The Blackwater Lightship : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: The Blackwater Lightship
Review: Three generations of women who have been apart for many years come together when the youngest woman's brother is dying of AIDS. Sounds good, but so very far from the truth. First of all, the writer is from Ireland and in the book, words are spelled like they are from that country. (Example: pajamas is pyjamas, realized is realised, etc) Even though I tried to put that out of my mind, it bugged me not to see them the way I am used to seeing them spelled in America. Second, the writer has other novels under his belt, but this book seemed like it was written by an inexperienced or rather juvenile person. It did not flow smoothly, and ended rather abruptly. The way he described the scenes and the dialog that went with it, seemed to come from the mind of a 13 year old.....failing miserably at getting the reader into the scene; not allowing them to see or observe what is going on around the characters, but listen only to endless prattle. Unable to paint a clear picture. The one thing I did like, was learning what objects we use everyday are called in Ireland. (Example, the trunk of the car is the "boot", and the grocery cart is a "trolley". Also your bottom is called a "bum", not a homelss person.) But for the rest of it, I should have left it in the bookstore.

Rating:
Summary: A solid, good read
Review: Toibin has written a sincere, moving account about family frictions and resolutions in a believable manner. It's not easy to do that. The ending was satisfying without being predictable or overly sentimental.