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A review by thecosylibrary
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book came as a pleasant surprise to me. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I did, as I really only picked it up due to it making the 2024 Women’s Prize Longlist. i had no expectations in my mind of what themes the storyline would take and emotionally invested I would get.
I attend a monthly reading group in Manchester. Yes a ‘reading group’ not a ‘book club’. The members of the group have such a diverse taste in books that it was decided we would all bring our own choice of book, we will discuss each book in turn (no doubt add a few more books to our tbr in the process) and read our books in each others company. This is where I started ‘Soldier Sailor’ and if you ask my co-readers that day within the first chapters the emotions were a rollercoaster. There was discussion of suicide, depression (post-natal specifically) and family roles.
Beginning to read I wondered whether I wished to continue with reading this. Opening with the thoughts of the protagonist about to commit suicide and only being pulled back by hearing the cries of her newly born son was a bit hard for me to take.
I am very happy to say I am glad I persevered. The book reads as a letter to her son telling of how hard she found bringing him up and the emotional labours she went through in order to make him happy. It’s a heartwarming story that left me feeling fuzzy inside, but yearning for more happy stories of the family post book ending,
I attend a monthly reading group in Manchester. Yes a ‘reading group’ not a ‘book club’. The members of the group have such a diverse taste in books that it was decided we would all bring our own choice of book, we will discuss each book in turn (no doubt add a few more books to our tbr in the process) and read our books in each others company. This is where I started ‘Soldier Sailor’ and if you ask my co-readers that day within the first chapters the emotions were a rollercoaster. There was discussion of suicide, depression (post-natal specifically) and family roles.
Beginning to read I wondered whether I wished to continue with reading this. Opening with the thoughts of the protagonist about to commit suicide and only being pulled back by hearing the cries of her newly born son was a bit hard for me to take.
I am very happy to say I am glad I persevered. The book reads as a letter to her son telling of how hard she found bringing him up and the emotional labours she went through in order to make him happy. It’s a heartwarming story that left me feeling fuzzy inside, but yearning for more happy stories of the family post book ending,
If I had seen this in a book shop and read the blurb I know I definitely wouldn’t have picked it up. This is why I love going through book longlists and finding books I wouldn’t normally pick up.
I couldn’t recommend this enough and you truly learn so much about what others are going through when you can’t physically see it.
I couldn’t recommend this enough and you truly learn so much about what others are going through when you can’t physically see it.
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