Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Vintage (2022), 288 pages
Description
In the first scene of this provocative gut-punch of a novel, our unnamed narrator meets a magnetic writer named Ciaran and falls, against her better judgement, completely in his power. After a brief, all-consuming romance he abruptly rejects her, sending her into a tailspin of jealous obsession and longing. If he ever comes back to her, she resolves to hang onto him and his love at all costs, even if it destroys her... Part breathless confession, part lucid critique, Acts of Desperation renders a consciousness split between rebellion and submission, between escaping degradation and eroticizing it, between loving and being lovable. With unsettling, electric precision, Nolan dissects one of life's most elusive mysteries: Why do we want what we want, and how do we want it? Combining the intellectual excitement of Rachel Cusk with the emotional rawness of Elena Ferrante, Acts of Desperation interrogates the nature of desire, power, and toxic relationships, challenging us to reckon honestly with our own insatiability.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member alexrichman
This has (inevitably) been compared to Sally Rooney but I'd put it closer to Eimear McBride - which is no bad thing. The general concept - a complicated girl, an unsuitable older man - is hardly unfamiliar but Nolan's flair is undeniable. I enjoyed this and eagerly await the next one.
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
It feels as though there are a lot of novels being published currently by young Irish women writing about relationships. And, honestly, I've liked one of the three I've read so far. Yet, here I am, picking up another one, like that rat in the cage, pushing on the bar, hoping for a treat.
This is a
The first part of the novel reads like many other stories about a young woman and how she becomes trapped in an abusive relationship with a manipulative man. But as the novel progresses, Nolan complicates the story in ways that reflect real life. This was a far more interesting novel than it initially seemed and I'm looking forward to what this author writes next. Definitely stay far away from Ciaran, though.
This is a
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novel about an Irish woman's volatile relationship. The novel's narrator is desperately insecure and wants nothing more than to fall in love, so when she meets Ciaran, she is ready to submerge her life into his. And, for awhile, this seems to work. But Ciaran disapproves of much of what she does and becomes cold at the slightest infraction. His coldness just pushes her into trying harder to be the perfect girlfriend, even as he becomes more exacting and even when he makes it clear that he's still emotionally involved with his last girlfriend. The first part of the novel reads like many other stories about a young woman and how she becomes trapped in an abusive relationship with a manipulative man. But as the novel progresses, Nolan complicates the story in ways that reflect real life. This was a far more interesting novel than it initially seemed and I'm looking forward to what this author writes next. Definitely stay far away from Ciaran, though.
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LibraryThing member pivic
It takes a skilled author to not only write about sex and deficiency in a successful way, but to add and twist those matters into a coherent knot of a story that includes true love is nothing less than worthy of celebration.
Nolan has managed to write a debut novel that is odd. More coherent than
An unnamed first perspective female is the protagonist. We follow her as she meets Cieran, 'the most beautiful man I've ever seen', and progresses to analyse as much as fall herself in love. Cieran is the subject of her desire and the feeling is mutual, until the protagonist discovers that he's still in touch with his ex, and things turn two-faced.
A tenth into the book, and it felt simplistic and predictable to me. I felt the tone of the book, it was fair, but I thought I'd get nothing more out of it. I read on, and discovered more layers.
Remember the young days drenched in lust and alcohol? Even if you've never been there, Nolan will take you there, in a caleidoscopic way. Nearly like Alice's initial fall through Wonderland, our protagonist goes through many different emotions and settings, in Dublin and Athens, jumping years at a time, without the story becoming pretentious in a bad way.
The book carries the debutante's touch: paragraphs are here to impress, but they are deftly arranged so that we overlook the beginner's wont to be different, to mistake impression for style. Yet, this being Nolan's first book, it's an impressive first effort. It takes guts and strength to write paragraphs in this way:
> ‘These people aren’t my friends. Just because you and I sleep together, it doesn’t make them my friends.’ I didn’t know how to respond to this. ‘Sleeping together’ was the least generous reading of what had been going on between us and could only have been intended to hurt me. I lowered my head and let myself cry, aware of people I knew looking at me from the gallery porch and whispering to each other. ‘What?’ he said. ‘Did you want me to say I’m falling in love with you? Because I’m not.’ ‘No,’ I said, and feeling that I had no more energy to do whatever we were doing, I turned and walked towards home.
> When I was a child and my cat was hit by a speeding car that didn’t stop, he lay out in the shed that night waiting to be buried. I crept out into the damp mossy darkness after everyone was asleep and drew back the blanket he was beneath. I put my hand on his familiar ginger stomach but of course it was wrong in every conceivable way: freezing where it should have been warm, stiff as new cardboard where it should have been soft. Feeling this wrongness I knew it was true at last, and couldn’t believe it. I kept on stroking and stroking him, making deals with God. Thinking, If I stand here all night; thinking maybe if I stroked the awful, dead-thing stomach one thousand times exactly, thinking, Please, please, God, send him back to me, give him back to me, I won’t stop asking.
Nolan allows the book to breathe, in a non-obvious way. There are many things that could go wrong, but Nolan graciously avoids most pitfalls; as a result, the love story isn't really a love story, but an in-depth gaze into part of the human experience, one that's gripping, lovely, horrendous, cringeworthy, and scary.
Things like alcohol, your lover's ex, heartache, friendship, lies: get it here.
I look forward to reading Nolan's next book.
Nolan has managed to write a debut novel that is odd. More coherent than
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Genet, more back-and-forth than Burroughs, less succinct than Garth Greenwell, Nolan may be the modern author we need to write about relationships.An unnamed first perspective female is the protagonist. We follow her as she meets Cieran, 'the most beautiful man I've ever seen', and progresses to analyse as much as fall herself in love. Cieran is the subject of her desire and the feeling is mutual, until the protagonist discovers that he's still in touch with his ex, and things turn two-faced.
A tenth into the book, and it felt simplistic and predictable to me. I felt the tone of the book, it was fair, but I thought I'd get nothing more out of it. I read on, and discovered more layers.
Remember the young days drenched in lust and alcohol? Even if you've never been there, Nolan will take you there, in a caleidoscopic way. Nearly like Alice's initial fall through Wonderland, our protagonist goes through many different emotions and settings, in Dublin and Athens, jumping years at a time, without the story becoming pretentious in a bad way.
The book carries the debutante's touch: paragraphs are here to impress, but they are deftly arranged so that we overlook the beginner's wont to be different, to mistake impression for style. Yet, this being Nolan's first book, it's an impressive first effort. It takes guts and strength to write paragraphs in this way:
> ‘These people aren’t my friends. Just because you and I sleep together, it doesn’t make them my friends.’ I didn’t know how to respond to this. ‘Sleeping together’ was the least generous reading of what had been going on between us and could only have been intended to hurt me. I lowered my head and let myself cry, aware of people I knew looking at me from the gallery porch and whispering to each other. ‘What?’ he said. ‘Did you want me to say I’m falling in love with you? Because I’m not.’ ‘No,’ I said, and feeling that I had no more energy to do whatever we were doing, I turned and walked towards home.
> When I was a child and my cat was hit by a speeding car that didn’t stop, he lay out in the shed that night waiting to be buried. I crept out into the damp mossy darkness after everyone was asleep and drew back the blanket he was beneath. I put my hand on his familiar ginger stomach but of course it was wrong in every conceivable way: freezing where it should have been warm, stiff as new cardboard where it should have been soft. Feeling this wrongness I knew it was true at last, and couldn’t believe it. I kept on stroking and stroking him, making deals with God. Thinking, If I stand here all night; thinking maybe if I stroked the awful, dead-thing stomach one thousand times exactly, thinking, Please, please, God, send him back to me, give him back to me, I won’t stop asking.
Nolan allows the book to breathe, in a non-obvious way. There are many things that could go wrong, but Nolan graciously avoids most pitfalls; as a result, the love story isn't really a love story, but an in-depth gaze into part of the human experience, one that's gripping, lovely, horrendous, cringeworthy, and scary.
Things like alcohol, your lover's ex, heartache, friendship, lies: get it here.
I look forward to reading Nolan's next book.
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LibraryThing member kjuliff
Couldn’t ever get into it. First half promising, utthe series of sex scenes became boring.
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2022)
Betty Trask Prize and Awards (Award Winner — 2022)
Dylan Thomas Prize (Longlist — 2022)
Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award (Shortlist — 2021)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2021)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2021-03-04 (UK)
2021-03-09 (USA)
Physical description
288 p.; 7.8 inches
ISBN
1529113016 / 9781529113013
Similar in this library
DDC/MDS
| 823.92 |