December/January Book Club
For our last book club we decided to span it over 2 months, I know how December gets, you either manage to get all the reading done or none at all. I picked this book up on audible and I think it was a really fantastic way to read it. The narrator just made me feel that I was personally part of the book and I literally didn’t want to stop reading.
Personally this was such a great story to end the year on, although I usually like to read seasonally and this would have been a great summer holiday read it was the perfect tone and pace. When there is a lot of Christmas noise, work is that bit more hectic and there’s no time for you on the weekends. This was the escape I needed!
This past year I’ve really gravitated towards Irish writers, and, it has been a delight! This being Chloe Michelle Howarth’s debut novel, she’s been marked “one to watch” as well as the book being shortlisted for the Nero book award. As coming of age novels, I think this is the favourite one I’ve read in a while.
As always there are spoilers in our Book review chat, so if you’ve not quite finished or it is on your TBR save this and come back later!
Set in a small town in Ireland in the 90s this book for me just instantly had a nostalgic feel. Although I grew up in England, I took a lot of similarities of the small town mindset, the desperation to get out as well as still wanting to be a part and accepted by those who chose to stay. I am definitely going to read this as a physical book to see if I get the same feeling of being a part of Lucy as the audiobook did it so seamlessly. I was really transport you into Lucy’s internal monologue and her conflicting feelings. I presume you get the same feeling when you read the book yourself.
I think Howarth did a fantastic job writing about sexuality and identity in such an authentic and endearing manor. The whole time I was reading/listening I never once questioned the characters, they felt so real. I loved how Lucy paints them all to be great girls, when in reality their quite bitchy and mean to anyone not in their click. Howarth writes teenage girls brilliantly.
I really went on a journey with Lucy and her infatuation with Susannah, I loved seeing her affection grow, then her learning about herself and her sexuality. But what I really loved was that Susannah shared her feelings. That instead of this being a heartbreak in the traditional sense of her not having her feelings returned it was much more complex than that. I remember how intense your first relationship can be when you’re a teenager and how everything is be all/end all depending on how the relationship is going. How it can change drastically day to day.
It really broke my heart when her mother caught the two of them together, how she was just riddled with shame and guilt for loving who she did. I realise empathised with her when she started a relationship with Michael in an effort to squash any disappointment she might have caused her mum. The whole book battles with family ties, peer pressure and self discovery.
I also found the representation other families really interesting, I think that all of Lucy’s friends were from nuclear families however it gave another layer to the book with the complexity of Susannah’s mother, who was a pretty shit person to be honest.
I really enjoyed the ending, it dealt with the dread of revisiting your home town really well. I’m not sure I know anyone who has left where they grew up and not have the dread of bumping into someone you used to know.
I gave this 5* and I look forward to rereading again in the summer. I’m also eagle eyed to see what Howarth writes next!