Book Review 2014: Mount Merrion

Book #1

Okay, forgive me. I haven’t figured out how to size images appropriately on this site so they don’t look like shite.

A fair warning, my book reviews tend to be fairly casual, so if you’re expecting some New Yorker or Spectator quality, please travel elsewhere. If you want an honest, albeit book snobbish, view, please stick around. I like to write posts after long days at work or school, often accompanied by some wine or whiskey, so the grammar will absolutely never be correct. I feel like I’ve asked for a lot of forgiveness so far. Let’s get one thing straight, I don’t actually care. Cool? Okay then.

Now that that’s been addressed, let’s get to it, shall we?

The first book I read this year was Mount Merrion by Justin Quinn, which was given to me by my dad. I believe it is the first novel by a young (youngish? just new maybe? I should really look these things up before I jibber away) Irish writer, who happens to be quite talented at creating believable dialogue but not so much a thrilling plot.

The story follows the Boyle family, from when Declan and Sinead meet at school, to when their children go off and decide to do their own things. Declan, whose father dreams his son will follow in his footsteps and become a barrister, surprises him by becoming a civil servant. Sinead has grand dreams but winds up spending a lot of time with bottles of wine and her favorite cookbooks instead.

Although the book is fairly fast-paced, I struggled to enjoy it. I didn’t hate it, just felt it was kind of “meh”. The characters are not particularly likable; in fact, they don’t seem to really like themselves. Some of the actions that take place in the book, such as Declan’s decision to start a factory in Ireland with the help of some German workers, start off interesting but then are wrapped up far too quickly to ever be fully developed. Much of the rest I’d felt I’d read somewhere before. I have the feeling I’m going to forget having read this within a couple months. The end.