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Scenes of a Graphic Nature
'Do you know what céad mile fáilte means?'
'A hundred thousand welcomes.'
'Not a hundred thousand homes. Not a hundred thousand "stay here's".'
Charlie Regan's life isn't going forward, so she's decided to go back.
After a tough few years floundering around the British film industry, experimenting with amateur pornography and watching her father's health rapidly decline, she and her best friend Laura journey to her ancestral home of Clipim, an island off the west coast of Ireland. Knowing this could be the last chance to connect with her dad's history before she loses him, Charlie clings to the idea of her Irish roots offering some kind of solace. But she'll find out her heritage is about more than clichés and clover-foamed Guinness.
When the girls arrive at Clipim, Charlie begins to question both her difficult relationship with Laura and her father's childhood stories. Before long, she's embroiled in a devastating conspiracy that's been sixty years in the making . . . and it's up to her to reveal the truth of it.
With a sharp eye and sour tongue, Caroline O'Donoghue delivers a delicious contemporary fable of prodigal return. Blisteringly honest, funny and moving, it grapples with love, friendship and the struggle of second-generation immigrants trying to belong.
'A hundred thousand welcomes.'
'Not a hundred thousand homes. Not a hundred thousand "stay here's".'
Charlie Regan's life isn't going forward, so she's decided to go back.
After a tough few years floundering around the British film industry, experimenting with amateur pornography and watching her father's health rapidly decline, she and her best friend Laura journey to her ancestral home of Clipim, an island off the west coast of Ireland. Knowing this could be the last chance to connect with her dad's history before she loses him, Charlie clings to the idea of her Irish roots offering some kind of solace. But she'll find out her heritage is about more than clichés and clover-foamed Guinness.
When the girls arrive at Clipim, Charlie begins to question both her difficult relationship with Laura and her father's childhood stories. Before long, she's embroiled in a devastating conspiracy that's been sixty years in the making . . . and it's up to her to reveal the truth of it.
With a sharp eye and sour tongue, Caroline O'Donoghue delivers a delicious contemporary fable of prodigal return. Blisteringly honest, funny and moving, it grapples with love, friendship and the struggle of second-generation immigrants trying to belong.
Paperback
First published June 18, 2020
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About the author
Caroline O'Donoghue
10 books7,181 followersCaroline O'Donoghue is a New York Times bestselling author and host of the Sentimental Garbage podcast. She writes fiction for adults and teenagers.
I only leave five star reviews on Goodreads, and i keep two star reviews inside my horrid brain where they can’t start beef with other authors
I only leave five star reviews on Goodreads, and i keep two star reviews inside my horrid brain where they can’t start beef with other authors
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August 3, 2020
I wrote this and it's a banger
August 27, 2021
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3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
Scenes of a Graphic Nature is a thought-provoking and engrossing novel that is far darker than its brightly coloured cover suggests. After reading and being captivated by Caroline O'Donoghue's debut novel, Promising Young Women, I had really high hopes for Scenes of a Graphic Nature.
The first person narration is engrossing and adds a sense of urgency to the story which follows Charlie Regan. Charlie, who is twenty-nine, is deeply unhappy: there is her father's cancer, her strained relationship with her mother and her more successful best friend, her non-existent 'career' in the ever competitive film industry. In an attempt to make some extra cash Charlie has even begun selling photos, of a 'graphic' nature, of herself online. Given her not-so-great circumstances, Charlie feels understandably lost.
She finds some comfort in her father, whom she idolise, and his stories, one of which an account of his having survived a terrible tragedy. Inspired by this Charlie, alongside Laura, worked on 'It Takes A Village' a film that was based on her father's story. When the film gains the attention of an Irish film festival, Charlie and Laura are invited to the event. With her father's encouragement, Charlie set off to Ireland, hoping to find some guidance in the country she regards as her ancestral home. It happens that Charlie and Laura end up in Clipim, an island off the west coast of Ireland, and the place in which her father grew up. The people of Clipim however are not very forthcoming about the past, especially towards outsiders. Charlie however is convinced that someone is hiding the truth about the tragedy that irrevocably shaped her father's life.
Similarly to Promising Young Women, there is a sense of unease permeating the narrative. From Charlie's awkward interactions with her mother and best friend, to her sense of disillusionment towards her work and love life. Clipim magnifies the story's ambivalent atmosphere and O'Donoghue does not shy away from portraying the ramifications of the British occupation of Ireland. Over the course of the novel Charlie, who is quick to emphasise that she is indeed 'half Irish', realises that she has mythologised Ireland and her own connection to this country. While I was very much interested in Charlie's journey, and in the story's engagement with colonialism, national and self identity, and in her shrewd yet nuanced portrayal of Irish–British relations, the plot tangles itself in unnecessary knots. The latter half of the novel veers into clichéd territories: we have the Town with a Dark Secret™, almost a la The Wicker Man, which is almost entirely populated by physically and verbally 'hostile' individuals, There Be Strangers™. Charlie herself makes many stupid choices (which do create tension), and seems unable to read a room. Towards the end the story becomes increasingly disconcerting, which in some ways I was expecting given how hallucinatory Promising Young Women ended up being. Charlie hits rock bottom, some bad shit goes on, and then we get a hurried explanation and ending. The violence of certain characters seems totally brushed aside, which was rather unsatisfying. Also, Charlie's 'investigation' seemed less an investigation that her getting drunk and making wild accusations.
Even as the story become increasingly confusing, and frustrating, I was still absorbed by O'Donoghue's prose. I liked the way she writes and the themes/ideas she explores. Her main character is an imperfect human being who can be selfish and reckless. Her loneliness and her disillusionment however are rendered in an emphatic light. Certain relationships, such as the one between Charlie and Laura, were believably messy.
Yet, as much as I appreciated certain aspects of the story, part of me knows that the Clipim's residents were depicted in a less cartoonish way. In spite of Charlie’s interesting inner monologue, the storyline could have maintained a better focus. Still, I would thoroughly recommend this books as O'Donoghue's writing is incredibly compelling and in spite of her blunders Charlie was an all too realistic main character.
Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads
3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
“That's what it comes down to, I suppose. I was obsessed with what I was, because I had no idea who I was.”
Scenes of a Graphic Nature is a thought-provoking and engrossing novel that is far darker than its brightly coloured cover suggests. After reading and being captivated by Caroline O'Donoghue's debut novel, Promising Young Women, I had really high hopes for Scenes of a Graphic Nature.
The first person narration is engrossing and adds a sense of urgency to the story which follows Charlie Regan. Charlie, who is twenty-nine, is deeply unhappy: there is her father's cancer, her strained relationship with her mother and her more successful best friend, her non-existent 'career' in the ever competitive film industry. In an attempt to make some extra cash Charlie has even begun selling photos, of a 'graphic' nature, of herself online. Given her not-so-great circumstances, Charlie feels understandably lost.
She finds some comfort in her father, whom she idolise, and his stories, one of which an account of his having survived a terrible tragedy. Inspired by this Charlie, alongside Laura, worked on 'It Takes A Village' a film that was based on her father's story. When the film gains the attention of an Irish film festival, Charlie and Laura are invited to the event. With her father's encouragement, Charlie set off to Ireland, hoping to find some guidance in the country she regards as her ancestral home. It happens that Charlie and Laura end up in Clipim, an island off the west coast of Ireland, and the place in which her father grew up. The people of Clipim however are not very forthcoming about the past, especially towards outsiders. Charlie however is convinced that someone is hiding the truth about the tragedy that irrevocably shaped her father's life.
Similarly to Promising Young Women, there is a sense of unease permeating the narrative. From Charlie's awkward interactions with her mother and best friend, to her sense of disillusionment towards her work and love life. Clipim magnifies the story's ambivalent atmosphere and O'Donoghue does not shy away from portraying the ramifications of the British occupation of Ireland. Over the course of the novel Charlie, who is quick to emphasise that she is indeed 'half Irish', realises that she has mythologised Ireland and her own connection to this country. While I was very much interested in Charlie's journey, and in the story's engagement with colonialism, national and self identity, and in her shrewd yet nuanced portrayal of Irish–British relations, the plot tangles itself in unnecessary knots. The latter half of the novel veers into clichéd territories: we have the Town with a Dark Secret™, almost a la The Wicker Man, which is almost entirely populated by physically and verbally 'hostile' individuals, There Be Strangers™. Charlie herself makes many stupid choices (which do create tension), and seems unable to read a room. Towards the end the story becomes increasingly disconcerting, which in some ways I was expecting given how hallucinatory Promising Young Women ended up being. Charlie hits rock bottom, some bad shit goes on, and then we get a hurried explanation and ending. The violence of certain characters seems totally brushed aside, which was rather unsatisfying. Also, Charlie's 'investigation' seemed less an investigation that her getting drunk and making wild accusations.
Even as the story become increasingly confusing, and frustrating, I was still absorbed by O'Donoghue's prose. I liked the way she writes and the themes/ideas she explores. Her main character is an imperfect human being who can be selfish and reckless. Her loneliness and her disillusionment however are rendered in an emphatic light. Certain relationships, such as the one between Charlie and Laura, were believably messy.
Yet, as much as I appreciated certain aspects of the story, part of me knows that the Clipim's residents were depicted in a less cartoonish way. In spite of Charlie’s interesting inner monologue, the storyline could have maintained a better focus. Still, I would thoroughly recommend this books as O'Donoghue's writing is incredibly compelling and in spite of her blunders Charlie was an all too realistic main character.
Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads
June 17, 2020
I think this is one of those stories that is going to leave a piece of itself with me. Beautifully human from beginning to end, this is a real character-driven book that has plenty of plot to keep a reader hooked.
The struggles of the main character, Charlie, hit home in fairly raw ways with me. At the end of her 20s, Charlie compares her dreams versus her achievements, deals with jealousy when comparing a close friend's achievements to her own, and navigates unspoken rules within complicated family relationships.
After creating a film with her best friend Laura, depicting a tragedy that her father lived through on the small (fictional) Irish island of Clipim, Charlie gives in to her lingering doubts about the story that her father told her. Alongside a deep desire to visit her ancestral home, the women venture to the island to try to determine the truth.
In a classic tight-knit community fashion, outsiders coming in and digging up the history doesn't go down well. Secrecy among small communities and the resulting paranoia is one of my favourites tropes in mystery novels, and it's used incredibly well here. Each character in the book is fully fleshed out leading to every situation feeling believable as a reader.
There is a theme throughout of what it means to belong to a place, and to a culture. Growing up in England but hearing endless wistful stories of Ireland from her father, Charlie deals with the expectation versus reality result, and has to face the fact that having family history in a place doesn't necessarily mean that you will be seen as belonging by the people who have lived there all along, and view you as an outsider.
Although fictional, the tragic story that is the basis of this book is based on a system that was in place in Ireland until relatively recently, and one that I was largely unaware of.
The struggles of the main character, Charlie, hit home in fairly raw ways with me. At the end of her 20s, Charlie compares her dreams versus her achievements, deals with jealousy when comparing a close friend's achievements to her own, and navigates unspoken rules within complicated family relationships.
After creating a film with her best friend Laura, depicting a tragedy that her father lived through on the small (fictional) Irish island of Clipim, Charlie gives in to her lingering doubts about the story that her father told her. Alongside a deep desire to visit her ancestral home, the women venture to the island to try to determine the truth.
In a classic tight-knit community fashion, outsiders coming in and digging up the history doesn't go down well. Secrecy among small communities and the resulting paranoia is one of my favourites tropes in mystery novels, and it's used incredibly well here. Each character in the book is fully fleshed out leading to every situation feeling believable as a reader.
There is a theme throughout of what it means to belong to a place, and to a culture. Growing up in England but hearing endless wistful stories of Ireland from her father, Charlie deals with the expectation versus reality result, and has to face the fact that having family history in a place doesn't necessarily mean that you will be seen as belonging by the people who have lived there all along, and view you as an outsider.
Although fictional, the tragic story that is the basis of this book is based on a system that was in place in Ireland until relatively recently, and one that I was largely unaware of.
December 6, 2020
I really expected to like this book, but it doesn’t really hang together.
It’s an easy read, but sometimes the writing is annoying. For example, when the author describes the car as being “loaded up with chocolate croissants and steaming-hot coffees”. Really? How many coffees and croissants do two women need? Or “ My body feels like a pillowcase filled with sticks and peanut butter. My body feels like something bats are meant to live in.” What on earth is that supposed to mean?
I didn’t buy the whole porn story line. In this day and age, are people really paying for naked pictures of someone? I thought about googling that very question to find out but decided against it...
Then there’s the mystery at the heart of the book...which one guy eventually just decides to tell her. But it makes no sense! Why would the community go to such sinister lengths to stop her getting to the truth? Why would the Church be so determined to cover up something that didn’t have that much to do with it?
I am looking forward to reading more from this author because I loved her other book, and she’s a young, Irish female author, but this one just didn’t come together for me.
It’s an easy read, but sometimes the writing is annoying. For example, when the author describes the car as being “loaded up with chocolate croissants and steaming-hot coffees”. Really? How many coffees and croissants do two women need? Or “ My body feels like a pillowcase filled with sticks and peanut butter. My body feels like something bats are meant to live in.” What on earth is that supposed to mean?
I didn’t buy the whole porn story line. In this day and age, are people really paying for naked pictures of someone? I thought about googling that very question to find out but decided against it...
Then there’s the mystery at the heart of the book...which one guy eventually just decides to tell her. But it makes no sense! Why would the community go to such sinister lengths to stop her getting to the truth? Why would the Church be so determined to cover up something that didn’t have that much to do with it?
I am looking forward to reading more from this author because I loved her other book, and she’s a young, Irish female author, but this one just didn’t come together for me.
February 6, 2022
Oddly boring
June 5, 2020
Caroline O’Donoghue’s second novel follows a young woman, Charlie, an aspiring filmmaker. Charlie heads back home from London to Essex to spend some time with her dad who is dying of cancer, having just finished making a film about his childhood on the island of Clipim where he was the sole survivor of a disaster at his primary school. Desperate to get to the bottom of what is seemingly a freak accident and to learn more about her roots, Charlie travels with her best friend and fellow filmmaker, Laura, to the island… where a more complex community exists under the shiny tourist veneer.
I found Charlie a relatable character and the story to be well paced. I think where the novel let me down was when it tried to do too much - there are quite a lot of different threads and subplots (which I won’t reveal as they’re a bit spoiler-y) which I found kind of befuddling, and the tone varied wildly. Regardless, Scenes of a Graphic Nature has some important points to make about identity and often nails how it feels to be adrift in your late 20s.
Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
I found Charlie a relatable character and the story to be well paced. I think where the novel let me down was when it tried to do too much - there are quite a lot of different threads and subplots (which I won’t reveal as they’re a bit spoiler-y) which I found kind of befuddling, and the tone varied wildly. Regardless, Scenes of a Graphic Nature has some important points to make about identity and often nails how it feels to be adrift in your late 20s.
Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
November 19, 2021
What is this anti-Irish muck? Am I the only person on the earth thinks this book was pure crap?? Is this not an Irish author am so confused?? 😂 This was recommended by many podcasts/magazines/people whose other recommendations I generally wholeheartedly enjoy but I just could not get through this? Ended up skim reading it to see the end.
The main character reminded me of your girl from Bridesmaids, fecking up her own life and then complaining about it constantly. Her best mate is annoying and up herself.
But more to the point, the book is mad stereotypical about the Irish being rough, backwards savages to the English. Maybe one single Irish person is portrayed decently. The nice barmaid is American. The Irish are all setting fires, being pervy, dangling people off balconies, stalking, drunkards, wife beaters, backwards people on a backwards island telling nothing about their history.
Very few of the characteristics ring true (Maria’s description of an alcoholic made me laugh out loud) and the Magdalene laundries are obviously important to be addressed and acknowledged, but to me the character portrayal made this an unbearable, stereotypical, prejudiced story. I don’t explain how an Irish author would portray it like this? I can’t disagree with some of the stereotypes but surely they wouldn’t all be grouped in all the Irish people on this one tiny island, and surely they aren’t all specific to the Irish?
I also felt the ending came slightly out of nowhere and seemed a bit of let down to the build up in the rest of the book, but acknowledge that I was skim reading by this stage I probably didn’t get the full effect.
Am I missing something here? I feel I have missed the point?? An Irish author and a book that’s so highly rated? I am ready to be educated by people with different views 😂
The main character reminded me of your girl from Bridesmaids, fecking up her own life and then complaining about it constantly. Her best mate is annoying and up herself.
But more to the point, the book is mad stereotypical about the Irish being rough, backwards savages to the English. Maybe one single Irish person is portrayed decently. The nice barmaid is American. The Irish are all setting fires, being pervy, dangling people off balconies, stalking, drunkards, wife beaters, backwards people on a backwards island telling nothing about their history.
Very few of the characteristics ring true (Maria’s description of an alcoholic made me laugh out loud) and the Magdalene laundries are obviously important to be addressed and acknowledged, but to me the character portrayal made this an unbearable, stereotypical, prejudiced story. I don’t explain how an Irish author would portray it like this? I can’t disagree with some of the stereotypes but surely they wouldn’t all be grouped in all the Irish people on this one tiny island, and surely they aren’t all specific to the Irish?
I also felt the ending came slightly out of nowhere and seemed a bit of let down to the build up in the rest of the book, but acknowledge that I was skim reading by this stage I probably didn’t get the full effect.
Am I missing something here? I feel I have missed the point?? An Irish author and a book that’s so highly rated? I am ready to be educated by people with different views 😂
August 12, 2023
A very shallow portrayal of some of the most tragic and unjust parts of modern Irish history, that lacked the depth and nuance deserved.
May 7, 2024
This was such a good story but UGH! overexplanatory epilogues are my pet peeve.
December 8, 2020
Charlotte “Charlie” Regan is a 29-year-old filmmaker based in London. Her father has had cancer on and off for four years, but he got his ‘survivor’ label in a different way: when he was a child on an island off the western coast of Ireland, his teacher and 18 classmates died of carbon monoxide poisoning from the faulty secondhand oil burner in the schoolhouse. Although her film commemorates this story, Charlie has never been to Ireland, so an invitation to Cork Film Festival serves as the perfect opportunity to see the place before her father dies. Traveling with her is her former best friend and roommate, Laura Shingle. There’s sexual tension between these two. Charlie is a lesbian, but Laura is determined to think of herself as straight even though she and Charlie occasionally shared a bed. To prove herself, Laura goes too far the other way, making homophobic comments about strangers.
If initially Charlie thinks the trip to Ireland will be about shamrock-green nostalgia, she soon snaps out of her idealism when she has to face some tough truths about the film and her family’s history. Charlie is a companionable narrator, but, while I enjoyed the pub scenes and some funny one-liners (“Everything in our room is a faint brown, as though it were daubed very gently by a child with a teabag” and “He had an X-ray and there’s legumes all over it.” / “Legumes? Do you mean lesions?”), I was ultimately underwhelmed for reasons I can’t quite put a finger on. My interest peaked at the halfway point and waned thereafter. This might appeal to readers of Caoilinn Hughes.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
If initially Charlie thinks the trip to Ireland will be about shamrock-green nostalgia, she soon snaps out of her idealism when she has to face some tough truths about the film and her family’s history. Charlie is a companionable narrator, but, while I enjoyed the pub scenes and some funny one-liners (“Everything in our room is a faint brown, as though it were daubed very gently by a child with a teabag” and “He had an X-ray and there’s legumes all over it.” / “Legumes? Do you mean lesions?”), I was ultimately underwhelmed for reasons I can’t quite put a finger on. My interest peaked at the halfway point and waned thereafter. This might appeal to readers of Caoilinn Hughes.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
August 27, 2020
3.5
I have so many conflicted feelings, some of which I can't even articulate. I think some it is homesickness...
It took a wee while for Scenes of a Graphic Nature to find its feet. Everything set in England, the descriptions of the hospital room, Charlie being told to wear a bra...it felt like a different book. The same with Charlie's friendship with Laura, and the changes they are going through, I loved those parts of the story - but it was never completely fleshed out. It felt like these were two different plot strands, with the third being the mystery of Clipim's past. They are all loosely tied together by Charlie's less-than-promising film career.
Charlie's ignorance about modern Ireland and her sense of entitlement because of her roots is a big part of the story and is very well done, because I very much disliked her for it...the book isn't preachy about it, but I've met people as ignorant as her in real life and it's just tiring how naive she is.
I really, really enjoyed the mystery part of this book, and that was a part of the book I wasn't expecting. Small town/village secrecy is one of my favourite tropes in mysteries/horrors. However, I had a hard time distinguishing Clipim locals from one another (mainly the younger generation).
I also did not understand the behaviour of some of the younger residents of the island, and newcomers to the island...were they aware of the truth? did they just know it was a scandal of some sort but not the details? I just didn't really understand their motivations fully . The ending ultimately felt a bit messy, and I'm not sure the epilogue being that far in the future was needed when important parts of the plot were glossed over because of it.
Also got a flashback to national school and got 'lámh lámh eile' stuck in my head thanks to the 'cos, cos' scene.
I have so many conflicted feelings, some of which I can't even articulate. I think some it is homesickness...
It took a wee while for Scenes of a Graphic Nature to find its feet. Everything set in England, the descriptions of the hospital room, Charlie being told to wear a bra...it felt like a different book. The same with Charlie's friendship with Laura, and the changes they are going through, I loved those parts of the story - but it was never completely fleshed out. It felt like these were two different plot strands, with the third being the mystery of Clipim's past. They are all loosely tied together by Charlie's less-than-promising film career.
Charlie's ignorance about modern Ireland and her sense of entitlement because of her roots is a big part of the story and is very well done, because I very much disliked her for it...the book isn't preachy about it, but I've met people as ignorant as her in real life and it's just tiring how naive she is.
I really, really enjoyed the mystery part of this book, and that was a part of the book I wasn't expecting. Small town/village secrecy is one of my favourite tropes in mysteries/horrors. However, I had a hard time distinguishing Clipim locals from one another (mainly the younger generation).
I also did not understand the behaviour of some of the younger residents of the island, and newcomers to the island...were they aware of the truth? did they just know it was a scandal of some sort but not the details? I just didn't really understand their motivations fully . The ending ultimately felt a bit messy, and I'm not sure the epilogue being that far in the future was needed when important parts of the plot were glossed over because of it.
Also got a flashback to national school and got 'lámh lámh eile' stuck in my head thanks to the 'cos, cos' scene.
November 16, 2023
Gobbled this one up. Skilful weaving between past and present, really well fleshed out characters with lots of nuance. Perfect book if you’re looking for a not too far fetched fiction. Also ireland. Just ireland <3
May 11, 2020
This is the first Caroline O’Donoghue I’ve read, so I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect, but the premise and the writers who had blurbed the book peaked my interest enough to pick it up.
Ultimately, I’m still not really sure how I felt about this book. Charlotte was unlikable, raw, a complete mess, jealous and totally relatable. I loved her, even all the messy parts. Her love for her father was evident, and her longing to find a home when hers was falling apart was something I thought was beautifully done. I really felt for Charlie, I wanted her to catch a break.
Her relationship with Laura was the heart of this story, I don’t think it was meant to be, but for me it was. Charlie’s battle with her complicated feelings for Laura ring so true for so many friendships. Seeing someone you love thrive and grow while you seem to only stumble and flounder through life is equal parts painful and joyous. Their love for each other, even when things were terrible between them, carried me through this story. I could have read a whole book just about them and their friendship. The commentary of a gay woman with a straight best friend, the agony of the love that might have been had it been different, of Laura just getting it so wrong and hurting Charlie where it would be most painful, was unflinchingly real.
The mystery at the centre of the story, what happened to those children, kept me guessing but I think that was more out of confusion than anything else. O’Donoghue painted Ireland and Clip vividly, the small town characters who know everything and yet nothing at all were vibrant. But the whole time I felt like the story kept building to something that never quite paid off. The unravelling of the story felt unsatisfying, rushed at the end when it became clear that no great unveiling would actually happen. Though in a way, this mirrored Charlie’s story too. She went to Ireland and to Clip searching for answers, for family, built up this image of what the place her father had told her stories about would be like, and in the end it wasn’t what she imagined at all - better or worse, it didn’t matter. Charlie didn’t find herself or anything beyond the long buried secrets of a small community.
What I did like was the last chapter that left us with the promise of that unveiling of the truth, that Charlie and now Maria, were waiting until the right moment to pursue justice. It was frustrating to not be part of that story in the end, but the knowledge that Charlie intended to finish it was enough.
Overall, Scenes of a Graphic Nature was enjoyable, Caroline O’Donoghue’s writing was strong, though the sprinkling of pop culture references did make me cringe, her ability to write relationships really is the strength. Charlie’s relationships with Laura, her father and her mother were, for me, undoubtedly the best parts of this book.
Ultimately, I’m still not really sure how I felt about this book. Charlotte was unlikable, raw, a complete mess, jealous and totally relatable. I loved her, even all the messy parts. Her love for her father was evident, and her longing to find a home when hers was falling apart was something I thought was beautifully done. I really felt for Charlie, I wanted her to catch a break.
Her relationship with Laura was the heart of this story, I don’t think it was meant to be, but for me it was. Charlie’s battle with her complicated feelings for Laura ring so true for so many friendships. Seeing someone you love thrive and grow while you seem to only stumble and flounder through life is equal parts painful and joyous. Their love for each other, even when things were terrible between them, carried me through this story. I could have read a whole book just about them and their friendship. The commentary of a gay woman with a straight best friend, the agony of the love that might have been had it been different, of Laura just getting it so wrong and hurting Charlie where it would be most painful, was unflinchingly real.
The mystery at the centre of the story, what happened to those children, kept me guessing but I think that was more out of confusion than anything else. O’Donoghue painted Ireland and Clip vividly, the small town characters who know everything and yet nothing at all were vibrant. But the whole time I felt like the story kept building to something that never quite paid off. The unravelling of the story felt unsatisfying, rushed at the end when it became clear that no great unveiling would actually happen. Though in a way, this mirrored Charlie’s story too. She went to Ireland and to Clip searching for answers, for family, built up this image of what the place her father had told her stories about would be like, and in the end it wasn’t what she imagined at all - better or worse, it didn’t matter. Charlie didn’t find herself or anything beyond the long buried secrets of a small community.
What I did like was the last chapter that left us with the promise of that unveiling of the truth, that Charlie and now Maria, were waiting until the right moment to pursue justice. It was frustrating to not be part of that story in the end, but the knowledge that Charlie intended to finish it was enough.
Overall, Scenes of a Graphic Nature was enjoyable, Caroline O’Donoghue’s writing was strong, though the sprinkling of pop culture references did make me cringe, her ability to write relationships really is the strength. Charlie’s relationships with Laura, her father and her mother were, for me, undoubtedly the best parts of this book.
April 21, 2022
Charlie's father is dying. All her life, he's been telling her stories about the island of Clipim, off the coast of Kerry, where he grew up. He was the only surviving child of a disaster that destroyed the tiny local school in 1963, a story that has stayed with Charlie all her life. At last, Charlie decides to visit Ireland, and goes to Clipim, which is a very different place than the one her father described -- though a little off the beaten track, it relies on the tourist trade, and is very much part of the modern world. Charlie feels that there is more to the story of her father's narrow escape than he is letting on, and she begins to question the locals, but finds that they rapidly close ranks when she brings up the disaster. Meanwhile, Charlie is trying to repair a friendship with her best friend, Laura, and falling for the island's local bar tender, Maria. This is a gripping story, and easy to read, but not entirely successful or convincing. I think it's trying to do too much: Charlie's relationship with her father, her career struggles, and her relationships with women, all feel more interesting and well-realised than the mystery on the island, and the dénouement of the mystery was handled as a rushed info-dump, that left me unconvinced. I was also frustrated that the relationship with her father, which was set up to be so important, is left unresolved. The parts of the story that are about Ireland and Ireland's history feel clumsy and overly simplistic, and I think the novel isn't sure what it's trying to say or do. However, it's a light read that keeps you turning the pages.
May 3, 2023
A dreadful book- a grave injustice to the terrible situation of those Irish women who were so terribly abused in the catholic laundries. Self indulgent twaddle! Hated it and although I finished it it left me feeling frustrated that writing of such poor quality can get published by a reputable company like Penguin
May 27, 2025
More plot in my dreams after eating cheese than in this entire book
June 10, 2020
As far back as Charlie can remember, her Irish heritage has been a complicated one. She was raised to call herself Irish, but she grew up in England and never once visited her father's home country. Her father never returned after growing up there, and his whole childhood spent on an island off the coast of Kerry was overshadowed by a traumatic incident, and one that he is not able to stop talking about and thinking about, even as a middle aged man in a hospital bed battling cancer. Charlie's film about the incident is a labour of love, to prove herself as a writer and filmmaker and to record her sick father's story. However, when she and her best friend and co createor Laura get a chance to travel to Cork to show the film at a festival, it is not the homecoming or the celebration Charlie dreamt of.
Scenes of a Graphic Nature deals with the idea of self mythologising, on many levels: what individuals do, families do and whole countries do in order to create a story around themselves that they can project to others and convince themselves with. We see this in so many guises - Charlie reminiscing on her friendship with Laura when it felt like them against the world, her cruelly promiscuous persona called 'The Biter' around the women she dates, her conviction in her film as being groundbreaking and authentic, her father's conflicting narratives around being the miraculous boy who lived and the man who could never return, to the way that Ireland presents itself as a cosmopolitan country and a charming backwater, and a welcoming and friendly nation while hiding a violent history and past dominated by the systematic abuse of women and children by the Catholic Church.
This is a book about art and belonging and family is striking and moving, and its central mystery that brings us into the terrible secrets in Ireland's past makes for thought provoking and necessary reading. It is compelling, funny and thrilling and would be absolutely perfect for book clubs as you would never run out of plot points and themes to discuss. I really enjoyed O'Donoghue's first novel, Promising Young Women, which was an ambitious plot driven debut, but in Scenes of a Graphic Nature O'Donoghue skillfully combines her gift for mystery and fast paced narrative with more complicated characters and difficult themes. It makes me so excited to see what she comes up with next.
Scenes of a Graphic Nature deals with the idea of self mythologising, on many levels: what individuals do, families do and whole countries do in order to create a story around themselves that they can project to others and convince themselves with. We see this in so many guises - Charlie reminiscing on her friendship with Laura when it felt like them against the world, her cruelly promiscuous persona called 'The Biter' around the women she dates, her conviction in her film as being groundbreaking and authentic, her father's conflicting narratives around being the miraculous boy who lived and the man who could never return, to the way that Ireland presents itself as a cosmopolitan country and a charming backwater, and a welcoming and friendly nation while hiding a violent history and past dominated by the systematic abuse of women and children by the Catholic Church.
This is a book about art and belonging and family is striking and moving, and its central mystery that brings us into the terrible secrets in Ireland's past makes for thought provoking and necessary reading. It is compelling, funny and thrilling and would be absolutely perfect for book clubs as you would never run out of plot points and themes to discuss. I really enjoyed O'Donoghue's first novel, Promising Young Women, which was an ambitious plot driven debut, but in Scenes of a Graphic Nature O'Donoghue skillfully combines her gift for mystery and fast paced narrative with more complicated characters and difficult themes. It makes me so excited to see what she comes up with next.
April 14, 2024
grrr. the authors other book 'promising young women' (not same as movie) was a simple thriller i read in a day that had faults but it was an easy read for me at the time maybe 6 years ago. this book was bizarre, it felt like a millennial rambling trying to tap into the Dolly Alderton-esque relatability, while also being a mystery, a mid-20s-find-yourself-femme-lit-flick and an ode to ireland all at once and it was simply just annoying!!
here is a line:
"After Benjamin left last night, I couldn't seem to get warm, so I layered my GAP hoodie over Laura's Bimba Y Lola jumper. It smells like fruit and Johnson's baby lotion and the kind of shampoo you can only buy at the hairdressers." This is not one page after shes sexually harassed and her best friend is potentially dead in a fire. what
I pushed through to the end to see if there was any kind of storytelling worth sticking around for but there wasn't.
here is a line:
"After Benjamin left last night, I couldn't seem to get warm, so I layered my GAP hoodie over Laura's Bimba Y Lola jumper. It smells like fruit and Johnson's baby lotion and the kind of shampoo you can only buy at the hairdressers." This is not one page after shes sexually harassed and her best friend is potentially dead in a fire. what
I pushed through to the end to see if there was any kind of storytelling worth sticking around for but there wasn't.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2022
Millenial angst mixed with a mystery but make it funny, drunk, and gay.
August 29, 2023
First 50% = yay,
Second 50% = a big nay
Second 50% = a big nay
July 14, 2024
Charlie’s only personality trait is that she’s half-Irish and really wants everyone to know.
January 21, 2025
this slapped i had a great time and it made me desperately want to go back to ireland!!! however the finale was slightly underwhelming/felt like it was missing something
May 10, 2024
Me 🤝 books featuring Cork
Really really enjoyed this. Same air of Irish mystery like The Wonder but set present day.
Found the bits about her selling her own porn wasn’t impactful to the story. Felt it was mentioned and then used again towards the end when it was needed with no massive impact.
Would have loved to have gotten a wrap up with her dad at the end.
Really really enjoyed this. Same air of Irish mystery like The Wonder but set present day.
Found the bits about her selling her own porn wasn’t impactful to the story. Felt it was mentioned and then used again towards the end when it was needed with no massive impact.
Would have loved to have gotten a wrap up with her dad at the end.
June 7, 2025
Ibland känns storyn lite osammanhängande och det lämnas några udda lösa trådar. Lite nästan som tre olika böcker ihopsatta i en, coming of age, historisk novell och en tragedi, vilket är både en svaghet och styrka till och från Men det hela vägs upp med att O’Donoghues prosa är så underhållande och smidig.
January 30, 2022
3/5 stars
This was an intriguing character driven book, with a hint of small town mystery thrown in for good measure. While the characters were interesting, the plot was enjoyable and the mystery held a lot of promise, I am left feeling a bit conflicted about my feelings for the book altogether.
This is another of the books following the life and experiences of a complex, troubled contemporary woman just trying her best to live her life. I have been loving these stories recently, yearning for interesting character studies and to relate to a complex woman struggling with the day to day hardships they face. This book definitely succeeded in this way. Charlie was at times relatable, at times unlikeable, but undeniably well-rounded and complex. Her relationships with her work, her parents and her best friend Laura were all flawed and at times unhealthy, but always earnest. She was definitely a captivating character to follow, even if she frustrated me at times.
I think the overall mystery plot and how it related to Charlie's life was also quite interesting, especially at the beginning. But from about the middle point onwards, my interest in the mystery and investment in the plot began to stagnate and wane. I can't quite explain or identify what happened and why this book didn't fully live up to what I wanted it to be, but by the end I found that the mystery was no longer carrying the plot. I don't think the ending gave the meaning or thoughtfulness I wanted it to, especially since the whole book felt like it was leading up to something grand. I found the writing to be similarly disappointing at times. While there were points where I thought the writing was beautiful and meaningful, there were other times that I thought it was a bit clumsy and rushed. In all, this book left me feeling conflicted, and not quite satisfied fully, but unable to put my finger on where it went wrong necessarily.
This was an intriguing character driven book, with a hint of small town mystery thrown in for good measure. While the characters were interesting, the plot was enjoyable and the mystery held a lot of promise, I am left feeling a bit conflicted about my feelings for the book altogether.
This is another of the books following the life and experiences of a complex, troubled contemporary woman just trying her best to live her life. I have been loving these stories recently, yearning for interesting character studies and to relate to a complex woman struggling with the day to day hardships they face. This book definitely succeeded in this way. Charlie was at times relatable, at times unlikeable, but undeniably well-rounded and complex. Her relationships with her work, her parents and her best friend Laura were all flawed and at times unhealthy, but always earnest. She was definitely a captivating character to follow, even if she frustrated me at times.
I think the overall mystery plot and how it related to Charlie's life was also quite interesting, especially at the beginning. But from about the middle point onwards, my interest in the mystery and investment in the plot began to stagnate and wane. I can't quite explain or identify what happened and why this book didn't fully live up to what I wanted it to be, but by the end I found that the mystery was no longer carrying the plot. I don't think the ending gave the meaning or thoughtfulness I wanted it to, especially since the whole book felt like it was leading up to something grand. I found the writing to be similarly disappointing at times. While there were points where I thought the writing was beautiful and meaningful, there were other times that I thought it was a bit clumsy and rushed. In all, this book left me feeling conflicted, and not quite satisfied fully, but unable to put my finger on where it went wrong necessarily.
August 27, 2021
I absolutely loved this book. In the words of Caroline O’Donoghue herself, it’s a banger. Charlie is an aspiring filmmaker. Her father is dying from cancer and Charlie struggles to balance her career and her family. She has just made a film based on a childhood tragedy of her father’s. He was the sole surviving child in a fatal gas leak in his school on the island of Clipim. Charlie travels to Ireland, and subsequently to Clipim where she must confront the past and discover the truth.
Charlie’s trip to Ireland is quite funny initially as she considers herself Irish but has never visited the country before. The book tackles many romantic stereotypes that Ireland has been given by many. Ireland is often seen as a friendly, welcoming, and happy nation, yet the real truth is that we have as many issues and dark historical secrets beneath the surface. The book delves into the cover-ups and the denial of the truth. A warning to readers that it does discuss the abuse of women and children at the hands of the Catholic Church.
Charlie herself is someone that you are rooting for from the very start. She is lost and hurt that her career has not taken off like her friend Laura. She is also mourning her friendship with Laura, who in my mind does not treat her well. Laura’s off-hand remarks about past situations between the two, and even about remarks about LGBTQ+ were incredibly hurtful. Yet the relationship and feelings between the two felt agonisingly real. The pain of watching your friend move on with their life, their career taking off, and feeling left behind are ones that many can relate to in this book.
Rebecca, 1/3 of The Grim Readers
Charlie’s trip to Ireland is quite funny initially as she considers herself Irish but has never visited the country before. The book tackles many romantic stereotypes that Ireland has been given by many. Ireland is often seen as a friendly, welcoming, and happy nation, yet the real truth is that we have as many issues and dark historical secrets beneath the surface. The book delves into the cover-ups and the denial of the truth. A warning to readers that it does discuss the abuse of women and children at the hands of the Catholic Church.
Charlie herself is someone that you are rooting for from the very start. She is lost and hurt that her career has not taken off like her friend Laura. She is also mourning her friendship with Laura, who in my mind does not treat her well. Laura’s off-hand remarks about past situations between the two, and even about remarks about LGBTQ+ were incredibly hurtful. Yet the relationship and feelings between the two felt agonisingly real. The pain of watching your friend move on with their life, their career taking off, and feeling left behind are ones that many can relate to in this book.
Rebecca, 1/3 of The Grim Readers
July 11, 2021
What to say about this book?
Firstly, I really do love the way Caroline writes. She has such a clear, fresh voice that flows beautifully onto the page. I really appreciate it when a book is so easy to read that it feels like running down a very steep hill; the story moves so fast that you don’t even realise you’re turning the pages.
However. I feel exactly the same way about this book as I did about All Our Hidden Gifts. While the writing style was a delight, the story itself felt like a knotted pair of headphones: everything you need is right there, all of the parts are in place, but it’s all so tangled up. I kept waiting for the big, satisfying reveal , and I don’t think it ever came. I just found the ending lacklustre, and quite frustrating.
I feel horrible for saying this. Every piece of writing is a labour of love, and behind every work is an author literally putting their heart on the chopping block. They hand their work out for everyone to read, and have no real control who will pick it up, or what they will think.
I genuinely did enjoy reading this book, but the ending was such a let down for me. I still don’t really understand what happened. At all. In truth, I’m just very confused.
Firstly, I really do love the way Caroline writes. She has such a clear, fresh voice that flows beautifully onto the page. I really appreciate it when a book is so easy to read that it feels like running down a very steep hill; the story moves so fast that you don’t even realise you’re turning the pages.
However. I feel exactly the same way about this book as I did about All Our Hidden Gifts. While the writing style was a delight, the story itself felt like a knotted pair of headphones: everything you need is right there, all of the parts are in place, but it’s all so tangled up. I kept waiting for the big, satisfying reveal , and I don’t think it ever came. I just found the ending lacklustre, and quite frustrating.
I feel horrible for saying this. Every piece of writing is a labour of love, and behind every work is an author literally putting their heart on the chopping block. They hand their work out for everyone to read, and have no real control who will pick it up, or what they will think.
I genuinely did enjoy reading this book, but the ending was such a let down for me. I still don’t really understand what happened. At all. In truth, I’m just very confused.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2020
I enjoyed Caroline’s first novel and it’s always so wonderful when an author is just improving on their craft.
I find her style of writing really interesting and engaging as she tells the story of “Charlie” our protagonist who is travelling over to Ireland to explore her roots and uncover the mysteries surrounding her Father’s childhood.
I was not expecting this to be thriller / mystery genre but it almost falls into this and is probably what kept me gripped and meant I finished the book in under 24 hours. Alongside the mystery element of the book their is a very sweet love story and a not so sweet exploration on a friendship - the kind of intense friendship you have in your 20s which has to evolve and change as you grow up but it always hard when someone is left behind.
I loved the book, loved the characters and loved Caroline’s excellent observations on friendship, love and Ireland. I also think because she is Irish she can write so authenticallY about the subject she covers. I recommend this, for sure!
I find her style of writing really interesting and engaging as she tells the story of “Charlie” our protagonist who is travelling over to Ireland to explore her roots and uncover the mysteries surrounding her Father’s childhood.
I was not expecting this to be thriller / mystery genre but it almost falls into this and is probably what kept me gripped and meant I finished the book in under 24 hours. Alongside the mystery element of the book their is a very sweet love story and a not so sweet exploration on a friendship - the kind of intense friendship you have in your 20s which has to evolve and change as you grow up but it always hard when someone is left behind.
I loved the book, loved the characters and loved Caroline’s excellent observations on friendship, love and Ireland. I also think because she is Irish she can write so authenticallY about the subject she covers. I recommend this, for sure!
August 20, 2021
I have really mixed feelings about this.
I enjoyed the conspiracy theory and mystery element of the plot. And I think the author portrayed feeling completely lost in 20s perfectly.
However, I did feel there was a lot going on in this and felt it focused on some areas a little bit too much.
The twists and turns did keep me guessing though and I was satisfied with the end reveal.
Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for providing me with a copy to read.
I enjoyed the conspiracy theory and mystery element of the plot. And I think the author portrayed feeling completely lost in 20s perfectly.
However, I did feel there was a lot going on in this and felt it focused on some areas a little bit too much.
The twists and turns did keep me guessing though and I was satisfied with the end reveal.
Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for providing me with a copy to read.
July 9, 2023
Even though I enjoyed reading this, it wasn’t the same as ‘Promising Young Women’.
I’d say my main issue with this book is how some things seemed to have been left hanging. Although there’s an epilogue, I didn’t think it added much to the story. And it felt a bit rushed.
Other than that, I found this an engrossing story. And I really enjoyed O’Donoghue’s sense of humour.
I’d say my main issue with this book is how some things seemed to have been left hanging. Although there’s an epilogue, I didn’t think it added much to the story. And it felt a bit rushed.
Other than that, I found this an engrossing story. And I really enjoyed O’Donoghue’s sense of humour.
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