Being Emily
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Product Description
Review
Donovan writes with bittersweet amplomb.
--The Times
--The Times
Sunday Herald
With its heart-wrenching plot and spirited prose, Donovan's latest novel is her best offering yet.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have just finished this wonderful book and know I will be thinking about the twists and turns in the story for a long time. As you turn the last pages you have no idea how it's 'gonnae end.' It's funny to start with but that doesn't last. The atmosphere becomes very dark by half way and I applaud Anne Donovan for keeping the reader in suspense for so much of the book. You can see the story being played out in the lives of so many people walking the streets and shopping centres in town. So many issues to think about. If you're in a book group choose this for discussion! I can't wait for our group to mull this over in the autumn.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Fiona is one of 4 children. Her brother Patrick is older than she is (by quite a few years) and then there are the twins, Mona and Rona, a good few years younger than she is. They live in Glasgow with their mother and father and the beginning of the novel introduces all of the characters with a little information about them; making it easier to know who is who.
Narrated in first person by Fiona, we are told the story of her life from being a child until she has become a young woman. It is a nice coming of age story. Fiona narrates in Glaswegian and whilst the accent initially was tricky it soon becomes part of the narrative and you forget about it. Even for words that you may not recognise, it is easy to put them into context.
Fiona's life is challenging at times and Anne Donovan certainly doesn't hold back but what you have to remember as a reader is that we are party to the challenges through the eyes of whatever age Fiona is at the time of them happening. It is easy to use the eyes and wisdom of an adult to solve her problems or think about how we might handle them, however using a child's or teenager's logic brings different results; some of which are painful.
I initially didn't like this novel, I was really struggling to get into it but couldn't put my finger on the reason why. The dialect wasn't holding me back and although I hadn't experienced all of Fiona's troubles I didn't feel like this was the reason either. Fortunately, I reached a point just over half way through where I suddenly realised I didn't want to leave the novel unfinished and I was pleased I had perservered.
Not having read any of Donovan's other novels I have no idea how this compares. It is well written and the reader is definitely involved in Fiona's life but there always seems to be a feeling of detachment. Unless this is intentional and is meant to represent how detached Fiona feels from different aspects of her life? One other aspect I didn't like was the lack of speech punctuation. Thankfully at least Donovan uses italics to distinguish dialogue from narrative but nevertheless the lack of conventions can often detract from a good plot.
Overall, it's a lovely story with all the loose endings tied up neatly at the end. It'll take you through a mixture of emotions and experiences and is worthwhile in the end. So from a beginning that would have been 2 stars, to a much improved middle of 3 stars the overall experience warrants 4 stars.
Narrated in first person by Fiona, we are told the story of her life from being a child until she has become a young woman. It is a nice coming of age story. Fiona narrates in Glaswegian and whilst the accent initially was tricky it soon becomes part of the narrative and you forget about it. Even for words that you may not recognise, it is easy to put them into context.
Fiona's life is challenging at times and Anne Donovan certainly doesn't hold back but what you have to remember as a reader is that we are party to the challenges through the eyes of whatever age Fiona is at the time of them happening. It is easy to use the eyes and wisdom of an adult to solve her problems or think about how we might handle them, however using a child's or teenager's logic brings different results; some of which are painful.
I initially didn't like this novel, I was really struggling to get into it but couldn't put my finger on the reason why. The dialect wasn't holding me back and although I hadn't experienced all of Fiona's troubles I didn't feel like this was the reason either. Fortunately, I reached a point just over half way through where I suddenly realised I didn't want to leave the novel unfinished and I was pleased I had perservered.
Not having read any of Donovan's other novels I have no idea how this compares. It is well written and the reader is definitely involved in Fiona's life but there always seems to be a feeling of detachment. Unless this is intentional and is meant to represent how detached Fiona feels from different aspects of her life? One other aspect I didn't like was the lack of speech punctuation. Thankfully at least Donovan uses italics to distinguish dialogue from narrative but nevertheless the lack of conventions can often detract from a good plot.
Overall, it's a lovely story with all the loose endings tied up neatly at the end. It'll take you through a mixture of emotions and experiences and is worthwhile in the end. So from a beginning that would have been 2 stars, to a much improved middle of 3 stars the overall experience warrants 4 stars.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have read all of Anne Donovan's books and cannot wait for her next one. If she could just write a little faster that would help.
The story is of a young girl coming to terms with life, love and with death. Her life is rocked to the core when a family member dies but she must be there to help the others come to terms with it and so does not grieve as she should. She strikes up a friendship with a boy who could be called her soul-mate but takes a wrong turning along the path to true love.
She tries to stay true to herself through her love of literature (especially Emily Bronte) and her art which may be the only thing she feels she truly owns.
It is written, as with Donovan's previous novel, in the Scots vernacular but that just adds more colour to the story and should not put anyone off enjoying this book.
The story is of a young girl coming to terms with life, love and with death. Her life is rocked to the core when a family member dies but she must be there to help the others come to terms with it and so does not grieve as she should. She strikes up a friendship with a boy who could be called her soul-mate but takes a wrong turning along the path to true love.
She tries to stay true to herself through her love of literature (especially Emily Bronte) and her art which may be the only thing she feels she truly owns.
It is written, as with Donovan's previous novel, in the Scots vernacular but that just adds more colour to the story and should not put anyone off enjoying this book.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Surprisingly readable
Despite the fact that we have to learn Glaswegian and there's really no plot to this story, I found myself enjoying this account of a girl coping with various difficulties in her... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Phil O'Sofa
Wonderful read, recommended
I found the language in this book difficult to grasp at first, it's written as a Scottish person would speak. It nearly put me off but I'm glad I persevered. Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2009 by Ms. J. Pritchett
a wonderful tale of teenage trauma which will make you laugh and cry
I loved this book. Never having read any of Donovan's work before, I was unsure of what to expect. The writing is an EXACT portrayal of the Glasgow vernacular, full of gems like... Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2009 by L. Bretherton
Poorly written
I swapped for this book, having read the synopsis - but I didn't get past page 10 due to the style of writing. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2009 by K. Fulton
Lovely
I bought this book on a whim. I was not diappointed!
I loved the story - there was no way you could have predicted how the story would unfold. Read more
I loved the story - there was no way you could have predicted how the story would unfold. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2009 by Book Worm
LOVELY
I REALLY ENJOYED BEING EMILY, I LOVED THE LANGAUGE AND THE CHARACTERS AND FOUND PARTS OF IT INCREDIBLY MOVING, THERE MAY BE BITS THAT DONT QUITE RING TRUE, BUT I LIKE THAT, IT... Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2008 by RB
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