May reading wrap-up
My thoughts on all the books I read or listened to in the month of May...
Somehow it is already June (where is the year going?!), which can mean only one thing: it’s May reading wrap-up time.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the monthly wrap-up, it’s where one shares their thoughts on all the books they read in the month just passed. So here is the first reading wrap-up on The Conversation, where I’ll be looking back at all the books I read or listened to in the month of May.
May was a pretty successful reading month, partly due to the fact I was on holiday at the beginning of the month, which always results in a spike in book numbers. I read eight books in total, including five physical books, one on kindle and two audiobooks.
N.B. You’ll notice that I keep the reviews short for the books I didn’t love so much, this is a personal preference because I can only imagine how much skill, time and effort it takes to write a novel and I don’t wish to spend time wax lycricalling about how I didn’t love someone’s work.
Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
First up, we started the month off strong with Open, Heaven, the debut novel from British and Irish poet Seán Hewitt. The novel is stunning; you can tell almost from the first page that Hewitt is a poet because his use of words and sentence structure is gorgeously poetic and so beautifully crafted.
The story follows James, a young man growing up in a rural village in the North of England, who becomes enamoured with Luke, another young man who has recently moved into the same village to live with his grandparents.
Throughout the novel we see James and Luke’s relationship develop and follow the journey they go on together, but it’s consistently clear that James wishes the relationship were something more than it is.
I saw Hewitt talk about the novel at Waterstones on Gower Street last week and he spoke wonderfully about the idea of intimacy and how intimacy can mean such different things for different people depending on their set of circumstances. In the context of Open, Heaven specifically, it is clear that James is heartbroken by the level of intimacy he has with Luke because he yearns for something more romantic but it’s actually the intimacy that Luke does show James - in a platonic, friendship sense - that makes James’s experience of unrequited romantic love so much more challenging. I feel like this is something a lot of us will be able to relate to when we think back to those who we had crushes on or lusted after, as young teenagers exploring feelings of romantic love for the first time.
Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Sadly, I wanted to love Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh more than I did. Don’t get me wrong, there were elements of the novel that were really great, but I finished it feeling as though there were gaps that needed to be filled and my oh my, if you’re not familiar with Gaelic football (like me) then you might find this a little bit of a struggle in parts.
What I did really love was McHugh's depiction of teenage angst and how truly painful it is to be an adolescent man navigating relationships and friendships. It felt so spot on, as far as I can tell given that I have never been a teenage boy, and the explorations of familial relationships were also so good.
It was also absolutely hilarious in parts and I found myself genuinely laughing out loud, which is always a welcome surprise.
However, I did find parts of the novel a little underdeveloped, particularly the character of Amber who I felt could really have been fleshed out a lot more which would have given us a far more well-rounded understanding of her as a person and therefore her relationship with John.
Finally, as I briefly mentioned above, the prominence of Gaelic football made this read a little tricky. I will hold my hands up and say this is totally on me and my lack of understanding of the sport; its inclusion is central to the storyline and the novel wouldn’t be what it is without it. McHugh's writing and descriptions are beautiful and I'm sure if I was more familiar with the game I would have vivd images popping into my head, but as someone who knows little to nothing about the sport, the intensity of it was somewhat lost on me, particularly during the sections where the matches are described at length.
Audition by Katie Kitamura - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The third book of the month left me somewhat stumped, and I’m still not quite sure how to feel about it. I hadn't read any Katie Kitamura before picking up Audition and since doing some research, it seems to be the case that the book is very much in keeping with her style but it just left me rather confused…
I actually really loved the writing and the concept was a very interesting one - the story begins with a middle-aged woman and a younger man meeting for lunch and you’re not quite sure of the nature of their relationship - but, and it's quite a big but, it just all got too weird.
I love a weird book, especially a weird book with a strong female narrative, but this one just got a little too WTF for me, particularly the ending. If you have read Audition I am begging you to reach out to me so we can discuss the ending, because I have never been more confused. It felt like it all just went a bit AWOL.
The Favourites by Layne Fargo (on audio) - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I listened to The Favourites on audio and it was a banger. It was very reminiscent of Daisy Jones and the Six on audio given it is also set up in documentary style with interviews woven in throughout and makes use of a whole cast of narrators.
The story follows Olympic ice dancers Katerina Shaw and Heath Roacher and tracks their highs and lows, personal relationships, rivalries, and wins and losses. I honestly don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much if I had read the physical book so I’m incredibly glad I found the audiobook. I wouldn’t say the storyline or characters were anything groundbreaking, but it got a solid four stars from me due to pure enjoyment!
The Names by Florence Knapp - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Names by Florence Knapp was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year, and boy oh boy it did not disappoint!
Firstly, I just think the concept of this book is so brilliant - it looks at how your name has the potential to change the course of your life by the way it defines you and the way other people judge you because of it. When it’s pointed out to you, it makes total sense and seems so crucial, but in my experience it just isn't something I think we consider enough.
Secondly, I just love the three individual stories and the little elements interwoven throughout all of them. My only complaint is that I could honestly have had double the length of each story, I feel like fitting all three in did lead to a lack of exploration and development in parts, but arguably I’m sure this had to be the case to prevent the book from becoming an absolute tomb.
The novel also just broke my heart, the depiction of domestic violence is harrowing, but I didn’t expect Knapp’s depictions of grief to also hit me quite as hard. I found myself sobbing while reading the exploration of grief in the latter part of the book because it felt so heartbreakingly accurate. I would highly recommend.
Side note - this would be excellent as a movie and I would be very surprised if one isn’t already in the works. If anyone has any intel, please do share.
Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth - ⭐️⭐️
As I mentioned in my previous post, I picked Slags up on a whim because I loved the cover and the name, but unfortunately it ended up being a sad case of judging a book by its cover and then being let down by its contents.
On paper, Slags is everything I love - literary fiction, the struggles and experiences of being a young woman in the 90s, complex relationships, grappling with young love and coming of age, but sadly it felt somewhat underdeveloped and lacking in cohesion for me.
Ultimately, all the ingredients are there, but the end product just isn’t quite what the recipe suggested.
Air by John Boyne - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you haven’t read the first three books in John Boyne’s Elements quartet (Water, Earth and Fire), then stop what you’re doing right now and get your hands on them.
If you have, then please rejoice with me at Air being the most perfect ending to the most phenomenal series. Boyne honestly gets better and better with every piece of his work I read.
After devouring the first three in the quartet, all of which deal with the darkest of themes and explore parts of humanity that are nothing short of harrowing, it was beautifully refreshing to see them all come together in Air and for the novel not to be focused solely on one disturbing story.
I truly felt like Air filled the hole in my heart that had been opened by the first three books and the experience brought me to tears.
The skill it takes to create a body of work like this is incredible and I am in awe of how Boyne fits so much into such short works, but it shows in such a way that the writing isn’t at all overworked and not a word is wasted.
The Seven O’Clock Club by Amelia Ireland (audio) - ⭐️⭐️
And finally, I’m keeping my thoughts on The Seven O’Clock Club particularly brief as it just wasn’t the book for me. I listened to it on audio and started off by enjoying it and then it very quickly went south. It was too cringey and the twist I was waiting for with baited breath was quite the let down. I did think it was an interesting concept though!
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