Snowflake

Astonishing debut. Highly original and showcasing beautiful poetic prose.
Just the right balance between hilarious and sad desperation.
Such a unique tale of growing up.
Adored every single character and I so want to go to Cassidys and drink with Uncle Billy.

Debbie is just starting her time at university. She's still living at home with her mother and uncle on their dairy farm. They story explores her newly found freedom and her family relationships.
I loved that she was not very street wise and she struggled with the changes in her life. The awkwardness of trying to fit in was spot on. That sense of her being outside of her comfort zone was really clearly written.
There is a theme running through the book about mental illness which I think is very well handled. It's not sensationalist and is just part of the life of the characters. It's almost so much a part of their lives that they don't even recognise it as an issue. I think that is very true for a lot of people, growing up in a slightly unusual home isn't unusual until you move outside and see how other people live.
I look forward to seeing what the author writes next.

Snowflake is an absolute triumph. It's a story of love, loss, heartbreak, humour, relationships, and friendships.

Debbie lives in Ireland on a dairy farm with her mother and uncle Billy - Billy lives in a caravan at the bottom of the garden and her mother is battling mental health issues whilst locked in her bedroom interpreting her dreams.

Debbie's relationships with her uncle, her mother, and her new foundling relationships at University are so richly described that you become so invested in each character. Louise Nealon has created the most wonderful characters, raw but truly honest.
Mental Health is an important theme that is interwoven through the book and snippets of the past enlighten the reader as to how the characters have become shaped by their past.

I thoroughly enjoyed Snowflake and ran a gamut of emotions whilst engrossed in its pages.

Set in Ireland - as is the current trend - a girl goes from the family dairy farm to university. At home is her needy, mentally unwell mother and uncle, at university she meets a needy, mentally unwell friend. Could be all a bit bleak but there is joy in the lead character's discovery of life beyond the farm, realisation that no one has the answers and acceptance of her family.

I did feel at one point that it was going to take a turn for the surreal with the 'dreams', but that angle seems to fizzle out - probably for the best. An enjoyable book, highlighting that the 'Snowflake' generation really don't have it as easy as the media like to portray.

I didn't initially like this book. I just couldn't get into it and thought about giving up. But I read on a little and then I was hooked. Completely hooked. I love the honesty and the quirkiness, the characters who all have a depth to them that is gradually revealed as the story goes on. It made me laugh. Nearly made me cry. And the language was beautiful. Lots of quirky, original imagery.

Snowflake tells the story of Debbie, her uncle Billy and her gloriously imaginative Mam, Maeve. Like Mam and Billy, Debbie is brighter than bright. Billy lives in a caravan and tells stories of Greek myths and stargazing. Mam has a room called the Tabernacle filled with poems and talismans. Debbie goes to Trinity, Dublin and meets Xanthe and the two of them navigate pubs, boys and essays. Themes of coming of age, mental illness, identity and belonging collide with characters who sparkle with originality, and gleam with hope despite their flaws and their pasts.. Louise Nealon creates a rich visual landscape of Dublin and the farm where Debbie lives as well as a rich interior landscape of dreams and reality. A lovely novel, deftly woven and full of hope.