Trespasses
Buy Now
By using these links, you support READO. We receive an affiliate commission without any additional costs to you.
Description
THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER (The Times), SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023
'Intense, unflinchingly honest, it broke my heart a million times' MARIAN KEYES
'A beautiful, devastating novel' NICK HORNBY
One by one, she undid each event, each decision, each choice.
If Davy had remembered to put on a coat.
If Seamie McGeown had not found himself alone on a dark street.
If Michael Agnew had not walked through the door of the pub on a quiet night in February in his white shirt.
There is nothing special about the day Cushla meets Michael, a married man from Belfast, in the pub owned by her family. But here, love is never far from violence, and this encounter will change both of their lives forever.
As people get up each morning and go to work, school, church or the pub, the daily news rolls in of another car bomb exploded, another man beaten, killed or left for dead. In the class Cushla teaches, the vocabulary of seven-year-old children now includes phrases like 'petrol bomb' and 'rubber bullets'. And as she is forced to tread lines she never thought she would cross, tensions in the town are escalating, threatening to destroy all she is working to hold together.
Tender and shocking, Trespasses is an unforgettable debut of people trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary times.
______________
* WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR: DEBUT FICTION *
* WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022 *
* WINNER OF THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2023 *
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2022 *
* AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2022 *
* A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME *
* THE CRITICS' MOST-PICKED BOOK OF THE YEAR*
Book Information
Posts
3,5/5 It is hard to put into words how I feel about this book. It is objectively well written and interesting, but some aspects just didn’t capture my attention. First and foremost, the relationship between a young woman and a married older man. This trope to me is somewhat of an old shoe. Furthermore, I was missing “flavour,” details, a certain depth, maybe a sense of ornamental language (I cannot quite put it into words); though I do understand why the book is written this way. Nevertheless, I did like the presentation of the topic, the Troubles in Ireland during the 1970s. I also liked Cushla’s portrayal, as an empathetic woman bestowed with a wide array of emotions. Kennedy definitely gave me a better understanding of the time, subject and also of the way Belfast looked back then. Additionally, the last maybe 50 pages really captured me, so I’d give them a 4,5/5. All in all I might have been most “turned off” by the character and behaviour of Michael as well as by the depiction of his “friends”, which tainted my opinion of the book though again my opinion changed slightly towards the end of the book. …Also I’m not going to lie, I miss quotation marks.
Reading tip from one of my advisors. Took a little to get used to no quotation marks. Got as well confused by all the terms for the whole Ireland conflict, as I am not so deep into the topic. But great read, couldn’t lay the book down. Hard to swallow for me that someone near my age gets stones in their way only for being empathic.
1975 in einem Belfaster Vorort. Die Troubles sind voll im Gange: Bombendrohungen und Explosionen, Soldaten auch der Straße, übergriffige Polizeikontrollen, Diskriminierung und Ausgrenzung aufgrund von Religionszugehörigkeit sowie Menschen, die auf offener Straße erschossen oder verprügelt werden. Cushla arbeitet als Grundschullehrerin und kümmert sie sich um ihre alkoholkranke Mutter mit der sie zusammenlebt. Außerdem hilft sie abends im Pub ihres Bruders aus. Hier lernt sie auch Micheal kennen. Micheal ist verheiratet, alt genug, um Cushlas Vater zu sein (seine Frau ist mit Cushlas Mutter zu Sschule gegangen) und ein unbequemer Anwalt. Cushla verliebt sich in ihn und die beiden beginnen eine Affäre. Parallel dazu versucht Cushla Davey, einem Jungen aus ihrer Klasse, zu helfen, dessen Familie als Katholisch-evangelisch gemischte Familie extreme Ausgrenzung und Gewalt erleben. Die beiden „Übertretungen“ bleiben für Cushla nicht ohne Folgen. Dieses Buch hat mich wirklich überrascht. Ich war mir nicht sicher, ob ich Spaß an einem Buch haben würde, bei dem die Hauptfigur eine Affäre beginnt und der Altersunterschied zwischen den Partnern so groß ist. Beides Themen, die ich überhaupt nicht mag. Trotzdem hat das Buch mich von Anfang an in seinen Bann gezogen. Louise Kennedy schafft es so geschickt das Irland der 70er Jahre und das Leben in einer gespaltenen, gewaltbereiten Gemeinschaft darzustellen, dass ich das Gefühl hatte, tatsächlich dabei gewesen zu sein. Die größte Stärke des Romans sind die Charaktere. Ich habe Cushla praktisch sofort in mein Herz geschlossen und habe ihr nur das Beste gewünscht und Daveys Geschichte hat mich sehr bewegt. „Übertretung“ ist ein menschlicher, aufschlussreicher und unerschütterlicher Roman über die menschliche Existenz, der an einem Ort und einer Zeit spielt, die von der Gewalt bestimmt wird. Große Empfehlung von mir.
Description
THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER (The Times), SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023
'Intense, unflinchingly honest, it broke my heart a million times' MARIAN KEYES
'A beautiful, devastating novel' NICK HORNBY
One by one, she undid each event, each decision, each choice.
If Davy had remembered to put on a coat.
If Seamie McGeown had not found himself alone on a dark street.
If Michael Agnew had not walked through the door of the pub on a quiet night in February in his white shirt.
There is nothing special about the day Cushla meets Michael, a married man from Belfast, in the pub owned by her family. But here, love is never far from violence, and this encounter will change both of their lives forever.
As people get up each morning and go to work, school, church or the pub, the daily news rolls in of another car bomb exploded, another man beaten, killed or left for dead. In the class Cushla teaches, the vocabulary of seven-year-old children now includes phrases like 'petrol bomb' and 'rubber bullets'. And as she is forced to tread lines she never thought she would cross, tensions in the town are escalating, threatening to destroy all she is working to hold together.
Tender and shocking, Trespasses is an unforgettable debut of people trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary times.
______________
* WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR: DEBUT FICTION *
* WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022 *
* WINNER OF THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2023 *
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2022 *
* AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2022 *
* A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME *
* THE CRITICS' MOST-PICKED BOOK OF THE YEAR*
Book Information
Posts
3,5/5 It is hard to put into words how I feel about this book. It is objectively well written and interesting, but some aspects just didn’t capture my attention. First and foremost, the relationship between a young woman and a married older man. This trope to me is somewhat of an old shoe. Furthermore, I was missing “flavour,” details, a certain depth, maybe a sense of ornamental language (I cannot quite put it into words); though I do understand why the book is written this way. Nevertheless, I did like the presentation of the topic, the Troubles in Ireland during the 1970s. I also liked Cushla’s portrayal, as an empathetic woman bestowed with a wide array of emotions. Kennedy definitely gave me a better understanding of the time, subject and also of the way Belfast looked back then. Additionally, the last maybe 50 pages really captured me, so I’d give them a 4,5/5. All in all I might have been most “turned off” by the character and behaviour of Michael as well as by the depiction of his “friends”, which tainted my opinion of the book though again my opinion changed slightly towards the end of the book. …Also I’m not going to lie, I miss quotation marks.
Reading tip from one of my advisors. Took a little to get used to no quotation marks. Got as well confused by all the terms for the whole Ireland conflict, as I am not so deep into the topic. But great read, couldn’t lay the book down. Hard to swallow for me that someone near my age gets stones in their way only for being empathic.
1975 in einem Belfaster Vorort. Die Troubles sind voll im Gange: Bombendrohungen und Explosionen, Soldaten auch der Straße, übergriffige Polizeikontrollen, Diskriminierung und Ausgrenzung aufgrund von Religionszugehörigkeit sowie Menschen, die auf offener Straße erschossen oder verprügelt werden. Cushla arbeitet als Grundschullehrerin und kümmert sie sich um ihre alkoholkranke Mutter mit der sie zusammenlebt. Außerdem hilft sie abends im Pub ihres Bruders aus. Hier lernt sie auch Micheal kennen. Micheal ist verheiratet, alt genug, um Cushlas Vater zu sein (seine Frau ist mit Cushlas Mutter zu Sschule gegangen) und ein unbequemer Anwalt. Cushla verliebt sich in ihn und die beiden beginnen eine Affäre. Parallel dazu versucht Cushla Davey, einem Jungen aus ihrer Klasse, zu helfen, dessen Familie als Katholisch-evangelisch gemischte Familie extreme Ausgrenzung und Gewalt erleben. Die beiden „Übertretungen“ bleiben für Cushla nicht ohne Folgen. Dieses Buch hat mich wirklich überrascht. Ich war mir nicht sicher, ob ich Spaß an einem Buch haben würde, bei dem die Hauptfigur eine Affäre beginnt und der Altersunterschied zwischen den Partnern so groß ist. Beides Themen, die ich überhaupt nicht mag. Trotzdem hat das Buch mich von Anfang an in seinen Bann gezogen. Louise Kennedy schafft es so geschickt das Irland der 70er Jahre und das Leben in einer gespaltenen, gewaltbereiten Gemeinschaft darzustellen, dass ich das Gefühl hatte, tatsächlich dabei gewesen zu sein. Die größte Stärke des Romans sind die Charaktere. Ich habe Cushla praktisch sofort in mein Herz geschlossen und habe ihr nur das Beste gewünscht und Daveys Geschichte hat mich sehr bewegt. „Übertretung“ ist ein menschlicher, aufschlussreicher und unerschütterlicher Roman über die menschliche Existenz, der an einem Ort und einer Zeit spielt, die von der Gewalt bestimmt wird. Große Empfehlung von mir.