Book Review: The Accident Season

The elapsed time between when I first discovered "The Accident Season" by Moïra Fowley-Doyle and when I placed it in my cart was under an hour. It was just one of those books that you see and you know you have to read it. It hooked me in several ways: it's set in Ireland, the plot is unlike anything I've encountered before, and of course it helps that the cover is gorgeous. 


The summary, as provided by the publisher, is as follows: 

Intriguing, right? While reading however, I was much more interested in the story of Elsie, a missing classmate that appears in all of Cara's photographs regardless or whether she was present at the time, than in Cara herself. I think it comes down to the fact that I didn't feel connected to the characters. Perhaps it was due to a lack of character development or perhaps just due to a lack of time spent with the characters. Either way, I needed more. 

This book also falls under the category of magic realism, which is perfect for the month of October but I admit that magic realism is not my area of expertise. There were times in the story where I wasn't certain whether Cara was being imaginative or possibly hallucinating, or whether what she was seeing or experiencing was meant to be taken as reality. I was also hoping for a little more development on the fairy front. What with Ireland having such a rich folkloric history, I thought there would be more ties drawn to actual folktales and creatures from the Irish tradition. 

By this point in probably sounds that I didn't enjoy this book and that's not true. I found the prose to be lyrical and the imagery was so evocative. It isn't often that I find an author who can paint pictures in my mind with their words, but Fowley-Doyle has done so.

I really wanted to love this book and while I did enjoy it, it hasn't made my shelf of essential reads. That being said, I'd still recommend "The Accident Season" because it's a clever idea and an enjoyable read. 

Rating: 3.5 stars

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