The lesser bohemians

310 pages

English language

Published Nov. 8, 2016

ISBN:
978-1-101-90348-3
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OCLC Number:
933567547

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3 stars (3 reviews)

A young Irish drama student in 1990s London makes new friends, establishes a place for herself, and seeks to shed her plain-girl identity before entering a whirlwind affair with an older man who changes her in unexpected ways.

2 editions

Review of 'The lesser bohemians' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

A really challenging read. The prose is astounding and some of the most beautiful writing I've ever read, but the narrative it's in service of is troubling. Broadly about how trauma becomes a constant lens through which you view relationships, and the difficulty of ever coming out of it, mediated through a 20 year age gap relationship. The degree to which the dynamics are addressed was never particularly satisfying to me, and becomes very explicitly romanticized as if the problems were purely historical.

There is so much I love about this book - its tenderness, intimacy, and willingness to engage bluntly with challenging topics - but by the end it becomes too infatuated with its characters to commit to the end that's coming. Will be thinking about it for a long time all the same, please do read the content warnings if you are considering picking this up.

Review of 'The lesser bohemians' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Combine [b:A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|7588|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|James Joyce|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1388201200s/7588.jpg|3298883], [b:Trainspotting|135836|Trainspotting|Irvine Welsh|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1353033083s/135836.jpg|1087421], and [b:The Clan of the Cave Bear|1295|The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, #1)|Jean M. Auel|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1385331302s/1295.jpg|1584694], and you have The Lesser Bohemians. The sex is so steamy I felt totally weird reading it on the bus. The narrator's voice and mind is transcribed in a lyrically compelling stream-of-consciousness. This is like a teenage girl's gothic wet dream, written for intelligent adults. There's intensity and brilliance here, though at times all the hot and heavy got a bit much for this staid reader. Regardless, McBride's sentences are refreshing to read in their innovative and passionate broguish breathiness, surprisingly fluid, and a welcome respite from formulaic trends.

Subjects

  • Women college students
  • Man-woman relationships
  • Conduct of life
  • Young women
  • Actors and actresses
  • Fiction

Places

  • London (England)