Welcome to Litsy!

Wow! I am just in awe of Donal Ryan's ear for voice! Melody is a bitch, frankly, but DR did such a good job of getting inside her head (her loneliness, and the punishment-by-proxy she inflicts on her husband for an awful thing she did as a teenager) that it was impossible to hate her, even if I couldn't like her.
And, oh my word, can he turn a sentence!

#Pregnant #SeptemberDanes @Cinfhen @Kalalalatja

Saturday night reading.

I have to say that the writing in this book is truly excellent and brilliant. The fact that a male author can achieve the believability of writing in a stream of consciousness style from the view of a pregnant woman is extremely impressive. However, this was just bleak and fell flat for me. And in a lot of ways, I just had a hard time following the story. It was good, just not great for me.

Didn‘t finish it. Set in a poor town in Ireland with “Travellers” as some of the characters, who I take to be gypsies(are they Roma if in Ireland?) I did jump to the ending and it is shocking.

I read several books with Irish content in March to get myself in the mood for my upcoming trip—and I‘m currently in the boarding lounge for my Dublin flight, so now I‘m REALLY in the mood! The four books span a genre spectrum: a children‘s picture book in verse about medieval monks illuminating manuscripts; nonfiction about Irish Travellers; a memoir by novelist O‘Farrell; & a contemporary novel by Donal Ryan (a 5-star read).

Colloquial language & intense, lyrical prose in the voice of Melody Shee grabbed me from the start. She is caustic & strident—not a sympathetic character—& I was riveted by her emotional transformation as the chapters progressed week by week through her pregnancy, from suicidal despair to grace. Acrimonious relationships, violence & feuding had me thinking about why humans are so mean to each other. Betrayal, penance & redemption. #Ireland

Members of an Irish minority group called Travellers (also pejoratively called Tinkers and Knackers) are characters in Ryan‘s novel. I thought they were Romani people, but they are not, so I‘m currently reading a book about them to learn more.

And Mary stopped walking and said, Go way, will ye, and leave me be. I‘m only going for a look to see who‘s there and I‘ll be back in a little while. Go on, she said, louder now, I‘m grand now, I‘m the finest evermore.
(Internet photo)

I had to look up the Irish usage of “messages” in this novel. I will be in Ireland next month, so it‘s good to learn a few expressions beforehand. 🍀😊

I was only an excuse to be fighting. Buzzy had a great heart underneath.
Underneath what? I asked her.
You know. All the oul shaping men must do. All the oul walking around like peacocks.

(Internet photo)

They footed turf together in Cloughjordan bog & bagged it & drew it home on a borrowed trailer & divided it equally between our houses. They each agreed with everything the other said on hurling, & cars, & politics, & which fella was stone useless & which fella would be the saving of us all, & it was sometimes hard to figure out what they were talking about, but they always seemed relaxed together, & words flowed back & forth between them easily.

[Opening paragraph]:
Martin Toppy is the son of a famous Traveller and the father of my unborn child. He‘s 17, I‘m 33. I was his teacher. I‘d have killed myself by now if I was brave enough. I don‘t think it would hurt the baby. His little heart would stop with mine. He wouldn‘t feel himself leaving one world of darkness for another, his spirit untangling itself from me.

Great read. The writer has a great turn of phrase and Melody Shee and Mary Crothery are fascinating characters.

Accepted that I'm not gonna finish the #ReadHarder challenge before new year and starting the book that our house guests (who are arriving today) lent me over a month ago.

I love Donal Ryan, and he never fails to haunt me with his words long after I've closed the pages of his books. This one was no different.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A 3.5 star not bad / so-so kind of read. He's fantastic as ever in creating broken, strange, complicated characters, but found the ending to be too predictable. My favourite Donal Ryan is still The Thing About December. 😊

The thunderstorms have stopped and the sun is out! ☀️ sitting outside to read for the first time in days. #FridayReads #Staycation

Do you ever read blurbs and wonder if the writers read a different book to you? Part of me admires Ryan's commitment to an unlikeable narrator but there are no hidden depths. There's trauma behind her constant vitriol but I found her utterly unconvincing. The treatment of Travellers is vaguely sympathetic but both trite and clichéd. Don't even get me started on the total non-engagement with the issue of a tutor sleeping with a teenaged student 😬

I had heard a lot of people recommend this book so was keen to read it. I found it difficult to get into the flow of book, so was easy to pick and put down and wasn't engrossing. I enjoyed the narrative and the ending.

This man writes like no other. It is a beautiful and heart warming and at times horrifying tale of a young woman who has fallen pregnant toa young traveller who she is teaching to read. Once again Ryan encapsulates, perfectly, smalltown/rural Ireland. Where the scandal of something would knock ya sideways and the aul wans are only chomping at the bit to spread it! Fabulous. ❤️⭐️❤️⭐️❤️

Diving into this one! Donal Ryan is one of the most skilful storytellers I have ever had the pleasure of reading!

Was so looking forward to get this started. 📖🍷#bookclubread

When I finished reading All We Shall Know all I could think was Wow! An elegantly written, dramatic and moving story.

This was a ok read it was one you could put down and pick up. Easy to keep up with the story. Did not end quite as I expected