Stir-Fry: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Good writing as usual
Review: "Stir-fry" tells the coming of age story of, Maria, a college student in Dublin, Ireland. While I enjoyed the plot and characters, overall the ending was unfulfilling. Even with slight reservations I still recommend this book: Donoghue's writing is that good. I also highly recommend Donoghue's novel "Hood".

Rating:
Summary: Good writing as usual
Review: "Stir-fry" tells the coming of age story of, Maria, a college student in Dublin, Ireland. While I enjoyed the plot and characters, overall the ending was unfulfilling. Even with slight reservations I still recommend this book: Donoghue's writing is that good. I also highly recommend Donoghue's novel "Hood".

Rating:
Summary: I love it!
Review: Donoghue writes simply and clearly, yet conveys so well the complexities of Maria becoming more aware of herself. There is so much going through her mind as she adjusts to life in the city, away from her family and village, and is exposed to new ideas of how to live. We can see Maria changing and yet are still surprised at the end. This book is more about relationships than events, so on the first read it seemed to drag, but the more I read it the more I notice how every insignificant event is designed to show some aspect of Maria that she is barely aware of herself.

Rating:
Summary: Go forth and read it. =)
Review: I can't remember how I first stumbled across this book, but I read it, fell in love with it, and stole it from our local public library. The story is that of Maria (rhymes with pariah) who comes to Dublin after a small-town, Irish, good-Catholic-schoolgirl life. She meets Ruth and Jael, two women who end up being her flatmates; they slowly but surely become the center of her ever-less-certain world. And then she finds out Ruth and Jael are lovers. And suddenly, the world she's oh-so-fond of starts getting shaken up; from her revelation that the two people she thought she fancied were just crushes "because that's what's expected" of her to her growing awareness of the sexual relationship between Ruth and Jael, Maria's forced to consider exactly who she is. The language is wonderfully Irish, and the descriptions and dialogue throughout are just beautiful. Read it. Buy it. It's worth it.

Rating:
Summary: stupid and boring
Review: i got this from the library a year ago last february - just by listening to your reviews - convincing me how 'funny' and 'fun' it was. what a buch of lies. it's not. good thing i canceled my book order in waldenbooks... i didn't finish it, but only got to chapter six.

Rating:
Summary: stupid and boring
Review: i got this from the library a year ago last february - just by listening to your reviews - convincing me how 'funny' and 'fun' it was. what a buch of lies. it's not. good thing i canceled my book order in waldenbooks... i didn't finish it, but only got to chapter six.

Rating:
Summary: I love it!
Review: Maria is a small town Irish girl, who comes to Dublin to attend university. Not wanting to live with her aunt, she shares an apartment with two women, Ruth and Jael, who help introduce her to a grander scope of the world at large. Maria makes a few other friends, but it is Ruth and Jael who are her centerpiece, but when she discovers they're lesbian lovers, she's not sure what to think anymore. She adapts, and tries to follow her classmates and get interest in dating and clubbing, but it all seems flat and uninteresting. Ultimately, a single moment at New Year's clarifies Maria's feelings and helps her realize just who she wants. Donoghue's marvelous first novel is exquisitely rendered, and quite fulfilling. I found some of the middle passages a bit tepid, but this was a brief feeling, and Donoghue's writing captured me again soon after. I am a huge fan of her book "Hood", and it's wonderful this book has come back into print!