#bookreader – Page 16 – Rosepoint Publishing

Watchers by Dean Koontz #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

On his thirty-sixth birthday, Travis Cornell hikes into the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. But his path is soon blocked by a bedraggled Golden Retriever who will let him go no further into the dark woods.

That morning, Travis had been desperate to find some happiness in his lonely, seemingly cursed life. What he finds is a dog of alarming intelligence that soon leads him into a relentless storm of mankind’s darkest creation…

My Review:

Yeah, so I’ll admit it—the cover got me first—and then, despite my son’s admonition about my reading choices (“Koontz is a horror writer, mom”), I grab a Koontz book when I see one.

Watchers by Dean Koontz — Watchers cover posted on Goodreads

Well, mercy, first we are introduced to Travis and the golden retriever (Koontz’ favorite dog) whom he later names Einstein. Travis is an ex-Delta Force now reduced to a lonely, lost soul without much that’ll get him up in the morning. Whether PTSD or the losses he’s suffered and, inexplicably, blames himself (it’s a curse), he’s lost any macho he ever had.

It’s the dog that saves him from a lonely walk in a deserted forest that hides an unnamed monster. Explaining to the dog that he can’t keep him (he’s cursed), he notices this is not your average dog at the outset. Yeah, he keeps him.

In the meantime, we are introduced to Nora, and it’s pretty obvious this will be a romantic match—these two severely damaged persons are made for each other. Nora, never having had a pet is not put off by the dog or his size and quickly realizes that he must be special.

So, wait…

Have you read this? It’s not like it’s a new book and there was quite some sentiment about it. Admittedly, there were a few problems that even I discerned.

Still, I got so involved in the storyline that I couldn’t stop flipping pages. Yeah, I read it—this was not one of my audiobooks. So, I’m flipping pages, and I just LOVE this dog. Unfortunately, he has a history, and the history is trying to catch up with him.

He’s a lab dog. I don’t mean Labrador—I mean laboratory. And the same lab that spawned him also spawned his opposite. Not a dog—but a brutal, nasty animal. Travis (even Travis) realizes this is not a dog he can return to the lab. Poor doggy.

Also, did I mention there’s a hit man out there on a mission?

If you haven’t read it, I don’t want to spoil it for you. You’ll just have to trust me. It’s a wild ride whether or not you have to suspend some disbelief. Just go with it and enjoy the story.

I received the eBook loan from my local library for the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own. I do enjoy a Dean Koontz doggy story! Recommended.

Book Details:

Genre: Ghost Suspense, US Horror Fiction, Horror Suspense
Publisher: Berkley (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0425221806
ASIN: B001974DG0
Print Length: 402 pages
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Dean Koontz, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirits of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.

Murder in Galway by Carlene O’Connor #BookReview #InternationalMystery&Crime

A Home to Ireland Mystery Book 1

Book Blurb:

In the first installment of bestselling author Carlene O’Connor’s new Home to Ireland Mystery series, New York Tara Meehan’s first trip to Galway, Ireland may be her last.

Jump right into the beauty and splendor—and murder—of Tara’s Irish adventure! With a gorgeous setting, suspicious characters, and a deadly mystery—Murder in Galway will have you packing your bags…

Tara never imagined her introduction to Ireland like this—carrying her mam’s ashes to honor her final request: “Tell Johnny I’m sorry…Take me home.” She’s never met her mam’s estranged brother, Johnny Meehan, who owns an architectural salvage business in Galway. Although Tara is immediately charmed by the medieval city, the locals seem wary of strangers and a gypsy warns her that death is all around.

When Tara arrives at her uncle’s stone cottage, the prophesy seems true. A dead man lies sprawled over the threshold in a pool of blood. The victim turns out to be Johnny’s wealthiest client, and her missing uncle is the garda’s number-one suspect. In trying to find Johnny and solve the crime, Tara uncovers her mam and uncle’s troubled past. But with a desperate killer about, she had better mind herself, or they’ll be tossing her ashes in Galway Bay…

His Review:

Ah, the lure of Ireland to the progeny of Irish ancestors. Tara’s mother had immigrated to the United States from Ireland in her mid20’s. She did not explain to her daughter why she immigrated except that she had some “troubles” with a few of her neighbors. The problem was never explained. Upon her mother’s death Tara decided to go back to Ireland to see if she could understand the reason why.

There is an old warehouse full of odds and ends that has supported her mother’s brother since she left Ireland. Tara goes to the old warehouse in which her mother has an interest. Upon arriving at the building, a dead man is sprawled across the threshold of the business! The local law enforcement called Guarda start to investigate with Tara’s uncle being the principal suspect. In Galway less than 24 hours and she is already embroiled in a major crime!

Tara is an aspiring investigator and she begins to outline the crime and possible suspects. Meanwhile, the Guarda is working to get enough evidence to charge Tara with the crime. Their recommendation is that she leave Ireland immediately.

A budding romance blossoms between Tara and a young man named Danny, however, who has been operating the business since her uncle’s disappearance. The evidence of the crimes seems to always circle back to Tara’s visit to her mother’s homeland!

This book has many interesting twists and turns and a budding romance between Tara and Danny. Will the death spoil their chance for romance? Will Tara be charged with murder? These questions and many more are answered in the book. Read and enjoy this Irish mystery in Book 1 of A Home to Ireland Mystery series Book 1.

[Note: This book was on my list for #ReadingIrelandMonth25 this year, but didn’t get posted in March. It’s late.

[I read Book 2, A Murder in Connemara back in July of 2021 and really enjoyed it. I also read the last three O’Connor novels from the County Kerry series and many more from her other series as well. Thought the CE would enjoy this one. I must say, he was ready to pack his bags and fly to the Emerald Isle.]

C E Williams We received a copy of this book from our library that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Cozy Culinary Mysteries, Ghost Mysteries
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ASIN: B07TT34D26
Print Length: 297 pages
Publication Date: April 28, 2020
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. She writes the bestselling IRISH VILLAGE MYSTERIES, the HOME TO IRELAND series, and the new COUNTY KERRY MYSTERIES. Her books have been translated into numerous languages, and optioned for television. Readers can find her at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086525205106 or through her website: http://www.carleneoconnor.net

Long Island by Colm Toibin #AudiobookReview #ReadingIrelandMonth25

Book 2 of 2: Ellis Lacey

Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Historical Fiction (2024)

Book Blurb:

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “Stunning.” —People * “Dazzling yet devastating…Tóibín is simply one of the world’s best living literary writers.” —The Boston Globe * “Momentous and hugely affecting.” —The Wall Street Journal *

From the beloved, critically acclaimed, bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving novel featuring Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work in twenty years.

Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis is now forty with two teenage children. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.

One day, when Tony is at work, an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep. It is what Eilis does—and what she refuses to do—in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín’s novel so riveting and suspenseful.

My Review:

No, I never saw the movie Brooklyn, but did read the novel and while I found it rather profound, the ending left me empty. I suppose we are to expect conflict—is that what drives a literary fiction plot? But must it always be crushing?

Book 1 sends Eilis back to Tony Fiorello, the plumber she met and was coerced into marrying in the US without the time to thoroughly examine her motives. His large Italian family settled in a cul-de-sac houses from each other so that she is heavily immersed in Italians contributing a son and daughter to the growing dynasty.

Long Island by Colm Toibin — Long Island cover-US

The hook at the beginning of the narrative sets the tone for the book, as she is confronted by the irate husband of the woman Tony has impregnated. His family rallies and decides what would be done without her input or agreement—and she won’t have it.

Her mother nearing her eightieth birthday, Eilish decides on going back to Ireland to celebrate that milestone. There’s been a twenty-year absence, much to be caught up, and she’ll decide what to do while in Ireland. Her kids will join her later and get to know their Irish relatives. That they hadn’t an interest before is something I couldn’t fathom—their mother’s family. Were they so heavily involved in the dad’s side, not even curious about the other half of their heritage left in Ireland?

If I had a small problem investing in Eilish before, I now found her cold and flat. She is one of three POVs in this installment, one of the two others being Jim, the man she really loved and left without explanation, and the woman, Nancy, who is now quietly betrothed to Jim. Nancy was a best friend of Eilish; not any more.

Once again, Jim takes a back seat to the strings being yanked around him and I tend to find the conniving onerous. Must women always be painted this way? Eilish’s mother is horrible, another support character I found a bit loathsome, while her brothers, particularly one, an understanding saint to her situation. And it’s he who would finally find a resolution to the problem. A man to the rescue.

So, no, once again, I found the ending lacking in satisfaction. Is there no happy ever after from his author? The book leaves me sad and gloomy. It’s been a struggle and there is no resolution for the reader.

Of course, Toibin was on my list of Irish authors for this year’s Reading Ireland Month, the #Begorrathon25, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books having already read and reviewed Brooklyn. This one finishes the short series.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Urban Fiction, City Life Fiction, Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN: B0CLHGRG3K
Listening Length: 9 hrs 40 mins
Narrator: Jessie Buckley
Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links:

Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Colm Tóibín is the author of ten novels, including The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; The Testament of Mary, and Nora Webster, as well as two story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and has been named as the laureate for Irish fiction for 2022-2025 by the Arts Council of Ireland. Three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Toibin lives in Dublin and New York.

Reading Ireland Month 2025

Beautiful Ugly: A Novel by Alice Feeney #AudiobookReview #DomesticThrillers

Editors’ pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible: a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

My Review:

Boy, howdy, I do get tired of damaged narrators. Grady Green is a narcissistic author whose wife apparently disappeared the very day he was over the moon with the news he’d landed New York bestseller status. He couldn’t wait to tell her, but the journalist stopped her car on the way home to check out someone in the road and was never seen again. Yeah. They found her car.

Grady is a mess. The loss of his wife appears to put the kibosh on his writing skills. He’s hit the wall and struggling with everything, staring down the laptop as it continues to cool its jets. That’s when his publisher mentions she has a cabin on an island in which he could sequester himself peacefully and just write.

And I gotta admit. I was hooked in this first part. He’s almost sympathetic. The cabin is nice. Very nice. The view of the water and the area surreal. His dog Columbo loves it. The only problem is the people of the little village—too small to have much—they are a tight bunch who heave a big sigh when tourist season is over—for them it’s over—and he’s not a particularly welcome guest.

It’s weird then that things begin to manifest—seeing his wife. Is sure he sees his wife. Or maybe not. The deeper into his history, the less sympathy I felt, and there were really no support characters that grabbed me. Pretty unlikable all round. Except for Columbo.

The storyline became complex, and the more so, the more incredulous or implausible it became as well. Yeah, twists that didn’t make sense. I had to shake my head…wait, what?

The author built suspense alright and kept this reader turning pages, and it was getting pretty far out there until the one big one in the denouement. To the point of almost being funny. Really? Okay, Karma is a b*tch.

Fan of Feeney? You may very well find this one a thriller you’ll enjoy. You can’t say it isn’t entertaining.

I also read and enjoyed Good Bad Girl a couple years ago, along with a couple others, but find this author still a bit inconsistent for me. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Family Life Fiction, Psychological Thrillers
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B0D3QS21DQ
Listening Length: 9 hrs 19 mins
Narrator: Richard Armitage, Tuppence Middleton
Publication Date: January 14, 2025
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links:

Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Alice Feeney is a New York Times million-copy bestselling author of novels including His & Hers, Sometimes I Lie, Rock Paper Scissors and Daisy Darker. Her books have been translated into over thirty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations, with His & Hers currently in production for Netflix, produced by Jessica Chastain, and starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal.

Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years. Her seventh novel, Beautiful Ugly, will be published around the world in January 2025.

You can follow Alice on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter. To find out the latest book and TV news, or to sign up for Alice’s free newsletter, please visit alicefeeney dot com

Happy Thursday

Into the Storm by Rachel Grant #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Evidence: Under the Fire Book 1

Book Blurb:

National Excellence in Story Telling Contest Winner ・ Daphne du Maurier Award Finalist ・ HOLT Medallion Contest Finalist ・ National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award Finalist

As a storm rolls in, a team of elite Navy SEALs arrives at a remote lodge for a wilderness training exercise that becomes terrifyingly real…

Xavier Rivera planned the exercise down to the smallest detail, but he didn’t plan the arrival of archaeologist Audrey Kendrick—a woman he shared a passionate night with before betraying her in the worst way.

As the storm is unleashed on the historic lodge it becomes clear the training has been compromised. Trapped by weather, isolated by the remote wilderness, and silenced as communication with the world has been severed, unarmed SEALs face an unexpected and deadly foe.

Audrey and Xavier must set aside their distrust and desire and work together to save a team under fire and survive in a battle against the wild.

My Review:

Holy cow! Here I am again, swimming against the positive current of all those readers who apparently loved the book. Somehow, when I read the blurb, I expected an atmospheric adventure in the remote northwest park where archaeologist Audrey Kendrick was overseeing the proper examination of native artifacts. This became a clash with Navy SEAL Xavier Rivera with whom she’s had…ahem!…previous experience.

Xavier was apparently tapped to plan a serious training session with his men, no detail overlooked (except for the weather), and neither performed a final check that all was as planned.

Not my fav…insta love. Sex scenes. Repeating over and over their history, all the plans she’d made to give him the big news. There were multiple POVs, which didn’t bother me so much until it came back to the same discussions previously hashed over and over and the betrayal suffered.

I enjoyed descriptions of the park, the mountain, the lodge and local native inhabitants as well as the survival maneuvers and strategy. Not so much the military fatalities and definitely a little tired of the old Russian bad guy cliché.

These are not characters with whom I could engage. Tiresome to keep being told she was pregnant. YES! We know! And she did all this pregnant in her first trimester! Hoorah!

The storyline was paced at different levels, the writing interesting (I can do without the graphic sex scenes). And really, the whole thing is predictable, including the conclusion. BTW, you can kiss your Naval career goodbye, Xavier.

If you like more romance than adventure, you might well enjoy this hot little number. I’m not sure I’ll try another Grant novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Military Thrillers, Action & Adventure Romance
Publisher: Janus Publishing
ASIN: B09HZF3DFH
Print Length: 411 pages
Publication Date: October 7, 2022
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: USA Today bestselling author Rachel Grant also writes thrillers as R.S. Grant. She worked for over a decade as a professional archaeologist and mines her experiences for storylines and settings, which are as diverse as excavating a cemetery underneath an historic art museum in San Francisco, survey and excavation of many prehistoric Native American sites in the Pacific Northwest, researching an historic concrete house in Virginia (inspiration for her debut novel, CONCRETE EVIDENCE), and mapping a seventeenth century Spanish and Dutch fort on the island of Sint Maarten in the Caribbean (which provided inspiration for the island and fort described in CRASH SITE).

She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her archaeologist husband and demanding cat.

Take the books outside to read — Spring reading on park bench sticker compliments of Freepik.com

Cher: Part One: The Memoir by Cher #AudiobookReview #BiographiesofWomen

Amazon Charts #19 this week

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Cher: The Memoir, Part One promises to be an engaging and exciting audiobook experience, befitting this incredible book. Read in part by Cher herself, the book is introduced, and each chapter launched, by the author. Rounding out each chapter as she continues the narrative is celebrated stage actor Stephanie J. Block. Stephanie starred on Broadway in The Cher Show for which she won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award. Together, Cher and Stephanie share the storytelling duties, alternating within the chapters to create a unique audiobook treatment that will bring listeners fully into this period of Cher’s life—from her earliest childhood memories, to her meeting Sonny and their ascent into superstardom, her painful divorce from Bono, her relationship with Gregg Allman and her reach for independence. It is a story of creativity, individuality, motherhood, love, and loss, as only Cher could recount.

“Lending my voice to help deliver Cher’s memoir has been an honor and a thrill. Her life is fascinating, glamorous, surprising, exciting… and at times, completely heartbreaking. Her story is a beautiful balance of ULTIMATE stardom and accessibility. She is CHER for a reason and this book helps the reader get behind ‘the reason,’” says Block.

“When it came to completing the audiobook, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it all myself due to my dyslexia. But then I thought of Stephanie, who won the Tony for playing me on Broadway in The Cher Show. I knew she would be the perfect choice to get across to the reader the essence of me. I called her and within hours she re-arranged her schedule to start the recording. I felt so safe having her help share my story, and she did a beautiful job,” says Cher.

My Review:

Ooh, I do love memoirs, especially of those I’ve grown up/old with. And, Cher? Yes, one of a kind—didn’t need a first and last name.

Yes, of course, I got the audiobook, although not narrated wholly by Cher, you can hear that unique voice at the beginning of the chapters. I hadn’t known about the part that Stephanie J Block played on Broadway giving her a Tony Award (among others). She does sound like her and there were a few times when I realized I was no longer listening to Cher, but Stephanie.

Still, it was Cher’s “voice,” the telling of her childhood, meeting Sonny, the babies, the split, and still was only the first part of the memoir? I guess the second part is due out late this year.

Always a fan, I’ve been both appalled and amazed at the trails she was blazing, a contrast in naiveté and ballsiness when she needed it. The sixteen-year-old found a steadfast lover, father figure, friend, and (at times) questionable agent in Sonny.

Crazy childhood, she frankly relates the years with the different “dads,” the birth of “G,” and her mother. It was wild and later free of her mother, but then Sonny, eleven years older, took over. He was a hustler, a player, always trying one thing or another and wasn’t long before he noticed something very unique and special about Cher.

No, Cher didn’t just happen. They tried out a couple different names prior to the transition into Cher. But they “clicked” and had fun for years. I loved the Sonny and Cher Show and it’s gratifying now to know that what we were seeing, on the show, was real.

Their split was tough. Like losing Desi and Lucy (George Burns and Gracie Allen before that). Fans are often left lamenting the end of musical groups—it’s a divorce from their public as much as each other. Too bad, as it was so special.

Thoroughly entertaining, nostalgic, and probably most of everything you ever wanted to know. She doesn’t pull punches. Amazing stories about so many big names. She was there. A memoir I’d recommend, fan or not, and better than a National Inquirer.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Actor & Entertainer Biographies, Biographies of Women, Biographies of Celebrities & Entertainment Professionals
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B0D5J76G3H
Listening Length: 15 hrs 47 mins
Narrators: Cher, Stephanie J. Block
Publication Date: November 19, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Cher - photo courtesy Goodreads bio — Photo courtesy Goodreads bio

The Author: Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian, (1946) later adopted by Gilbert LaPierre) is an American pop singer, actress, songwriter, film director, record producer and author. Among her many career accomplishments in music, television and film, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards among others.

Cher first rose to prominence in 1965 as one half of the pop/rock duo Sonny & Cher. She also established herself as a solo recording artist, releasing 25 albums, contributing to numerous compilations, and tallying 34 Billboard Top 40 entries in the U.S. over her career, both solo and with Sonny. These include eighteen Top 10 singles and five number one singles. Cher has had 16 Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart between 1965 and 2003, four of which reached number one.

She became a television star in the 1970s and a film actress in the 1980s. In 1987, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the romantic comedy Moonstruck.

With a career surpassing 40 years, Cher is an enduring pop icon and one of the most popular female artists in music history. Since her debut in 1964, Cher has sold over 200 million records worldwide as a solo artist[3] and 75 million more as half of the duo Sonny and Cher.
http://www.cher.com/

#AudiobookReview

Brooklyn: A Novel by Colm Toibin #AudiobookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Editors’ pick Best Literature & Fiction

Book 1 of 2: Eilis Lacey

Book Blurb:

A NEW PRODUCTION NARRATED BY SAOIRSE RONAN, ACADEMY AWARD–NOMINATED STAR OF THE 2015 FILM ADAPTATION!

Colm Tóibín’s New York Times bestselling novel—also an acclaimed film starring Saoirse Ronan and Jim Broadbent nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture—is “a moving, deeply satisfying read” (Entertainment Weekly) about a young Irish immigrant in Brooklyn in the early 1950s.

“One of the most unforgettable characters in contemporary literature” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the hard years following World War Two. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America, she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind.

Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family, slowly wins her over with patient charm. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love, devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future.

My Review:

Unhappily, our Netflix doesn’t present the movie version of Brooklyn, and it sounds like the plot might have gotten ground a bit, skipping over the mundane. I might have preferred the movie.

I did, however, listen to the audiobook, and sorry (once again) of my inability to make those notes along the way on an audiobook. It does present a slow start, introducing Eilis Lacey and her life in small town fifties Ireland and that of her large Catholic family, an older sister and three brothers, the latter of whom all split for England and greater opportunity.

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin - UK cover — Brooklyn – UK cover

Eilis is facing that age when her reality is marriage and kids and longing for something more is asking the old familiar, “Is that all there is?”

No, not for her, as the family priest and her older working sister have arranged her sponsorship to Brooklyn, along with a room in a boarding house and a job in a department store. Her sister will take care of their mother, so off she goes.

The transition is not just from a small town to metropolis, Ireland to America, family to boarding house with a variety of cliquey boarders, singlehood to introduction to men. There is the shock of relocation, the homesickness, and the previous lack of adult decision making for herself.

The storyline is not new. We’ve been through this plot before but what sets it apart, of course, is the author’s prose, writing style, description of the era, and transition of old morals to modern. Yes, coming of age, right between the eyes.

As the narrative progresses, there are decisions to be made, back bone to be adjusted, and actions taken that with either choice will forever alter the life she had planned or expected.

Decisions, decisions…

The Italian American with the family making firm plans on advancement, all appearances looking upwardly mobile and a man who obviously adores her. Does she adore him back?

No.

Does she even love him? Did she get swept into another of those life-altering decisions without proper consideration? Yup.

Now, Ireland. She’s been called back. Her sister passed unexpectedly leaving no one to care for her mother. But…blue skies! There is the Irish man who adored her from afar—still available and now transformed with testosterone.

I thought it was no contest and I’m not a fan of the non-ending. So it was a romance. And conflict; eenie, meenie, miney, mo…

This one seemed to have the spectrum of reviews. Did you read it? How did you feel about it?

Best of all might be that it was on my list of Irish authors for this year’s Reading Ireland Month, the #Begorrathon, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-in Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN: B0DGMPHMBF
Listening Length: 9 hrs 50 mins
Narrator: Saoirse Ronan
Publication Date: October 22, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Colm Tóibín is the author of ten novels, including The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; The Testament of Mary, and Nora Webster, as well as two story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and has been named as the laureate for Irish fiction for 2022-2025 by the Arts Council of Ireland. Three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Toibin lives in Dublin and New York.

March is #ReadingIrelandMonth

Milkman: A Novel by Anna Burns #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Editors’ pick Best Literature & Fiction

National Book Critics Circle Award Winner – 2018

Book Blurb:

In an unnamed city, middle sister stands out for the wrong reasons. She reads while walking, for one. And she has been taking French night classes downtown. So when a local paramilitary known as the milkman begins pursuing her, she suddenly becomes “interesting,” the last thing she ever wanted to be. Despite middle sister’s attempts to avoid him―and to keep her mother from finding out about her maybe-boyfriend―rumors spread and the threat of violence lingers. Milkman is a story of the way inaction can have enormous repercussions, in a time when the wrong flag, wrong religion, or even a sunset can be subversive. Told with ferocious energy and sly, wicked humor, Milkman establishes Anna Burns as one of the most consequential voices of our day.

My Review:

Yet another example of my apparent lack of appreciation for genius literary fiction. I was ready to DNF in…about ten minutes and several times after that. Yes, an audiobook and even if I hadn’t ramped up the speed, the author would still have been barreling through this book in it’s entirety without taking a breath.

What did I get myself into?

I was determined to finish it because it was to be on my list of Irish authors for this year’s Reading Ireland Month, the #Begorrathon, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. Sorry, but I just couldn’t fathom this one.

Sheltered as we’ve been living in the States and only remotely getting news second or third hand, and at a time in my life when I was dealing with babies, I was far removed from what was going on “over there” except that “our boys” were still in ‘Nam and we wanted them home.

The protagonist here is a teenager, grappling with all the angst of teens the world over with the extra burden of an oppressive religion, an almost permanently hysterical mother, her education, and her lack of lining up a proper marriage.

What threw me at the beginning was the lack of names as everyone was referred to as (for instance) Almost Boyfriend, Third Brother-in-Law, Second Sister, etc. And the Milkman, wasn’t.

It’s a non-stop monologue that takes a single thought and multiplies it to all the possibilities that could result from the original thought and end with the worst scenario.

The only character I came close to engaging was Third Brother-in-Law and I couldn’t tell you why. I still didn’t know him any more than any of the main or support characters but the mother was the absolute worst.

A constant run-on self-dialogue that didn’t end and sometimes jumped into other persons, other scenes or situations, making it all but impossible to keep up with where we were now. Or why did we care?

This is supposed to be humorous—sorry—I didn’t find much funny with the horrible things going on (particularly the scene involving the dogs). No plot. No progression in the storyline. Oh, wait. No storyline. Everyone is paranoid, gossip runs rampant in an effort to…destroy(?) each other. A lot of narrative, nothing is settled. And then it ended.

SOOOO much philosophy! Dispensed, analyzed, regurgitated.

I’ll tell you what: Read the reviews on Goodreads. They should have gotten the awards!

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Two point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Political Fiction, Literary Fiction
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
ISBN-10: ‎ 1644450003
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1644450000
ASIN: B07JJJTT29
Listening Length: 14 hrs 11 mins
Narrator: Bríd Brennan
Publication Date: Reprint edition – December 4, 2018
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Milkman – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Anna Burns was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is the author of two novels, No Bones and Little Constructions, and of the novella, Mostly Hero. No Bones won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize and was short-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She lives in East Sussex, England. Author photo credit Eleni Stefanou