Irish Readers discussion

I thought it was an ok book. Again just like last month, this is not my genre so I was bored at some points and found some bits lacking, but I'll get to that in a moment.

On the good side, I really liked the characters. For some reason I could relate to them as they seemed so real to me. In fact, Mark's life is somewhat similar to mine that I felt like him at some point.

I loved his father, Tom. As a matter of fact they were the two characters I was only interested in. Both father and son seemed so stubborn in my opinion yet I loved them for this. I wanted to shake the two of them until they quit fighting, and yet I understood how they both felt.

I liked Joanne and Maura, and although they did play some vital parts in this story, I felt like they weren't so important to the author. The book mentioned a great tragedy, and I was expecting something major, and although the event involving Maura and Joanne was bad, the climax to this tragic event was never there. I felt like they were just shoved in a corner as quickly as possible so the author could just get on with the rest of the tale. I was terribly disappointed by this.

The end of the story was also disappointing for me as it was flat, which is a pity as I thought this story had potential.

And now, back to a positive note: Maybe it was just my imagination, but I loved how the story kept switching from a modern Irish lifestyle to something more traditional. It just worked so well.

Anyway, as for my rating. I'd give this book 3 out of 5 stars. I rated it this way as I thought the story itself was beautiful, but it was flat in a lot of places and lacked climaxes, but the characters were beautiful and believable, and I couldn't help but love them.

First past the post - Well done Kevin.

Still waiting for the library to call.

I'm halfway through and don't know if I'll finish it. It has just bogged down terribly, and everyone is so unhappy. I hate books where there doesn't seem to be any positive elements at all, and that's how the book seems right now.

Unlike Kevin, I liked Joanne and Maura and am sorry to hear they disappear from the story. I'm tired of the constant fighting between Tom and Mark and have to say they are not my favorite characters. I don't have much motivation to continue on unless someone can give me a good reason to finish. (I have so many books on my "to read" list and so little time that I'm not interested in finishing books that don't keep my interest anymore.)

Anyway, I think I fall under the group John mentioned in the other thread on this book - while I like interesting characters there needs to be a story that captures my attention in the books I read. This one seems to be missing that for me.

Sorry to everyone who liked it....you have more patience than I have :-)

So as a PhD student, reading the character of mark was a bit like reading a diary of all the phases one goes through in writing a thesis. A little too close to the bone for me. Found his relationship with Tom a bit annoying as there was little resolution. But the lack of interest by the family as the studies progress is my experience. I do like the way the roles change between the mum and dad towards the end Interesting. The banal questions can be annoying but very sweet and is exactly how it is described.

The use of newgrange at the very end was a little cliche. But at the same time I liked that the story ended on a positive note. Newgrange becomes a symbol of hope.

Good but slow read.

I'm late, but I just finished Solace. I'm mixed. It's just not my cup of tea. I found it somewhat boring, most of the time. I pushed through it in spite of this. It was a sad story of two families that have extremely strained relationships and nothing ever was resolved. Will Mark and and Tom just bicker and put up with each other for the rest of their lives?
When Joanne and Maura died I thought they might come to some understanding of each other, have a nice heart to heart and resolve their relationship to some degree at least. And maybe they did, without really talking about it, there was a little hint of that possibility. I just found the family dynamics depressing and it made me appreciate my family once again. We have fun together!
I couldn't relate at all to anything in this book, maybe that's the problem. If so, I'm glad it's my problem!

I'm halfway and parked this book about 2 weeks ago, I was hoping Joanne and Maura were going to run off together and spice things up a bit.

I might not bother to finish it now. As I'm swamped at the mo and haven't had much time to get any reading done.

I finished it a few weeks ago but never got around to joining in again.

But having finished it, I haven't really got that much more to say about it then when I was a bit of a way in. I liked her writing, I liked the realistic character portrayals.

I really enjoyed some of the dialogue. It wasn't there just to move the plot on like you get in a lot of books, (and a HELL of a lot of movies). That stuff gets on my nerves - unrealistic dialogue and actions for the sake of story.

I liked how she dealt with grief too. She resisted all melodrama. It was like she bottled up the grief a little bit, just like the characters in the book.

Overall I guess I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

I read this book, but found it so boring. I never really got into the characters, and found it very depressing. The only discriptive thing in the book was the "red tractor".

Overall I would give it 2 stars out of 5

I've given up, managed to get to page 173, but I've decided that life's too short to force myself to finish something I’m not enjoying, and there are far too may books in my to read pile that are being neglected.