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Mary, Tansey Und Die Reise Durch Die Nacht (2012)

by Roddy Doyle(Favorite Author)

3.57 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

cbj

review 1: This is a short, sweet, charming book which I mostly enjoyed. Bits of it, particularly the chapter where we learn how Mary's great-grandmother died, are deeply touching.On the minus side, while I think this would have captured my imagination more when I was 12 myself, as an adult I found the story and the interaction between the four female characters to be a little slight. Much of the story is conversation, and much of that is a bit shallow and repetitive. "It's grand." "You're grand." "I'm grand." "She's grand." "They're grand." Perhaps this is how everyone in Dublin talks, but the word "grand" shows up far too much -- it was meaningless to me by the end of the book. It helps maintain a dreamy feel throughout the entire story, but I would have preferred a little more sub... morestance over mood.My biggest complaint about this book, though, is that it kept striking me as the author's deliberate presentation of what he thought a "feminine" book should be like, or something. He emphasizes that Mary is looking forward to the changes that will happen to her soon, and that growing up to be a woman is a good thing -- good enough intentions, but they felt a little weird to me, and I can't decide if it was the context or if I'm just being sexist because I know the author is a man. More worrisome is that Mary has two older brothers, 14 and 16, who are dismissed right out of the story. They're icky and stupid, and aren't given a chance to be anything else. Even when they come in to find the ghost of their great-grandmother sitting in their very own kitchen with their mother and sister, no one even tries to introduce them or anything -- it's some kind of womanly secret, all this feminine bonding, and apparently the boys can't stand to be in the same room with all that female energy for more than a few seconds, anyway. The boys never even go visit their granny in the hospital, ever. Something about all this has left me slightly uncomfortable.The message to embrace life and value even the most mundane aspects of it, and not fear death, is a nice one ... I just wish there had been a little more to it. I'm not sure how memorable I'm going to find this book. It started out strong, but by the end of it, I was just bored from the lack of any tension, and the main reason I finished it was because it was so short.So if you're in the mood for something short, sweet, and charming, sure, try this book. But if you're looking for something that feels like a story rather than just a long incident, this probably isn't for you.
review 2: I puzzled over how many stars to give this book. At first I loved it, the idea is a beautiful one. I felt moved and sad reading the stories of the different women in the family, and I waited with anticipation to see how their reunion would turn out. For the granny, meeting up with her dead mother just as she herself is about to die, I would have imagined to be a great comfort, a very emotional event. I thought it was a lovely way of addressing the emotions and heart breaks of losing a loved one but also of coming to terms with the end of your own life. This is why I felt disappointed in how it all came about. There was a good build up to the event, but then it seemed to be dealt with with cliches and cheesy, jovial banter. Too much so I felt, it took away the whimsical and deep nature of the story and made it seem a bit silly. I also struggled to grasp the use of punctuation every time the mother spoke and how the girl used 'like' in all of her sentences. It started to really annoy me at times and I found a lot of the dialogue frustrating. Over all, I enjoyed the idea of the book and it made me contemplate life, which is always the sign of a decent story! less

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