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A review by obsidian_blue
Half Seven on a Thursday by Roisin Meaney
2.0
Updated June 25, 2024: Yeah this was still not a great re-read. I just have the same thoughts as I did on the original read.
Not bad, just not very interesting. I honestly thought that one of the characters, Judith, was honestly kind of awful in retrospect. I get that it was probably supposed to show how much she had done for her son, but I went yikes about her whole story-line. I also didn't really like the character of Edward and just thought that Ellen and Marie both needed a lot of therapy. Besides that I just read the book and just thought it was probably one of her weaker books. I think it's honestly because I didn't really like but two of the characters we followed. I have read others I have enjoyed a lot more.
"Half Seven on a Tuesday" follows the director of an amateur production and the cast that is involved with it. The director, Edward Bull is focused on directing the play and trying to forget his marriage.
Two sisters, Ellen and Maria are both barely getting through days and hope the play is something new to do. Maria is in a loveless marriage with a son who has autism. Ellen is still grieving the boyfriend she lost years ago.
Robert is happy in his life with his twin sons and his ex-wife who he runs a hairdressing shop with. Until it looks like she may be moving on.
Judith is still full of regrets over how the end of her marriage may have affected her son. Now an adult, Judith is wishing that he would come back from Greece.
Theo is in a happy relationship, but resentful of her boyfriend's 13 year old daughter. The two of them have a new baby and Theo wishes that the young girl didn't come to them once a week.
Harry is shy, but wants to do something new so he doesn't focus too much on the fact that his mother has Alzheimer's and there's not a lot going on in his life.
I honestly think there were just too many things going on in this one. And as I said above I didn't care for anyone besides two characters: Harry and Maria. Everyone else was selfish as the day was long. I think it's a tie between who I didn't like more, Theo or Judith. Theo was beyond selfish (who gets jealous of your current boyfriend's child?) and Judith (who ignored a lot of terrible things her son did and even through the last little bit of the book. And Judith stepped in and.
The writing didn't grab me like her other books and the flow was awful. I think because there was a lot going on here and trying to hang things around the play didn't work very well at all.
The ending had a lot of loose ends I thought though Meaney tried to make it seem like things ended on a somewhat happy note for all characters we followed.
Not bad, just not very interesting. I honestly thought that one of the characters, Judith, was honestly kind of awful in retrospect. I get that it was probably supposed to show how much she had done for her son, but I went yikes about her whole story-line. I also didn't really like the character of Edward and just thought that Ellen and Marie both needed a lot of therapy. Besides that I just read the book and just thought it was probably one of her weaker books. I think it's honestly because I didn't really like but two of the characters we followed. I have read others I have enjoyed a lot more.
"Half Seven on a Tuesday" follows the director of an amateur production and the cast that is involved with it. The director, Edward Bull is focused on directing the play and trying to forget his marriage.
Two sisters, Ellen and Maria are both barely getting through days and hope the play is something new to do. Maria is in a loveless marriage with a son who has autism. Ellen is still grieving the boyfriend she lost years ago.
Robert is happy in his life with his twin sons and his ex-wife who he runs a hairdressing shop with. Until it looks like she may be moving on.
Judith is still full of regrets over how the end of her marriage may have affected her son. Now an adult, Judith is wishing that he would come back from Greece.
Theo is in a happy relationship, but resentful of her boyfriend's 13 year old daughter. The two of them have a new baby and Theo wishes that the young girl didn't come to them once a week.
Harry is shy, but wants to do something new so he doesn't focus too much on the fact that his mother has Alzheimer's and there's not a lot going on in his life.
I honestly think there were just too many things going on in this one. And as I said above I didn't care for anyone besides two characters: Harry and Maria. Everyone else was selfish as the day was long. I think it's a tie between who I didn't like more, Theo or Judith. Theo was beyond selfish (who gets jealous of your current boyfriend's child?) and Judith (who ignored a lot of terrible things her son did and even through the last little bit of the book. And Judith stepped in and
Spoiler
encouraged a girl she knew who had slept with her son (and it honestly sounded like rape possibly) to have an abortion since she knew her son would not make a good father. But I got the impression that Judith just didn't want the rest of the town to know what her son did and rightfully call him a POS. That whole plot point was awful.The writing didn't grab me like her other books and the flow was awful. I think because there was a lot going on here and trying to hang things around the play didn't work very well at all.
The ending had a lot of loose ends I thought though Meaney tried to make it seem like things ended on a somewhat happy note for all characters we followed.