Category Archives: Book reviews

Book Review: Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell

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I’ve read a spate of Irish authors in the last couple of years and here is another one to add to the list.

It’s a powerful story and if you’re looking for a tension packed novel then this one is for you.

Ciara, a mother with two small children lives with a controlling and emotionally abusive husband. In one impulsive moment of desperation, she hastily grabs some clothes, puts her children in the car and escapes from the family home. With no money, no home and no job she is adrift in a system difficult to navigate during Ireland’s housing crisis.

The themes of abuse, coercive control as well as systemic issues where women face an uphill battle just to feel safe and secure is played out well in this story.

There are a range of emotions from sympathy to outrage to helplessness. And while this may be set in Ireland these issues are certainly not isolated to that country. I’d suggest it’s endemic across the world where patriarchal systems fail to cater adequately for women who need help. The author has put this front and centre which is why this is a powerful novel, shortlisted for a number of prizes.

It’s not all doom and gloom though as Ciara finds support not just from her family but also friends who provide a crutch for her, emotional as well as physical. Heart-wrenching at times, it’s  a hopeful read.

Book Review: Theory and Practice by Michelle De Kretser

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This story takes us to the 1980’s in Melbourne where a young Sri Lankan woman is undertaking a post-doctoral study of Virginia Woolf. She has moved from Sydney leaving behind a broken relationship. She considers herself a feminist but embarks on a relationship with Kit, who is her friend, Olivia’s boyfriend. Despite his insistence that he and Olivia have a deconstructed relationship, the woman is torn with her guilt for Olivia and her own desires. 

“Sometimes jealousy was a visitor from an alien galaxy that had nothing to do with me. Sometimes it was a frightening growth in my body for which science hadn’t discovered a cure.”

The woman contrasts Virginia Woolf’s middle-class Englishness with the tea pickers in colonial countries whose work in abysmal conditions enabled Woolf to the lifestyle she had at the time. And I found this to be an intriguing along with the other themes of racism and colonialism.

The characters are never completely likeable and it almost reads like a memoir. I found the story meandered in parts and found it difficult to connect with the narrator.

An okay read but not a memorable one.

Book Review: The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

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Set in Holland in 1961, two women are thrown together for the summer with consequences which affect their lives.

The book begins with reclusive Isabel who lives alone in the family home. Her two brothers are out in the world, Hendrik lives with his boyfriend, while womaniser Louis has a girlfriend, Eva who he foists onto Isabel while he’s away with work. Obsessive, compulsive Isabel despises the extroverted Eva which makes for a tense atmosphere in the house.

This is a masterful novel with a twist, I didn’t see coming. The shadow of World War Two permeates through the narrative, stalking each character with a trauma each is not keen to revisit. Eva has her own secrets which she keeps bottled up while challenging Isabel’s way of life in ways she never imagines. The relationship between the women changes in unexpected ways. There is quite a bit of sex which while done well began to become a little protracted for my liking. The story certainly zips along in the last third bringing the whole story to a satisfying end.

It’s a riveting read filled with obsession, passion and betrayal. It’s also about dispossession and rights of those who were displaced during the war.

Beautifully written with well developed characters, I enjoyed this Booker Prize short listed novel for 2024.

Book Review: Ghost Cities by Siang Lu

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What a crazy wild ride this book took me on. It was fantastical as it was imaginative, absurd yet amusing. Ghost Cities also won the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award.

This is a dual timeline, dual character novel where one time line is set in ancient Chinese times where a powerful and dictatorial Emperor governs with cruelty. The other timeline is present day centered on Xiang ,a Chinese translator who is fired from his job because he doesn’t speak or read Chinese. He is then known as #BadChinese and becomes an humiliating internet sensation. He attracts the attention of an eccentric film director known as Baby Bao and offered a media role at his giant movie set in a Chinese empty city.

Each timeline parallels the ruthlessness of the emperor/director who without any accountability do whatever they please for their own self-satisfaction.

Ghost Cities reminded me of the Truman show while the ancient times explored the cruelty of dictators. Indeed, the petulance of the emperor reminded me of American politics while other aspects were reminiscent of numerous dictators around the world who have and continue to create havoc for their hapless citizens.

There are stories within stories about master manipulators, chess games, mountains, architectural beauty and decadence along with undercurrents of subversion, both small and large.

It’s a truly interesting book which has multiple levels, and I found myself drawn into the ancient world a little more than the present day. There were times where I devoured sections and some parts which dragged, namely the present day which meandered a little too slowly for my liking.

Overall, however, this one is worth trying if only for the bizarre and bold telling.

Book Anniversary: Sugar Creek

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Time has flown since Sugar Creek was released to the world and I’ve received many messages of support and love for this book.

Many have told me that once they start reading it, they can’t put it down until the end. I don’t know about you but as a reader that’s the sort of book I love too.

Do you like to read a book about two strong women in different timelines? I loved writing about Dana, a struggling doctor in 2000 and Ellen, an unmarried mother looking for justice in 1948.

Sugar Creek is discounted at the moment so if you’re looking for something to read over the holiday period then you might just like this one. It’s available on Amazon and the link is below.

Book Review: Saigon Siren: Memoir of a Stroke Recovery by Antonio Iannella

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As the title suggests, this is the true story of Antonio Iannella’s brush with death when at the young age of thirty-eight, he had a stroke while on a family holiday.

The story of his recovery is detailed and gives the reader a genuine idea of what having a stroke is like but more importantly what happens in the recovery stage.

He details the moments before and after the stroke and the trauma of being in a foreign country dealing with a language barrier as if what happened wasn’t enough to contend with. As you could imagine those obstacles would cause inordinate stress.

Taking us behind the scenes, Iannella shows us in detail the remarkable people who worked on his recovery. He had been unable to walk, could barely talk and effectively paralysed from the neck down. The occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech pathologists as well as the rest of the medical doctors and nurses were numerous but integral to his recovery. It gave me a thorough appreciation of the amazing people in our medical system.

This is a book of enlightenment which is also filled with useful information and inspiration. Iannella doesn’t take himself too seriously either as there are some quite genuine laugh-out loud bits as he nicknames his helpers, and makes light of some of the more serious issues he faces.

“Wrapped like a burrito, I was suspended above my bed. … hanging mid-air like an Italian salami my dad would tie to the rafters.”

There are metaphors for just about everything and maybe a bit too many but sometimes they’re needed to lighten the darkness of his horrendous experience.

It’s a well written and hopeful story. Give this one a go.

Book Review: Orbital by Samantha Harvey

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A book about people in space as well as being a Booker Prize Winner for 2024? I’m in.

This is a story about a day in the life of six astronauts on a space station. The astronauts, four men and two women come from Russia, America, Japan, Britain and Italy. They’ve left their families and friends for several months and we glimpse their day, working, playing, eating and sleeping.

The novel is broken up into sixteen chapters because the space station whizzes around earth sixteen times giving them a view of the world, many times over. Each time still fills them with fascination and wonder from their unique perch.

There’s no real plot or suspense or mystery but that is intentional. We learn that they do as we do, eat, sleep, work just like anybody else yet in very different circumstances. Their dehydrated food and the view of whatever continent they pass, the jobs they do on board, their relationship with each other and the connection they have with their loved ones at home and their cultures is anything other that ordinary.

It’s a meditative read as the mundane tasks at home take on a different challenge in space.The writing is completely descriptive, and lyrical immersing the reader into the every day of the astronauts.

Pietro will go and monitor his microbes that tell them something more about the viruses, funguses and bacteria that are present on the craft. Chie will continue growing her protein crystals, and attach herself to the MRI to have one of many routine brain scans that show the impact of microgravity on their neural functioning.

The author touches on many issues from global warming to politics, love and loss, art and culture but there is not really any development of any theme. Some of the details such as the MRI machine mentioned above seems a little fanciful and hardly realistic.

Still it’s science fiction so we suspend belief, don’t we?

I enjoyed the writing and the descriptions were incredible yet the repetition did become a little tedious. I was more interested in the relationships between the astronauts and while there was some attention, it was less that I wanted. We see glimpses of who they are but not enough to really get to know them.  I did however have to remind myself that this is one day and nothing of any consequence really happens.

 It’s a short read and a very memorable one. If you like a pure literary journey then this one is for you.