Review: The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill

The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC and ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This is not the typical type of book I read, however I do think that the author did a wonderful job evoking emotion and capturing family dynamics.  This was well written, and while not the type of topic I'm drawn to, the characters were well developed and the topics were well thought out and explained.  Please do check your triggers as this discusses religion, abortion, cheating, suicide, grief, and guilt quite heavily.

This follows the Ryan family as they get together for Thanksgiving in their Long Island home.  The story is told from the perspective of the three Ryan sisters who all have their own secrets and priorities.  The entire family harbors guilt, resentment, and other emotion but because of the way they were raised no one talks about anything.  Their closed off nature causes issues in their relationships with each other as well as their relationships with others.  It is also why they never speak about their late brother who took is own life.  Now all back in the same place, the sisters are all overwhelmed by their own issues, and everything bubbles over when everyone is stressed at the holidays.  Cait the eldest has flown in with her twins from England, and she is only focused on meeting up with her high school crush Luke.  She isn't the greatest mom, daughter or sister, but her trip home brings alot of things into perspective for her.  Alice the middle sister is overwhelmed by life.  As a stay at home mom she not only cares for her husband and kids, but she takes on the role of caretaker for her aging parents, and having recently gone back to work she realizes that she can't do everything.  She gets some surprising news that may upend her whole world, but she too gets some advice that sheds light on her situation.  Maggie, the youngest, is finally brave enough to bring her girlfriend home to meet her devout Catholic mother, but she is harboring a secret that is bigger than being accepted by her family that may stop her relationship in its tracks.  The Ryan family has a whirlwind Thanksgiving that causes them all to have many uncomfortable conversations that not only clear the air but bring them closer together as a family.

I had a hard time getting into this book mainly because I had a hard time connecting with the sisters.  I hated Cait for much of the book as she was really selfish and self-centered, she makes some really questionable decisions but eventually comes around in the end.  Maggie refuses to take accountability for her actions, and Alice's inability to ask for help irked me, all turns out well in the end when their realize they aren't alone and they have each other.  As the book went on I began to understand why no one in the family talked to each other about what happened and how they are feeling.  In the first half of the book, the author sets up the emotional turmoil they are all facing, then in the second half we find out more about events that took place in the past and why they felt they needed to hold their emotions in instead of working through them together.  The author does a great job of capturing the stress of a large family gathering when there are kids needing something every 2 minutes, loud conversations, people stressing about food and the weather, people causing drama, and others not feeling welcome.

This would be a great choice for a book club discussion as it covers quite a few sensitive topics but would also generate great conversations amongst the right group of people.  I was surprised to find out this was a debut novel, it is very well developed and the writing is that of a seasoned author.  

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