Moopy Book Club - January '24: 'Prophet Song' by Paul Lynch

Suedehead

I Will Survive
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Feb 18, 2023
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Winner of the Booker Prize 2023
From Amazon:

'IF THERE WAS EVER A CRUCIAL BOOK FOR OUR CURRENT TIMES, IT'S PAUL LYNCH'S PROPHET SONG... BRILLIANTLY HAUNTING.' OBSERVER

* THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER *

The explosive literary sensation: a mother faces a terrible choice as Ireland slides into totalitarianism

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.

Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and when her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling.

How far will she go to save her family? And what – or who – is she willing to leave behind?

Exhilarating, terrifying and propulsive, Prophet Song is a work of breathtaking originality, offering a devastating vision of a country at war and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.

'A compassionate, propulsive and timely novel that forces the reader to imagine ― what if this was me?' FT

Booker-Paul_Lynch-051%20RB_slice.jpg
 
I’m in!

I’m out!

(I think) :o :(

I got the book from the library last week (because I didn’t want to buy it) but I’ve only managed to read one chapter so far and since it’s a newly released book I’m only allowed to borrow it for two weeks. I don’t think I’ll manage to read the rest in such a short span, but we shall see…
 
Shall we book a discussion session for Sunday? I’ll turn the live thread option on
 
Yeah, surely it has to be actually at the end of the month/ after.

I’m halfway through but will likely finish today/ tomorrow.
 
OK shall we aim for end of the month i.e. maybe Sunday 28th or Feb 4th?
Happy to push further back.
No rush!
 
Did anyone finish this apart from me?

Anyway, I thought it was really good!
 
I really enjoyed this too. A little slow at the start so I can understand why people bounced off it, but I really enjoyed the creeping sense of dread as things got worse and worse.

The mother though was intensely frustrating and should have fled for the border much much earlier than she did, considering she had family on the other side. Ireland wouldn't be a difficult place to escape from at all, certainly when the warning signs were all there.
 
I loved his style of writing by the way. It was so lyrical. And to juxtapose that with the 'ugliness' of what was going on really worked for me.
 
I found the writing style pretty but difficult to get into when I started, but now that I've gotten used to it, I like it a lot. I'm about 1/3 of the way through, but I think I'll finish in the next few days
 

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