** 4.75 stars **
I LOVE Claire Keegan’s way of telling a story!
She understands just how to write normal lives with its ups and downs and experiences without making it overly dramatic while still giving the different subject matters discussed in the book and the emotions depth. All her books so far have that same deceptively simplistic feel and I really enjoy how the author knows her audience/the readers will get her and understand. She doesn’t feel the need to overexplain, yet she finds the perfect balance between show and tell.
This story is no different. It’s about a young Irish girl who’s sent to live with her mother’s relatives over the summer holidays, as she’s expecting another child and there’s already too many children in the house. Once there, the girl slowly gets to experience honest love and a feeling of security within a family.
The relationship blossoming between them is just wonderful to read.
While there is the fact that she gets to see new things and new ways of how a family can be also, her immediate family is not demonised. It’s the fact that not everyone lives the same exact life. While she missed the nurturing and loving part in her immediate family, she probably learned how to fend for herself and occupy herself, which aren’t bad skills to have in life.
Ultimately, nothing’s on the nose and you just get to experience alongside the girl. Within only 80 pages the emotions and experiences portrayed resonate far more than many other books with 200+ pages can say for themselves. I just LOVE stories like these.
