Eggshells
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Eggshells
Buy Now for £13.78
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Narrated by:
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Olivia Caffrey
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By:
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Caitriona Lally
About this listen
Winner of the Rooney Prize 2018
A modern Irish literary gem for anyone who has felt like the odd one out.
Vivian is an oddball.
An unemployed orphan living in the house of her recently deceased great aunt in North Dublin, Vivian boldly goes through life doing things in her own peculiar way, whether that be eating blue food, cultivating ‘her smell’, wishing people happy Christmas in April or putting an ad up for a friend called Penelope to check why it doesn’t rhyme with antelope. But behind her heroic charm and undeniable logic, something isn’t right. With each attempt to connect with a stranger or her estranged sister doomed to misunderstanding, someone should ask: is Vivian OK?
A poignant and delightful story of belonging that plays with the myth of the Changeling and takes us by the hand through Dublin. A poetic call for us all to accept each other and find the Vivian within.
©2018 HarperCollins Publishers (P)2018 Caitriona LallyCritic reviews
"Inventive, funny and, ultimately, moving." (Guardian)
"Wildly funny." (New York Times Book Review)
"Beguiling." (The Irish Times)
I do think it is important to explore what other people might be thinking, especially when they behave in ways you might not expect. That is demonstrated really well in this book as to Vivienne her actions make total sense when they baffle others. It is often funny and sometimes Vivienne can see that too.
The one falling off the novel is this. She is so consistently positive (despite the often unkind, harsh treatment she receives from people) that it almost encourages the reader to think of quirky people like Vivienne as funny and quirky but without emotional depth.
She has many autistic features and I’m not sure if the author intended this. Autistic people are far more likely to suffer poor mental health, often relating to difficulty forming meaningful social contact. Her constant rejection by everyone except the enigmatic Penelope (especially with a background of family trauma) would make this sunny attitude very unlikely. But it is only a story after all.
Having said that, the novel shows all the ways she makes meaning in her life and that she has hopes and aspirations just like everyone else. It also demonstrates the lengths she will go to, to try to behave how others expect.
I didn’t really get the reference to the changeling story. Vivienne has lots of mystical ideas but the lack of detail about her back story and childhood makes it a bit of a random element to the novel. And there are SO many unanswered questions about her life up to this point.
Overall though a lovely performance and I will miss Vivienne now it is over!
Lovable quirky character
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Adored the narrator but story didn't go anywhere for me!
Disappointed
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