My Dream of You
by Nuala O'Faolain

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Book Reviews of My Dream of You

Book Review: 528 pages of navel-gazing
Summary: 2 Stars

The way the book is structured also is frustrating. There are at least two "stories" in this book -- Kathleen's mid-life crisis and the historical novel Kathleen is writing about a 19th-century divorce case. The author is constantly switching between the two tales, sometimes within the same paragraph. Just when you get caught up in, say, the historical novel about the divorce case, the author starts rambling about some aspect of Kathleen's past or the weather in Ireland. Sad to say, Kathleen's life is not nearly as interesting as the historical novel she's working on, so each time the author yanked me back to Kathleen, I found myself getting increasingly irritated.

On the plus side, some of the the writing is lovely -- I enjoyed some passages immensely and found some of the imagery quite beautiful. It's in the plot -- or lack thereof -- that this book falls down. If you're a self-absorbed middle-aged person, this book might resonate with you. If, however, you accept that aging is inevitable and that it's your responsibility alone to create meaning in your life, you'll quickly grow weary of Kathleen de Burca and her whining.

Ireland Books

• Books > Subjects > History > Europe
• Literature & Fiction > Literary