Orange Rhymes with Everything

by Adrian McKinty

A debut novel explores the world of Protestants in Northern Ireland, as seen through the eyes of a teenage girl living in Ireland and an Irish man being held in a New York City mental hospital awaiting extradition, a man who may be the girl's father.

Genres: Fiction

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Adrian McKinty is an Irish novelist. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Victoria Council Estate, Carrickfergus, County Antrim. He read law at the University of Warwick and politics and philosophy at the University of Oxford. He moved to the United States in the early 1990s, living first in Harlem, New York and from 2001 on, in Denver, Colorado, where he taught high school English and began writing fiction. He lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Patrick Donovan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes it's better not to start with an author's earliest works. I noticed this a long time ago when I struggled with Mark McGarrity's first 2 novels before he developed the character of Peter McGarr and wrote his wonderful series of Irish police procedurals. McKinty's first couple of books show off his chops, but aren't particularly good. You're hoping he'll get to the point, or at least give you a glimpse of the point he's aiming at, and it takes him hundreds of pages of rambling to do so. By the second half of this one I was skimming page after page and don't feel like I missed anything.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed everything I've read by this author. Sometimes I've wondered if I've become the sort of fan that simply loves the story/writing because I overlook things. I can say that appears not to be the case. I didn't care for this book at all. Had this been my first read of his work, I'm not sure I would've given another book a chance.

Little things. I like quotation marks. I don't want to have to think too hard about dialogue, as in, is it or isn't it? And yes, you get used to that after a while, but I don't find it any less frustrating.

I felt nothing especially strong for either main character. I don't feel I got any insight to the things that went on in the story. I don't need every book I read to be some great lesson, but I want a more than a slice of time. I want some sort of connection and I didn't feel that with anyone in the story.

There was still some beautiful writing and that saved this from a one star review for me.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his debut novel "Orange Rhymes with Everything," Adrian McKinty does for nonlocal transport physics what Northern Ireland does for deuteranomaly. Witty dialog and exquisite creative writing are among its many charms. Not a book for everyone but a book for me.

[vida b · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think with this book you'll either hate it or love it. Personally, I felt this book was somewhat of what Milkman is trying to be (controversial?) and I loved it. I felt a real affinity for the girl main character, even though she was kind of inscrutable. We get to see so many unglamorous, gritty, realistic details about her life in a way that I've not often seen in fiction.

I'm a huge fan of Adrian McKinty and even though you can tell this is his first effort--a little rough in some ways--it's fun to notice themes and ideas and concepts that pop up in his later work. Characters who are surprisingly intelligent and well read--I love how he worked quantum physics, of all things, into the girl's story!, "cui bono," the sight of Kilroot power station, etc.

If you want a story without too much in the way of plot but that still takes you on a journey somehow, check it out!

[Christa M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adrian McKinty is among my most favorite authors (incl S. King, J MacDonald, & the mighty K Bruen). Dead I Well May Be is quite possibly the best book I've ever read, and the series is masterfully written. So, when I stumbled across his 1st novel ORWE at my local library, i was intrigued. I rarely write reviews, but the comments here are sparse, and after reading I felt compelled to contribute. ORWE is a 'two-fer': a book of poetry within a tale of desperation. It isn't McKinty's best work, but a tantalizing tease of what's to come. At times, it is overthought & overworded - but the imagery it creates is breathtaking. At the end of the story you're left with the sense that within this author is a damn of brilliance bursting at the seams (which turns out to be true)

[Chris Nicolai · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was odd...
Cormac McCarthy like, with the lack of quotations, and the matter-of-fact tone of the story. Not nearly as good as McCarthy though....
I don't know how to rate it, to be honest. Parts of it seemed like nonsense: 3 pages describing a pencil up her nose trying to make herself sneeze, 2 pages about a shit she was trying to hold and the subsequent polaroids she took of the shit, and an awkward attempted rape, to name just a few.
That said, I liked it, I think.... There was something there: A few laughs, some compassion; perhaps more. Maybe I missed something that would make me like it more...

[Carl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird book. I stuck with it because I like McKinty and wanted to see his early work, but if this had been by anyone else, I probably wouldn’t have made it past the first few chapters. At the end, I kinda felt like "what was the point?"

[Wesley · Rating 1 out of 5]

verhaal is niet volgen, absoluut onleesbaar boek

[Sarah]

The first scene with the pencil turned me off. And I work with teens! lol

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but not my genre...

[Aoife62 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first book of my favorite author Adrian McKinty is much different from his later works. The story switches between a teenage girl in C. - Carrickfergus most probably - and an adult man, obviously a hard paramilitary killer, who turns out to be the girls father. The book is quite "artistic", there are lots of inner monologues and as it contains no quotation marks, it needs focus to follow who is speaking or thinking.
As soon as you manage these initial difficulties a world which is depressing in its blankness and alienation shows up. This is no easy read and no nice book but surely a true one that manages to capture the special atmosphere of troubled Belfast.

[Janet Whalen · Rating 2 out of 5]

disturbing, difficult to follow. Not a good clue to his future brilliance...dont judge this amazing writer by this ugly first effort

[Marcus Richter · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good. It was so different to the other books by Adrian McKinty. Wish I could attend a lecture by him and hear from him about the book.
Now off to the next book, "Dead I Well May Be".

[Mike Granfield]

Happy I didn' t read this first. Enjoyable characters and descriptions

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. One of the best uses of alternating narration. Clean crisp brilliant.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5