Book Review and Writing Lessons from The Irish Goodbye

How lucky am I? The book group I’m in featured the author of the book we just read: The Irish Goodbye. Author Heather Aimee O’Neill is getting much acclaim, and Jenna Bush Hager chose Heather’s debut novel as the Today Show pick. 

Not only were we treated to Heather reading parts of her novel in our Zoom call, but she took our challenging questions with grace. Since some attendees were writers, we received writing tips exemplified in the novel. But first I’ll get to my no-spoilers review.

I posted this review on Goodreads about The Irish Goodbye:

I’m a slow reader, but not so with this page-turner that I finished in a day and one-half. With so many main characters, all with tough challenges in their lives, I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. All the characters are relatable, people we know in our lives. The struggles and secrets they’re bearing are familiar too. 

I liked how some of them read each other like well read dog-eared books, while others were always the last to know what was going on. Isn’t that typical of all families? For all of them, expectations always got in the way. If you want to enmesh yourself in a family that’s dysfunctional and doesn’t have it all figured out to make your family seem more normal, this exceptional novel is for you.

Now let’s discuss what I learned as a writer from the discussion about the novel:

1. Heather took six years to write the novel. That’s a long time. I asked her if she ever got sick of her story, and she said, “no.” I asked this question because I tire of editing and proofreading my works, and often want to move on to the next shiny new project before the current one is finished.
2. Heather suffered a lot of personal loss in her life, which no doubt put her in touch with the grief her characters experienced. I think this is important to convey genuinely the emotions of these characters.
3. Heather wrote a hundred pages with some characters to get to know them better, pages that she knew wouldn’t be in the novel. This was an important tip about characterization.
4. Our book club host, Natalie Serber*, gave us the tip that writers can be more impactful by avoiding having a character cry or have tears and instead use an object, for example, that represents a tragedy. This advice is a gemstone.
5. I interpreted a part of the book differently than Heather intended. She may think that I’m totally off-base, but I think it was valuable for her to hear what I felt. This reinforces my belief that art is subject to diverse interpretations.
6. We talked about how the structure of this novel was so successful: short paragraphs with “trouble bombs” or cliffhangers at the end of the chapter to propel the reader forward. Heather said she wanted each scene with a character to “have a problem.” I love this!
7. Like me, Heather is big on outlining her stories.

I highly recommend The Irish Goodbye as a compelling emotional journey and enjoyable read.

* Sign up for Natalie Serber’s personal, enjoyable, and informative newsletter and that’s where you can join the bookclub.