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Academy Street (2014)

by Mary Costello(Favorite Author)

4.06 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Text Publishing Company

review 1: I think the main problem was I did not have any rapport or sympathy with the protagonist Tess who seems incapable of doing other than fatalistically watch her life squandered. The events from rural Ireland to New York are contrived and I just felt irritated. Perhaps the author was revealed more than the central character who drifts passive from sadness to grief to saddness. There is so little light or warmth in the novel. Yes it is well written but who would I recommend it to? I sense this has been acclaimed because it was like one of those melodramas where the noble heroine suffers in silence. Having read a very good book before this I was less than impressed
review 2: I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which I bought after it was named Irish Times novel of the ... moreyear 2014.Costello tells the story of Tess, from the time of her difficult childhood growing up in the west of Ireland in the 1940s, through to her emigration to New York and her decades of life living on Academy Street, from where the novel gets its name, and indeed beyond.Costello's portrayal of Tess, who on the face of it lives a wholly unremarkable life, evoked the likes of John Williams' 'Stoner', or sections of Colum McCann's 'Let the Great World Spin' for me, and while the book is a short read, I didn't feel short changed-the author is able to pack some serious emotional punch through her prose.Not quite up there with my favourite reads of the year, but not far off it-a book that I'd definitely recommend! less

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