Published By: Abacus
Pages: 256
Released On: 08/02/2024
Patrick, Shiv, Rian, Oli and Conor grew up together. They played together, skipped school together, and dreamt of everything they’d do with their lives.
Now they are thirty, and only Rian has made it out of the estate and moved away to another city, but his money doesn’t stop him clinging to a vision of the past that is quickly slipping away. Oli is fading by the day, drinking and snorting his way through the endless boredom, while Conor has a baby on the way and a business plan he hopes will change everything. Patrick and Shiv are as in love as ever, but even they are rocked when an old secret opens up new wounds…
Bold, ambitious and stylistically striking, I See Buildings Fall like Lightning asks what happens when all the things we expect from our lives end up … not happening. It lays bare the ways that place and circumstance shape us, explores the redeeming and transforming beauty of friendship and examines the true limits of hope and forgiveness.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Abacus for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I have been desperate to read this book for months, ever since I’d come across it, and so was overjoyed that I got an early copy.
We have five main characters: Conor, Oli, Patrick, Rian, and Shiv, and so we see everything that goes on from one of their viewpoints.
It was unusual to read a book like this that followed a group of men (Shiv being the only female). Usually, in my experience, a book that follows multiple POVs of a friendship group and their childhood and futures etc. is usually told from a female perspective, so it was a great thing to read as it felt so fresh.
It had a sense of Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagen about it. Not in terms of the storyline, but in the way of writing. It’s hard to explain, you sort of have to read it yourself, but the way the words made me feel was very similar, this sense that you’re on the cusp of something, whether it be good or bad.
There’s no real speech in it. It’s a narrative split into 5 POVs, but it feels like the story is being told after it happens. It is written in the first person – I, me, my etc – but the way it’s written, the lack of clear dialogue and whatnot makes it feel like it is someone else telling this story.
For me, there wasn’t much of a plot, but that’s fine by me. I know people will argue with me on that point and I can see why, because all books have to have a plot of some sort to keep the book flowing, otherwise it would just be a random combination of words. But I am more focussed on the characters. It is a great character study of people who just so happen to be going through life. And I’m fine with that. I enjoy getting to know them and all their flaws.
I admit I am a little conflicted. I’m not sure what I was expecting from it, and yet it still ended up being something I didn’t expect, which I know doesn’t make sense, but I’m not sure how to explain it. It has the heart and the soul that I was expecting, but maybe it’s the plot, the format perhaps that threw me slightly.
It’s not an easy book to read – or it wasn’t for me. It’s harsh and raw and honest, and that’s not always easy to swallow. There’s everything from drug and alcohol abuse, to employment worries, financial concerns, parenting concerns, and relationship difficulties, as well as trying to find your sense of belonging, togetherness, and purpose. It is quite uncomfortable at times, and yet it’s still a really powerful piece of writing, and overall I think I was right to be so eager to read it.
I’d say the first half is slower than the second; it’s filled with scene setting and character creating and leading you into this world. And then the second half we really get stuck in and it becomes more fast paced and emotional and more affecting.
I will say that if you’re after a laugh-a-minute, more warming, cheery, light-hearted kind of read, then this is NOT the book to read. It’s wonderful and creative and interesting to read, but happy it is not.
Books By Your Bedside 