mbaryshnik1946

Julia Kelly did not impress me in the least. This is sort of a coming-of-age tale written by a South Dublin writer who writes about a South Dublin childhood, and if any of you suspected that the inhabitants of South Dublin were, for the most part, entitled, heartless and cruel, she panders to that but in a way that is depressing, rather than comical (a la Ross O'Carroll Kelly). Her tone changes towards the end of the book, when suddenly her character becomes thoughtful and sympathetic - but I couldn't buy it at that point. The protagonist is a teenage girl who has poor vision and is blind in one eye. Her relationship with her father is strained and she is forever making terrible decisions and messing up as she goes along - failing out of college, getting fired from her dream job, destroying her closest friendship, etc. Her father is constantly forced to financially help her out while being forever critical of her and showing his deep disappointment. The protagonist is self-aware enough to share his disappointment as she carries on as a promiscuous, drunken, and unemployable young woman. You get the feeling that Kelly, the author, is as unsympathetic for the protagonist as her father - her portrayal of her is unflattering and it is almost as though she is mocking her throughout the book - in fact at one stage I imagined Kelly drawing inspiration from a classmate she always disliked and using the book to chronicle rumours about this person. Finally many of the 'comical' moments from the book were lifted from popular films - if you've ever seen Parenthood with Steve Martin the vibrator-mistaken-for-flash-light-during-blackout scene is actually in this book! Also a bit where in an Indian restaurant the protagonist mistakes spongy flat bread for a hot towel (I cannot pinpoint what film that was in, but I've seen it). Don't waste you time with this one.

2020-09-03 04:27