Basically, if you haven’t heard of this novel, it’s the story of a gay Irish man from the beginning to the end of his life, told in 7 year intervals. However, what struck me about it is that it feels like Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, but done right.
Both are hefty books that I finished within a couple of days, but where A Little Life felt cruel and manipulative, THIF had a protagonist that the author clearly cared about. It didn’t feel like it was exploiting it’s MC with unreasonable misery without any character development.
What I’m trying to say is that if you want an un-put-downable read that will rip your heart out and stamp it into pieces without having to deal with melodramatic torture porn, read this book. You won’t regret it. It was marvelous!
Cyril frustrated me a lot as a protagonist. Especially in the beginning when he such a spineless twat. Dozens of moments when I thought, if your badass mother could see you right now she’d be ashamed. While he did end up finally, finally sorting his life out. I thought, he’d have gotten there a lot faster, hurt a lot less people had Catherine chose to raise him.