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Rozz.ie

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Tag: novel

Posted on March 12, 2023March 12, 2023

Where I end by Sophie White. Quite the book.


Where I end by Sophie White.
Quite the book.

Posted on March 12, 2023March 12, 2023

The last white man by Mohsin Hamid. Writing is gorgeous.


The last white man by Mohsin Hamid.
Writing is gorgeous.

Posted on March 3, 2023March 3, 2023

Early Morning Read, Katherine Heiny. Just gorgeous.


Early Morning Read, Katherine Heiny.
Just gorgeous.

Posted on September 6, 2022February 16, 2023

The school for Good mothers by Jessamine Chan. *Thoughts* I liked this OK. It's a


The school for Good mothers by Jessamine Chan.

*Thoughts*

I liked this OK.

It's a story about a mum, Frida who struggles with her young toddler, Harriet. One day she does an awfully foolish and dangerous thing to her child and she gets sent to the school for Good mothers.

It's set in a future (possibly) world where the state interfere and teach(punish, imprison) bad mums and dad's how to be good ones.

In the school for Good mothers we meet many, many characters who all merge into each other and it goes on and on and Frida fails millions of tasks and trials.

I didn't like one of the characters and had not one bit of sympathy for Frida. Frida, who decides one day to go into work and then head out for a coffee while leaving her toddler strapped into a high chair for a couple of hours. By the end, I was hoping Frida might get an awakening of how cruel and irresponsible this act was but she doesn't at all. In fact, inside she finds a love interest and sacrifices the love interest for her daughter. I think she meets the love interest four times in there. In the whole novel she falls in love three times.

I get what the novel is saying and I liked it a lot for that. It's about the judgement and standards we place on women and mothers. It's about how we expect parents to be perfect. The problem was that what Frida did would actually send her to jail possibly or have her child removed in Ireland. It was a shame the author picked that crime as it actually is abuse and not the first time Frida does things like this. In this way the plot, the characters miss the point of the whole thing.

The ending I liked as it was so tragic and open I could not believe that this would happen to Frida. Strange too that the love interest she sacrificed her child for effectively is easily forgotten and barely mentioned by the end.

It's a shame as the premise is excellent but the pace dips too much in the middle and the implausible details above pull it down. The constant reference to sex and sex scenes that didn't to gel with Frida's character really stood out and were humorous in the wrong way.
The writing is good though.

Posted on August 15, 2022February 16, 2023

*Review* Brouhaha by Ardal O Hanlon. I am always surprised when someone not from a


*Review*
Brouhaha by Ardal O Hanlon.
I am always surprised when someone not from a writing background ( whatever that is) pens a novel. We all know Ardal as a comedian and actor but here we go on his next novel!
This is a crime mystery novel set in a border town full of murders, dodginess and crime.
The story opens with the apparent suicide of localad, Dove and brings us back to the event the town just can't let go-the disappearance of a young girl under very dubious circumstances.
The book revolves around three main characters. Kevin, the retired garda who handled the disappearance case originally. Sharkey, Dove's best friend and a local reporter Joanne.
The writing is good,  heavy but quite observant in terms of a small Irish town. In places, it does go on a bit where it doesn't need to,  which pulls the drama back.
Overall I really enjoyed it. A crime mystery with a mix of creepy,  bloodthirsty and morally good characters. Sad too.

Posted on August 11, 2022February 16, 2023

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. ***Review aka my random thoughts*** I had read a


Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.
***Review aka my random thoughts***

I had read a lot about this book. It's a debut and has smashed all types of records in terms of sales and readership and its author is a former and very experienced copywriter so you'd be hoping that it'd be written well.
It is written very well. It zips along nicely with some excellent characters and a neatly woven plot.

 This is a fun story about our main character, Elizabeth Zott. She is a chemist who hosts a cooking show because it's the early 1960s and sexism, sexual assault, scientific theft and discrimination all prevent her from working as the actual scientist she craves to be. But when she becomes utterly famous on her TV show, "Supper At Six," things start to get interesting.

I read this book quickly and I read it over the holidays in France. It's a perfect holiday read, whatever that means. To me it means that it's easy to pick up wherever you are.

I loved Elizabeth though she does come across very unlikeable. I admire her not giving a sh€ # about other people's opinions but I also found it implausible that a woman in that time would push things as hard as she had. I found other really serious issues like rape and sexual assault were not given enough space in the writing in terms of how this impacted on Elizabeth. It was dealt with in a very sparkly let's move on kinda way. Come on, gals, toughen up! 😬

This will absolutely be a film or a TV series and it's worth reading for the realisation you might have that things have changed ever so slightly for females and the world of seemingly masculine careers like science.

A fun book club read. I'd be happy to have written this type of plot and characterisation.

Posted on August 3, 2022February 16, 2023

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy. *Review* This book has been on my radar but the lovely


Trespasses by Louise Kennedy. *Review*
This book has been on my radar but the lovely bookworm @littlecassreads prompted me to buy it when I was n Belfast in the gorgeous bookshop @noalibispress.
This book is not perfect.
It's set in Belfast during the troubles. A love story with a teacher and solicitor as  the star crossed.
The attention to detail in terms of the backdrop of Northern Ireland is impeccable. The characters are absolutely perfectly written and rendered. Louise' dialogue is exceptional. It's so natural and hilarious!
As a teacher, the main character, who is a teacher, is so plausible and realistic. I wonder was Louise a teacher in another life, that is how genuine the school abd the teachers were written.
The bad guys, the bad characters in this story were all multi dimensional, neither black nor white but a spectrum that is the human race.
The drama, the way the story kept going till the perfectly apt ending, left me feeling quite in awe of the skill of this novel. Plot and character is so hard and it's where a story and a novel can lose its way very easily if these are not good.
The ending is really sad, so well done, predictable to me but still it felt satisfying as a reader.
The imperfections of this book were minor. It started with a lot of telling and no showing. In many areas, paragraphs leapt out of nowhere with no connection to the last. I surprised an careful reading team or editor didn't get these.
But even mentioning these feel petty. The remainder of the work, the characters and their plausibility and charisma, the setting, the history, the plot and the importance of the evocation of the pain this awful time in Northern Ireland was is so, so well done.
I'm ordering her short story collection off the back of this. Bow down to Louise Kennedy and huge kudos to her.

Posted on July 6, 2022February 16, 2023

The Fell by Sarah Moss. Apocalypse isn’t what it used to be these days.. And


The Fell by Sarah Moss.

Apocalypse isn’t what it used to be these days.. And the fact that“humanity’s ending appears to be slow, lacking in cliffhangers or indeed any satisfactory narrative shape; characterized, for the lucky, by the gradual vindication of accumulating dread.”
The Fell is written from the perspectives of four characters during 2020, Covid-19 lockdown and pandemic. I read this in two sittings. I kept thinking about it and the characters. The writing is quite rambling but beautifully done and comes out in the character's mind, a sort of free consciousness. If you don't like this or need punctuation marks then this book may not appeal to you!
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. A nice, short read that responds to a very bad and sad time in our world.


--

Rozz Lewis

Posted on October 23, 2021May 22, 2022

I think that books you read on a holiday become very special. A book that


I think that books you read on a holiday become very special. A book that is average can be enhanced by a holiday vibe. And prosecco. And a rooftop view of the Parthenon in Athens but it sounds like I'm boasting a bit now.

However, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke needs no enhancing. I'm finding it riveting and mind bending. Oh and easy to read.

Posted on October 23, 2021February 16, 2023

I think that books you read on a holiday become very special. A book that


I think that books you read on a holiday become very special. A book that is average can be enhanced by a holiday vibe. And prosecco. And a rooftop view of the Parthenon in Athens but it sounds like I'm boasting a bit now.

However, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke needs no enhancing. I'm finding it riveting and mind bending. Oh and easy to read.

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My Goodreads

Rozz's books

Tender
3 of 5 stars
Tender
by Belinda McKeon
Davy Byrnes Stories 2014
4 of 5 stars
Davy Byrnes Stories 2014
by Sara Baume
Foster
5 of 5 stars
Foster
by Claire Keegan
Superb, perfect short story telling from the genius of the form.
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
4 of 5 stars
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
by Wells Tower
hilarious and dark and funked up!
The Good House
1 of 5 stars
The Good House
by Ann Leary

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My Goodreads

Rozz’s books

Tender
3 of 5 stars
Tender
by Belinda McKeon

Davy Byrnes Stories 2014
4 of 5 stars
Davy Byrnes Stories 2014
by Sara Baume

Foster
5 of 5 stars
Foster
by Claire Keegan
Superb, perfect short story telling from the genius of the form.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
4 of 5 stars
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
by Wells Tower
hilarious and dark and funked up!

The Good House
1 of 5 stars
The Good House
by Ann Leary




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