I think I'd recommend this in the written format.
erincataldi's review against another edition
3.0
I love reading novels written in dialects and slang not of my own. The Glorious Heresies is set in Ireland and the characters think, speak, and feel in Irish, it is... glorious. Alternating stories slowly become intertwined throughout the book and as the title suggests they're well meaning (mostly) heretics. From the teenage drug dealer to the prostitute to the "off her rocker" old mother who accidentally kills a burgler with a holy relic all characters find themselves questioning the direction of their lives. It's dark, gritty, amusing, witty, and above else impossible to put down. Even when the characters are at their worse the reader somehow finds themselves rooting for them, hoping that these glorious heresies can get their shit figured out.
jewelslemacks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
bookswithb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
ja3m3's review against another edition
4.0
A gritty look at the underbelly of contemporary Dublin. It's all here - drug dealers, prostitution,
murder. There is nothing redeeming about these characters as they claw their way through poverty, bad choices, and uterus roulette, but it made it very interesting reading.
murder. There is nothing redeeming about these characters as they claw their way through poverty, bad choices, and uterus roulette, but it made it very interesting reading.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
5.0
The author of THE GLORIOUS HERESIES, Lisa McInerney, has a bio around the traps that's worded:
"Lisa McInerney is from Galway and is the author of award-winning blog 'Arse End of Ireland'. The Irish Times has called her 'the most talented writer at work in Ireland today'. Her mother remains unimpressed."
Get that tone and there's every chance you're going to love this book.
As the blurb says - "one messy murder affects the lives of five misfits who exist on the fringes of Ireland's post-crash society". It doesn't mention that the murder's not the only messy thing here. These are so many messed up, screwed up, f**ked up people, families, relationships, and ways of life in this book that you're going to need to sit up and pay very close attention.
Which is no trial at all given that this is madness on the page, written with a wonderfully dry, laconic sense of humour that doesn't pull punches. Although it does seem to have a finely tuned ability to pick just when there is the smallest possibility that the reader attention is wavering. So it can throw a couple of those punches and make damn sure that you're focused. Or else.
Needless to say, opponents of swearing, mucky sex, drug dealing, and reality in all it's nastiness should step away. There will be so much here to offend that you'd be hard pressed to tell what would horrify more. For this reader, however, there was so much to love. The style of the writing, the rawness and the brutality of the message, the searing honesty of the revelations and the fast-paced, in your face way of bringing it all together work. In amongst some stellar characterisations. Ryan and his father, each battling their own crusades are equally sympathetic and needing a bloody good talking to. Young Georgie is no prostitute with a heart of gold. She's strong, and whilst she might be a good person at the core - that heart of gold stuff is bullshit when it comes to a young woman trying to survive in a dog-eat-dog world.
And the murderer, and the murder at the core of THE GLORIOUS HERESIES is so apt for this sort of scenario. Life in this post-crash, gangsters rule, society on the edge world can go tits up in oh so many ways, for the victim, the murderer, families, and the people who get dragged into the vortex of stupid. It all makes sense. It's not pretty, it's not necessarily comfortable, it's certainly not cosy and tidy and all neatly concluded so everyone can dust themselves off and trot home for a spot of tea.
Brutal, funny, dark, difficult, discomforting and a hell of a ride, THE GLORIOUS HERESIES (and you just know this has to be said) was utterly glorious.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-glorious-heresies-lisa-mcinerney
"Lisa McInerney is from Galway and is the author of award-winning blog 'Arse End of Ireland'. The Irish Times has called her 'the most talented writer at work in Ireland today'. Her mother remains unimpressed."
Get that tone and there's every chance you're going to love this book.
As the blurb says - "one messy murder affects the lives of five misfits who exist on the fringes of Ireland's post-crash society". It doesn't mention that the murder's not the only messy thing here. These are so many messed up, screwed up, f**ked up people, families, relationships, and ways of life in this book that you're going to need to sit up and pay very close attention.
Which is no trial at all given that this is madness on the page, written with a wonderfully dry, laconic sense of humour that doesn't pull punches. Although it does seem to have a finely tuned ability to pick just when there is the smallest possibility that the reader attention is wavering. So it can throw a couple of those punches and make damn sure that you're focused. Or else.
Needless to say, opponents of swearing, mucky sex, drug dealing, and reality in all it's nastiness should step away. There will be so much here to offend that you'd be hard pressed to tell what would horrify more. For this reader, however, there was so much to love. The style of the writing, the rawness and the brutality of the message, the searing honesty of the revelations and the fast-paced, in your face way of bringing it all together work. In amongst some stellar characterisations. Ryan and his father, each battling their own crusades are equally sympathetic and needing a bloody good talking to. Young Georgie is no prostitute with a heart of gold. She's strong, and whilst she might be a good person at the core - that heart of gold stuff is bullshit when it comes to a young woman trying to survive in a dog-eat-dog world.
And the murderer, and the murder at the core of THE GLORIOUS HERESIES is so apt for this sort of scenario. Life in this post-crash, gangsters rule, society on the edge world can go tits up in oh so many ways, for the victim, the murderer, families, and the people who get dragged into the vortex of stupid. It all makes sense. It's not pretty, it's not necessarily comfortable, it's certainly not cosy and tidy and all neatly concluded so everyone can dust themselves off and trot home for a spot of tea.
Brutal, funny, dark, difficult, discomforting and a hell of a ride, THE GLORIOUS HERESIES (and you just know this has to be said) was utterly glorious.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-glorious-heresies-lisa-mcinerney
isabellaeileen's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Such a clever ending to such a beautifully written and deeply tragic book. I particularly loved of the interconnecting relationships between all the characters and the ever-shifting narrative.
cazinthehat's review against another edition
4.0
The only reason for one star removal is the blatant contemporary references - I just felt they jarred the otherwise brilliant writing. Hilarious and a great story to boot
clare_tan_wenhui's review against another edition
3.0
Strictly speaking a 3.5
This was a tad unlikable book, with all the characters I was largely unable to relate to, some characters being downright disgusting. However, the payoff finally arrived in the final chapter when I understood the larger scheme of things behind the book. Ultimately, this book isn't about the individual characters, it is about the state of that nation itself, how screwed up as a whole it is. And even then, as the protagonist Maureen declares. She has had enough of this mad circle of messed up-ness, and it has to stop, starting with her efforts to fix Ryan Cusack.
This was a tad unlikable book, with all the characters I was largely unable to relate to, some characters being downright disgusting. However, the payoff finally arrived in the final chapter when I understood the larger scheme of things behind the book. Ultimately, this book isn't about the individual characters, it is about the state of that nation itself, how screwed up as a whole it is. And even then, as the protagonist Maureen declares. She has had enough of this mad circle of messed up-ness, and it has to stop, starting with her efforts to fix Ryan Cusack.