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I tend to avoid some books when they're being hyped up in the media for fear they will not live up to that hype, this is one of those books I avoided at all costs for weeks. I then started to see comparisons being made to Sally Rooney's Normal People and decided hell no not for me. (Apologies Sally Rooney fans!) Fast forward to a Borrowbox update and this beauty popped up in the audiobook section, I thought what have I got to lose.
The story revolves around Debbie, the narrator, who is embarking on her university years. She’s leaving the dairy farm for the sophisticated Trinity College in Dublin. This is a coming-of-age story in that Debbie has been protected at the farm, with little city involvement. She’s intimidated by not only moving to university, but also navigating the big city. This is the story of her finding her place in the world, learning what other lifestyles there are other than dairy farming. But really, [Alice] shouldn’t belong to anyone, least of all Lewis Carroll. She exists independently of him.’ I am a culchie. I grew up on a farm in County Galway, though I live in Dublin city these days. My country roots are something I might have run from in my youth, but lately I have grown to appreciate them. I have often felt that our tribe is underrepresented in modern Irish literature but finally, here it is. Snowflake is the Great Culchie Novel. When I saw references in the story to Wavin pipes, standing in gaps to move cattle and traditions like Cemetery Sunday, I knew I was in the hands of a true bogger. LITTLE SNOWFLAKE is a delightful story that explains the water cycle through the eyes of a small snowflake. Tiny drops of water freeze and turn into a snowflake, who travels down to the earth with the wind. It lands on a tree before heading to the ground, where children make it part of a snowball and then a snowman. When the sun comes out, they melt and become vapor that travels up to the sky, where they can again be made into snow. I can’t imagine someone going through life without grasping the concept of the iconic six-armed snow crystal,’ I say.Even I wasn’t this much of a dope. The ‘exceptionally smart’ Debbie also doesn’t realise she has to register for her course online and has to ask directions to Trinity. From Grafton Street. Um, okay. Everyone knows St Pats [sic: should be St Pat’s]. It’s the place where alcoholics and anorexics go to surrender.” What I loved: This book is full of great things- beyond the lessons and educational elements, there are lovely illustrations with animals, diverse children, and plenty of the little snowflake. The text is also rhyming, making it fun to read aloud and listen to. There is also a nice addition of the full cycle at the end of the book that lays out all the text in even simpler terms. While toddlers may not fully understand the process, this makes it easier to grasp and is a great introduction! If Audrey had kept quiet and continued to drink at home, people would still have sent their kids to piano lessons. Audrey’s problem was admitting that she had a problem, and the problem was with alcohol, the one thing everyone loved.”
Eighteen-year-old Debbie was raised on her family’s rural dairy farm, forty minutes and a world away from Dublin. She lives with her mother, Maeve, a skittish woman who takes to her bed for days on end, claims not to know who Debbie’s father is, and believes her dreams are prophecies. Rounding out their small family is Maeve’s brother Billy, who lives in a caravan behind their house, drinks too much, and likes to impersonate famous dead writers online. Though they may have their quirks, the Whites’ fierce love for one another is never in doubt. Once you start saying yes, it’s very hard to say no. I’ve kissed so many boys that I don’t fancy just because I feel sorry for them.” But Debbie’s life is changing. Earning a place at Trinity College Dublin, she commutes to her classes a few days a week. Outside the sheltered bubble of her childhood for the first time, Debbie finds herself both overwhelmed and disappointed by her fellow students and the pace and anonymity of city life. While the familiarity of the farm offers comfort, Debbie still finds herself pulling away from it. Yet just as she begins to ponder the possibilities the future holds, a resurgence of strange dreams raises her fears that she may share Maeve’s fate. Then a tragic accident upends the family’s equilibrium, and Debbie discovers her next steps may no longer be hers to choose.Louise Harland narrated the book and there could not have been a better person. She epitomises Debbie and really brings her character and little quirks to life. My bias against the first-person POV is mainly aesthetic. However, there are some practical reasons for my ire. The main one is that this choice of POV makes it even more difficult than it is already to keep from conflating ‘author’ and ‘protagonist’. Like, conceptually I know that MC Debbie and author Louise Nealon are two distinct entities and may indeed be radically different in every way. However, a bildungsroman-ish novel with clear autobiographical elements (Debbie’s arc is all about a country girl leaving home to study at Trinity; Nealon’s bio states that she’s from a farm in Kildare and studied English in Trinners) and a first-person POV? Let’s just say I’m not giving ‘Debbie’ much benefit of the doubt when she speaks like a tit in her early twenties. Debbie is raised on her family's rural dairy farm. She lives with her mother, Maeve, a skittish woman who keeps her past and spends most of her days alone writing and dreaming. Maeve believes her dreams are prophecies. Rounding out their small house is Maeve's brother Billy, who lives in a caravan behind her house and fiercely love and protect Debbie. Debbie isn’t the only funny one. She comes home drunk, and her Uncle Billy gives her one glance and tells her he needs to teach her how to drink. Billy takes her to the local pub, and the lessons are hilarious. This is a quirky story laced with serious themes.
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