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nitroglycerin 's review for:
The Loney
by Andrew Michael Hurley
This is one of those books where my anticipation and expectation were higher than the experience.
This is not a 'bad book'. In fact it is a reasonably good book.
What I Liked:
The descriptive narrative. You could truly visualize yourself at The Loney or in the Moorings. You got a great sense of atmosphere and eeriness about the place.
Sympathy to Andrew (Hanny) shown in both the MC/Narrator and Father Bernard. Both felt that there was no reason to change Hanny and accepted him as is.
The characters are all well developed, from the main family and all those who accompany them on the pilgrimage, to minor characters, the villagers.
What I didn't like:
The pace was too slow. That's not always a bad thing in a 'spooky' read but my mind would wander and I struggled to stay focused since there was a lot of nothing much going on. There could have been a lot cut out without losing a lot and the story would have progressed better.
I didn't realise how big a focus Religion was going to be! The blurb on the back mentions a shrine, but immediately I discovered that the families (especially Mummers) Catholicism is very prominent. The detail that the Author goes into is probably way more than necessary, and an example of where some pruning to the story could have been done.
Far too many unexplained plot points. Too many threads left dangling.
I find it hard to give this book more than 3 stars. The ending was brilliant, and I even stayed up to read the last few chapters, but the first two thirds of the book could have been better.
This is not a 'bad book'. In fact it is a reasonably good book.
What I Liked:
The descriptive narrative. You could truly visualize yourself at The Loney or in the Moorings. You got a great sense of atmosphere and eeriness about the place.
Sympathy to Andrew (Hanny) shown in both the MC/Narrator and Father Bernard. Both felt that there was no reason to change Hanny and accepted him as is.
The characters are all well developed, from the main family and all those who accompany them on the pilgrimage, to minor characters, the villagers.
What I didn't like:
The pace was too slow. That's not always a bad thing in a 'spooky' read but my mind would wander and I struggled to stay focused since there was a lot of nothing much going on. There could have been a lot cut out without losing a lot and the story would have progressed better.
I didn't realise how big a focus Religion was going to be! The blurb on the back mentions a shrine, but immediately I discovered that the families (especially Mummers) Catholicism is very prominent. The detail that the Author goes into is probably way more than necessary, and an example of where some pruning to the story could have been done.
Far too many unexplained plot points. Too many threads left dangling.
I find it hard to give this book more than 3 stars. The ending was brilliant, and I even stayed up to read the last few chapters, but the first two thirds of the book could have been better.