Reviews: Nora Webster (9)

I enjoyed reading this melancholy story about Nora's life following the loss of her husband. At times she seemed so vulnerable and at the mercy of her Irish relatives who all wanted to 'help' her. Other times she is strong minded and decisive whereby she is able to go against the grain.
I think that the book would suit someone from their 30's onwards because of the life issues that are highlighted in the story.
I would definitely recommend this book

I started reading Nora Webster with the expectation that I would get to know and empathise with the key characters while learning more about life in Ireland in the late 1960s. I was therefore disappointed to find that the story was in effect a character study of Nora in the three years following the death of her husband. The story touches on Nora’s daughter Aine’s political involvement and it is clear that her two young sons are quite troubled but these storylines are left unexplored as is the background to the tension between Nora and her sisters. I very much wanted to warm to Nora throughout the story but found her character very self-centred and prickly. Overall Nora Webster left me feeling disappointed.

I really enjoyed this book, although I did feel that it took a while to get going. The novel is based around the main character Nora who has become a widow and now has to come to terms with facing life without her beloved Maurice. While facing her grief and bringing up her children she is confronted with the choice of shutting herself away or getting out there and creating a new life for herself. Although the book is based on a bereavement it is not particularly a sad book, but is more about relationships; family and friendships. The story is based in 1960’s Ireland and I am sure would appeal to lovers of this genre. I would recommend.

I was looking forward to reading this after enjoying Toibin's book "Brooklyn" and usually like books set in the era that Nora Webster was based so was disappointed when I just couldn't settle to enjoy it.
I found the book very slow and with each new chapter I would think that this would be the point at which things began to really happen. It felt as though each time something began to happen it all slipped back to being a slow pace.
My opinion of the main character, Nora, would alternate. At times I liked her slightly bristly nature, at others it made me quite dislike her! I found myself frustrated by members of her family, then siding with them on other points. I rather liked that aspect of the book as it kept my interest going!
I see from other people's reviews that they have enjoyed and been more positive than I have about this book so it goes to show it really is all a matter of taste, it's just that on this occasion I didn't find the book to hold my interest and I wouldn't recommend this title to a friend or family member.

Being born in 1961, albeit in England and not Ireland, I found this book interesting from a nostalgic point of view and also how it highlighted such differences in attitudes towards matters as diverse as drink-driving, attitudes to women, getting a job and parenting.

Essentially, this novel is about blind Nora, the main character, has become to her children's emotional needs whilst she was in deep grief at the loss of her husband.

I also found I learnt quite a bit about living with "the troubles" and how it would have been so different to the way we felt about it growing up in England in the 70's.

I found the section about Nora's son being unhappy in boarding school and how Nora dealt with it very moving and I don't know whether I could have been as strong as she was. Although thinking about this again maybe it wasn't strength but merely that she was overwhelmed by her own grief.

Overall I am glad to have read this book and it was not such a heavy read as my review may suggest.

This is a quiet, un-assuming, un-sentimental story about an ordinary 1960's Irish woman who's learning to cope with the death of her husband.
It is a formidable character study and incredibly well written, a joy to read. Also, the main character, Nora , is memorable and well sketched, I think she'll live on in my memory for a long time.
Although from the plot overview it didn't sound very exciting, this book was, in fact, un-put-downable..or at least it was to me!

Set during the late nineteen sixties and early seventies in small-town Ireland, Nora Webster is the story of a middle aged woman struggling to deal with the impact of the death of her husband and to remake her life as an independent person. Her transformation takes place against a backdrop of sympathy, curiosity and prurience from her friends, neighbours and family whose assumptions and expectations only add to her difficulties.

There's a remarkable authenticity to Tóibín's writing and this portrait of Ireland in the second half of the twentieth century – claustrophobic, parochial, inward-looking, shocked by the civil-rights struggles in the North and confused by political corruption – feels utterly convincing. It's a compelling and moving portrait of an individual and of a community by one of Ireland's greatest living writers.

I enjoyed visiting with Nora and her Family who were trying to cope with the loss of her husband and found it an intriguing story with insight into the area and the people around at the time.

At times I wasn't sure where the book was going and many parts of the story left you wanting more information as they were not fully developed and only hinted upon - but maybe we will get to visit with Nora again and I look forward to that.

A thoughtful study of a woman finding a way to live following the death of her husband.

This book explores the effects of the loss on Nora, her children and the wider family.

Nora's life and choices are also affected by the changes in the social and political

landscape of Ireland in the 1960s. Nora is an interesting fully rounded character, and I

enjoyed this book and would recommend it.