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wordsofclover 's review for:
M for Mammy
by Eleanor O'Reilly
I received a copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Jenny and Jacob know they can rely on their mammy for everything. She's always there to look after them and bake them a cake on their birthdays, and mammy is one of the only people to can really communicate with Jacob, who has autism and is non-verbal. But when mammy suffers a stroke, daddy and granny have to step in and things become different for a while.
This book has a lot of good intentions, and the veins of a really good story with compelling characters and nice representation of disability - both mental and physical. I, at first, really liked seeing how the author wrote chapters through the eyes of Jacob, who sees the world completely differently to everyone else. and Annette when she was sick and unable to understand or communicate her thoughts well. Jenny is also a brilliant character with a vivid imagination and it was both heartwarming and heartbreaking watching her try to understand and cope with her changing world.
The book fell apart for me about 30-40% through. While the story is mostly focused on the family life, I feel it lacked a real plot other than wondering if mammy would ever fully return to health and return home, and there were some odd moments thrown in about Jenny fabricating friendships and people that was never fully explored or explained. I felt that, at times, Jacob and Annette's chapters were too long for the way they were written. While it's fantastic to have the type of representation in a book, there's only so many pages a reader can read of nonsensical sentences.
Granny was one of the strongest characters in the book, though I had a sweet spot for the dad as well. She was extremely strong, and was a typical Irish granny the way she was able to swoop in and take charge of everything like she'd been there all along. There were some nice moments in this book that I smiled and laughed but by halfway through I did become frustrated by the storytelling and I'd had enough. There were times about 80% through it felt like the story had wrapped up and I couldn't figure out why there was still so much left so I had an unenjoyable experience struggling to finish it.
There are also some small problematic things said in conversations in the books such as casual references to "tinkers" (the Irish traveling community) which could have been left out in my opinion.
Jenny and Jacob know they can rely on their mammy for everything. She's always there to look after them and bake them a cake on their birthdays, and mammy is one of the only people to can really communicate with Jacob, who has autism and is non-verbal. But when mammy suffers a stroke, daddy and granny have to step in and things become different for a while.
This book has a lot of good intentions, and the veins of a really good story with compelling characters and nice representation of disability - both mental and physical. I, at first, really liked seeing how the author wrote chapters through the eyes of Jacob, who sees the world completely differently to everyone else. and Annette when she was sick and unable to understand or communicate her thoughts well. Jenny is also a brilliant character with a vivid imagination and it was both heartwarming and heartbreaking watching her try to understand and cope with her changing world.
The book fell apart for me about 30-40% through. While the story is mostly focused on the family life, I feel it lacked a real plot other than wondering if mammy would ever fully return to health and return home, and there were some odd moments thrown in about Jenny fabricating friendships and people that was never fully explored or explained. I felt that, at times, Jacob and Annette's chapters were too long for the way they were written. While it's fantastic to have the type of representation in a book, there's only so many pages a reader can read of nonsensical sentences.
Granny was one of the strongest characters in the book, though I had a sweet spot for the dad as well. She was extremely strong, and was a typical Irish granny the way she was able to swoop in and take charge of everything like she'd been there all along. There were some nice moments in this book that I smiled and laughed but by halfway through I did become frustrated by the storytelling and I'd had enough. There were times about 80% through it felt like the story had wrapped up and I couldn't figure out why there was still so much left so I had an unenjoyable experience struggling to finish it.
There are also some small problematic things said in conversations in the books such as casual references to "tinkers" (the Irish traveling community) which could have been left out in my opinion.