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Yahaira's Reviews > Prophet Song
Prophet Song
by
by
This is the Way my Booker Ends: Not with a Bang but a Whimper
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I'm honestly confused, flabbergasted even, by all the five star reviews. I promise I went into this with open eyes and open heart; I wanted to end on a high note after all poor reading this list has brought into my life. I feel like I read a completely different book. Or maybe this is the first dystopian some have read, or they don't know about any other book that deals with a totalitarian government, or is the news not being watched?
I've seen people call this highly emotional and that it really makes you think how it could happen to "us" (a liberal democracy). You're realizing this in 2023?
Maybe I was doomed as soon as I saw Eilish not believing that the government can listen to your phone calls, there are laws don't you know! I guess she never read or heard of Edward Snowden in this reality (when does this book take place? who knows. recent past, recent future, it doesn't really matter. It barely matters that it's Ireland) This might just be the American in me and in Ireland people still believe that the government would never go against their citizens. Let's just say I found her naïveté irksome.
Other reviewers mention the writing being lyrical and poetic. Maybe the giant blocks of text (Melchor this is not) kept me from noticing it, but they didn't hide the constant use of dark, darkness, and darkening (this becomes comical) or the odd word choices peppered throughout. It's almost as if the author noticed the writing was flat and a bit dead and decided to jazz things up. Someone whips our their member, someone is suddened, a character sleeves their coat on or they walk into colding loom.
I kept reading, hoping for the exhilarating plot I was promised only to be slapped in the face with a side character speech rehashing the central conceit of the novel. After 300 pages!! Paul, do you not trust I'll understand that it's hard to know when to leave, how to realize that it's too late? Even when you have mentioned this exact thing multiple times in the novel?
The blurb asks how far a mother will go to save her family. Not very far it seems. She sticks around hoping for things to turn and makes it to the corner store for milk and cigarettes. It also asks what or who she is willing to leave behind. No one, until they're super dead. This woman doesn't get moving until the end of the book.
If this novel of 'radical empathy' opens people's eyes and hearts to the migrant struggle then great. I'm honestly happy. But I'm also dejected that it's a generic novel about an Irish woman that had to do it.
I just know this will make it to the short list (it's topical?!) but I honestly hope it does not win.
----------------------------
I'm honestly confused, flabbergasted even, by all the five star reviews. I promise I went into this with open eyes and open heart; I wanted to end on a high note after all poor reading this list has brought into my life. I feel like I read a completely different book. Or maybe this is the first dystopian some have read, or they don't know about any other book that deals with a totalitarian government, or is the news not being watched?
I've seen people call this highly emotional and that it really makes you think how it could happen to "us" (a liberal democracy). You're realizing this in 2023?
Maybe I was doomed as soon as I saw Eilish not believing that the government can listen to your phone calls, there are laws don't you know! I guess she never read or heard of Edward Snowden in this reality (when does this book take place? who knows. recent past, recent future, it doesn't really matter. It barely matters that it's Ireland) This might just be the American in me and in Ireland people still believe that the government would never go against their citizens. Let's just say I found her naïveté irksome.
Other reviewers mention the writing being lyrical and poetic. Maybe the giant blocks of text (Melchor this is not) kept me from noticing it, but they didn't hide the constant use of dark, darkness, and darkening (this becomes comical) or the odd word choices peppered throughout. It's almost as if the author noticed the writing was flat and a bit dead and decided to jazz things up. Someone whips our their member, someone is suddened, a character sleeves their coat on or they walk into colding loom.
I kept reading, hoping for the exhilarating plot I was promised only to be slapped in the face with a side character speech rehashing the central conceit of the novel. After 300 pages!! Paul, do you not trust I'll understand that it's hard to know when to leave, how to realize that it's too late? Even when you have mentioned this exact thing multiple times in the novel?
The blurb asks how far a mother will go to save her family. Not very far it seems. She sticks around hoping for things to turn and makes it to the corner store for milk and cigarettes. It also asks what or who she is willing to leave behind. No one, until they're super dead. This woman doesn't get moving until the end of the book.
If this novel of 'radical empathy' opens people's eyes and hearts to the migrant struggle then great. I'm honestly happy. But I'm also dejected that it's a generic novel about an Irish woman that had to do it.
I just know this will make it to the short list (it's topical?!) but I honestly hope it does not win.
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Reading Progress
August 1, 2023
– Shelved as:
to-read
August 1, 2023
– Shelved
August 23, 2023
–
Started Reading
August 23, 2023
– Shelved as:
bookerprize2023
August 23, 2023
– Shelved as:
owned
August 25, 2023
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 59 (59 new)
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by
David
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rated it 4 stars
Aug 25, 2023 11:01AM
Not up to the hype?
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Not for me at least
The blurb promised an exhilarating story of breathtaking originality. It could never live up to that
I'm laughing so hard at the woman not moving. Thank you.
I agree with every single word, Yahaira. Great review.
Love your honest review, and struggling with this one too.
"This might just be the American in me and in Ireland people still believe that the government would never go against their citizens. Let's just say I found her naïveté irksome."As an Irish person I can confirm that anyone who knows anything about our history and yet believes that our governments have not gone against our citizens is naïve in the extreme. It may well be Lynch's point, but it was barely credible.
good review. I too am astonished at the rave reviews this is getting. It lacked authenticity. Prose was heavy handed. Unoriginal. I was bored and only completed because I'm working through the Booker shortlist. If this wins I will be so disappointed.
Thx for this review. I am having a hard time even getting half way through the book and wondering what I’m not seeing.
“Other reviewers mention the writing being lyrical and poetic. Maybe the giant blocks of text (Melchor this is not) kept me from noticing it, but they didn't hide the constant use of dark, darkness, and darkening (this becomes comical) or the odd word choices peppered throughout. It's almost as if the author noticed the writing was flat and a bit dead and decided to jazz things up. Someone whips our their member, someone is suddened, a character sleeves their coat on or they walk into colding loom.”Agree with every word here.
I struggled with this one too. I had empathy for Eilish because I am a mother. It’s not a big surprise to me though, I can all too easily imagine this happening even here in Australia. I also felt the writing style and choice of words was a bit heavy handed and irksome. I have never been one to jump on board the current favourite books though. Some that are very popular which I didn’t like were Where the Crawdads Sing, A Court of Thorns and Roses (the entire series), and Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. I liked the last two at least, but like is 3 stars maybe 3.5, not 5.
Am speed-reading my way to the end, just so I can find out what finally happens to get her to decide to get her ass out of there. Agree 100% with your review. Don’t like the writing style - paragraphs that are multiple pages long, dialogue with no quotation marks. Don’t like the story. Argh.
I had to come to goodreads to complain about how frustrating it is to read about someone who refuses to move until everyone around her dies. And the funny thin is she says history is about the people who had no choice to leave, she is literally GIVEN THE CHOICE FOR FREE and she still continues to live in the delusion. No wonder Bailey hates her..
It's worth noting that there's important differences between American and Irish society. Ireland doesn't have a CIA, invade other countries or have a right to bear arms. That's why Snowden's revelations weren't seen as relevant to Irish society - we think that Ireland is very different to America.Now, we could debate over whether or not this is naive, but it is realistic for an Irish character (especially one with no interest in politics) to think things that happen in America, would never happen in Ireland.
You wrote, "The blurb asks how far a mother will go to save her family. Not very far it seems. She sticks around hoping for things to turn . . . . " Do you know what it feels like to make the choice to leave your home, your city, your country? My grandfather was arrested the day after Hitler became Chancellor. He was put in one of the first concentration camps (before many became death camps). When he was released, he stayed where he was. As a Social Democrat, he believed that the German people would realize what they had done and throw Hitler out. He loved his country (fought for Germany in WWI) and loved the town in which he lived, his relatives, his friends. Sadly he hung on until it was too late but not after assuring my mother got to safety. Do I think he was stupid in hanging on? No. While I wish he had survived, I find his decision to stay understandable, as I do Eilish's.
As someone from Ireland; the thing you gotta understand is that the Irish (Republic of Ire.) have been for thousands of years, completely in alignment in near all political matters. There are no mainstream right-leaning parties; everyone's local council members are their neighbors; etc. Real Homely - small town vibe to the country.Covid lockdowns & restrictions have awakened half the country to this kind of Govt. intrusion, in recent years. Now we have hate-speech bills attempting to be passed and Govt. collusion with their funded NGOs to manufacture consensus. It's all scary stuff.
Better a light fiction novel to ease the uneducated (in a govt. totalitarian sense) Irish to 'enlightenment'.
"The blurb asks how far a mother will go to save her family. Not very far it seems." - my thoughts after reading this exactly.
I counted how many times "as though" was used - 197!!
What happened to Bailey at the end? Did he just stay in the hospital? I got confused.
@Angie, the end of chapter 8 is what happened to Bailey
I have to say I disagree with your comment that Eilish doesn’t really go that far to protect her family, seeing as she stuck around hoping for things to turn. There is actually a direct quote in the story where Eilish references her conversation with her Canadian sister, who felt that “history is the story of people who did not know when to leave.” “History is a silent record of people who could not leave, it is a record of those who did not have a choice, you cannot leave when you have nowhere to go and have not the means to go there, you cannot leave when your children cannot get a passport, cannot go when your feet are rooted in the earth and to leave means tearing off your feet.” (185)
I think as someone not living in it, it is easy to have the thought pattern that her sister did of “oh why don’t they just get out.” Hence why the author wrote her character in, in my opinion, to symbolize those in “safe” “modern” “peaceful” countries regarding current world conflicts. Like we don’t realize a lot of other factors that literally prevent those people from leaving. In the book, Eilish stuck around because her family was denied a passport. Sneaking out of the country would pose serious consequences, likely certain death, to her and her children if caught. Also at the end of the day, it was her home and she held out hope that her husband and son would be released!
Unfortunately it won… I just finished the novel and I cannot honestly recommend it to anyone. Pick something else to read.
What a patronising view of other readers you have! For the record, this reader has read many dystopian novels, and although I am quite aware of what ‘democratic’ governments can & do get up to, I can see clearly that many people struggle with the idea they would break the law. That doesn’t make them stupid, just as your review doesn’t make you clever.You didn’t like the book? Fine. There’s no need to try and belittle those that thought it was excellent.
"It's almost as if the author noticed the writing was flat and a bit dead and decided to jazz things up." This is exactly how I felt reading it!
"Melchor this is not" had me laughing. Couldn't agree more and with the review in general. I did enjoy the writing but feel like I've watched/seen this book so many times before. Not that it didn't think it was good, but nothing original.
You have a very naive notion of how well informed regular people are.
Couldn't say it better myself, your review is precisely my thoughts right after I finished the book
Oh my god! finally! It really did feel like I read a completely different book than all these reviews. The book is not "bleak" and "horrific", the experience of reading it is. This book only has one thing going on for itself, and that is it's branding. A lot of people said the writing style is to showcase "claustrophobic" feelings that the narrator is going through and that is such a dogshit opinion?? like we're talking about totalitarianism, even with a couple of quotations, the message will come through, I promise
It's like people on this site won't tolerate any kind of character that is deeply flawed. The reason it is so real is because people absolutely WOULD do what Eilish did! People make bad decisions all the time!!!
Just finished and couldn’t agree more!!
Just finished this book. I’m with you. You nailed this review.
You're lucky that you don't need to be reminded that this could happen to us...there are a lot of people in the U.S. -- thoughtful, progressive people who don't think it could, and then when you throw in the Holocaust deniers and other loonies, in my view the more often we're reminded the better. And what a beautiful, if dystopian way to be reminded!
I think your review is very well written. I’m from Northern Ireland originally and grew up during the ‘troubles’ there. The Irish Republic is a relatively new Western Democracy - formed in 1921. There were times in my childhood when friends and neighbours almost had to flee their homes to its safety. The irony of Eilish having to travel North is not lost upon me. I also value the efforts of my fellow countrymen to build a democracy in the aftermath of civil war.
Thank you for your review. Who can believe this actually won the Booker? This is a prize that has been on its derriere for some years, rewarding derivative nonsense that conveys very little. I dipped into this book and after a few pages decided that I couldn't devote precious moments of my life to this.
You captured my feelings exactly!
Of a sudden, your review winged and kettled toward me and blocked doomless, shapeful, in my eyes! Agreed!
You must be young, childless, and a bit nomadic in your ways and attitudes, Yahaira. I also imagine you don't know many people who are tied to a place, or still believe in the rule of law or that feel protected by virtue of living in a wealthy, developed country with a semblance of democracy. I'm hoping that if you did, you would have more empathy and a less superior, disparaging take on Eilish. As naive as she may be.
I totally agree Yahaira! I picked it up twice on the off chance I’d had a bad day and missed a plot twist, re-read tracts to locate the genius in the writing and found it wanting. At most a C+, definitely not Booker or any other prize worthy fiction. Side note: just started reading Trust by Hernan Diaz the Pulitzer winner from 2022; now that’s a praise worthy novel.
I couldn't agree more, this book was a massive disappointment for me
The Sense of an Ending alone ruined the Booker
Love the T.S Eliot quote ❤️
Completely agree with all of this!!
My sentiments exactly siswa. One of the most nonevent books ever
I disagree wholeheartedly. I was a loyal Booker Prize reader until the drivel of Hilary Mantel started winning. Yawn! This novel restored my faith in the judges.
