An absolute delight; such detailed characterisation and a wonderful narrative. Moments of laugh out loud humour. Loved it!

I really loved this book, which I had as an ARC through netgalley. A complicated slice of dysfunctional family life in Ireland, with flashbacks to past and present and written from the perspective of multiple different characters. Many of the characters were very unlikeable, but they all felt authentic. The story unfolded in a really interesting way, and I was totally gripped at the end by what would happen. The only thing that threw me was the fact that there were absolutely no full stops, commas etc throughout the whole book, which did require certain lines to be reread twice, but overall I thought it was fantastic and have bought a copy for my friend's birthday on publication day.

Stayed up late to finish reading this tonight. I don't have the words to describe what an amazing book it is. The end has truly floored me. I need to talk about it, I have already made a handful.of.my friends read it so I hope they hurry so we can talk about it! It is a phenomenally well-written slice of life account of an Irish family on the brink of personal and collective destruction. The sense of doom that hangs over the whole thing is split up with some wonderful humour and so much heart. There is so much to process here and I need to go to bed, but all I can say is that if you're a fan of really, really good literature, please read this book. 5 stars. I'll wager it's the best book I'll read this year.

Let's be quick, yes? Everyone's reviewed and loved this book, and for damn good reason. I've struggled with literary fiction, on and off, over the last decade. It is therefore straightforward and honest to say to you that no novel has brought me this kind of unleavened, unalloyed joy in longer than I care to remember.

This book is masterful. As a long book with multiple narratives and scarce punctuation, it seems from the outside it could be a challenging read, but not at all. Each character is fully developed and believable, and the story unravels at the perfect pace. Much like many other people, I thought the ending was brilliant and deserving of a second book.