In 2008 (aged 14), I reviewed Boyne's 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' (bwl 48) and was not very impressed, perhaps due to all the hype! This book had the opposite impact. A daunting six hundred page read, engrossing from middle to end. Overall, I adored this story of teenage pregnancy; growing up; adoption; religion; gay rights; the AIDS pandemic; and politics in Ireland and beyond. I was in Dublin in 2015 in the run-up to the gay marriage referendum and this story hit home - I imagined I lived in a "modern" society, so it's harrowing to discover the history of Ireland, geographically next-door to the UK, and to realise that this sort of oppression occurred in my life-time and is still prevalent in the West.
(Eloise May - bwl 101 Summer 2021 ) |
