
Member Reviews

The Rachel Incident is a funny and engaging coming of age story. Throughout the book, we follow an ordinary 21 year old Irish girl through a tumultuous year in her life and all those tangled in it. The Rachel Incident highlights the realities many young Irish women face due to the lack of access to reproductive care. This book was an incredibly raw story that perfectly highlighted the realities of living in a small Irish city, graduating from university during a recession, and the complexities of power imbalances in relationships. O’Donoghue delivered a book perfect for lovers of Salley Rooney, but who are interested in less pretentious characters.
The Rachel Incident is one of my favorite reads so far this year and received an easy five star rating. I will recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a messy, but relatable coming of age story.
Thank you Netgalley for the Advance Copy.

I absolutely adored this book. Rachel's character was so relatable - not always likeable and certainly cringey at times, but mostly because I could recognize the not-so-great parts of my 20 year old self in her. Fortunately, Rachel's voice is much snarkier and full of dry wit than mine was at that age - making for great reading, I loved the relationships and found myself rooting for each character throughout. I also really loved the glimpses of present day Rachel - it was fun sort of knowing where the story wound up while still enjoying the ride. One of my favorite books of 2023 so far!

Ahem…this was SO SO fun! I am happy that I was given a chance to read this. It was entertaining and a great summer read. The writing was well done and clear, it was easy to follow (which is what we want in a summer story). Thank you netgalley for the earc.

Rachel is fresh off a break up, working in a bookstore, trying to finish her degree when she meets James. The connection is instant and deep as only friendships in your 20’s can be. It’s the early 2000’s in Cork, Ireland where jobs are disappearing, the economy tanking, and women don’t have reproductive health rights. As James comes to terms with his sexuality, Rachel takes on a publishing internship. Inevitably these relationships cross over, boundaries obliterated.
When the book opens Rachel is married, pregnant, and a journalist. Much of the story is told in flashbacks, so we know she figures her life out between ‘here and there’. Like reading the last chapter of a book first, knowing a character lives makes witnessing the journey no less painful. It’s easy to pass this off as a coming of age novel (and it is). It’s incredibly slow to get going and for me didn’t hit its stride until the halfway mark. The characters can be unlikable and exasperating, but this misses the big themes. O’Donoghue has swung for the fences and I think this is where the real strength is and she hits her mark. This is a story of unbalanced power in relationships, subtle and overt. It’s a look at what happens when women don’t have close, safe and legal access to reproductive health care. It’s a story about women getting thrown under the bus by men to clean up their messes. As I was talking about this with my book bestie we were incredulous “Why must women clean up the messes?!”.
Thank you to Knopf and Caroline O’Donoghue for the advance copy via Netgalley.

This book is just beautiful -- funny, refreshing, honest, and melancholy at the same time. I know I will think about it a lot and the intricate world that it weaved. Not that it was a different reality but the characters, the location, the story and the moment all feel so real. If you ever wanted to be a writer or if you ever had a quarter-life chrisis, I recommend this book. I also definitely recommend this book and this author if you like literary fiction and beautiful writing. I know I will re-read this book.
The Rachel Incident comes out next week on June 27, 2023, you can purchase HERE! You will love this book!
It was still half an hour until closing time, so the footpath was scattered with groups of girls who were either crying or getting sick.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Caroline O'Donoghue, and Knopf for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!
I was so drawn to this book because my name is Rachel, and I'm a sucker for books with my name in them! Thankfully, it was right up my alley and exactly the type of book I like to read! The Rachel Incident is a comical book with a lot of heart and surprisingly a lot of depth. Although I am not like this Rachel at all, I found that I was really invested in her as a character and was rooting for her the entire time. I enjoy Irish humor, and I thought O'Donoghue did a fantastic job of writing actually funny scenarios and characters. The friendship between Rachel and James was my favorite part, as it was extremely heart-warming. Having these close friendships is such an important part of coming-of-age as young adults both in college and right after, and I though the love that was present through them was such a beautiful thing. I also though the relationship between Carey and Rachel was enjoyable to read about and played an interesting dynamic to the affair between James and Dr. Byrne. As someone who graduated in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I could relate so much to the uncertain feelings that they were going through trying to find their place in the world. My biggest complaint is I thought the timeline jumps were a little unnecessary, and I found myself confused when they were occurring. They weren't clearly marked, and I don't think they added enough to the story as a whole to be interwoven. I also would have liked to see more of James, as I felt he was an extremely compelling character. Overall, I'm really excited to read more of O'Donoghue's work now, and I enjoyed this read!

3.5 stars. A quick, engaging read about a young woman in her 20s, living with her gay best friend, James, and wondering how to adult. Rachel and James crush on one of Rachel's professors, with long-ranging repercussions. A book about navigating your post-college years, wondering how you'll ever get a job, and looking for love and acceptance.
"Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.
When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife."
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

The synopsis and Ireland setting excited me, but this novel wasn't what I expected. It kept making me think of "Will & Grace" and wishing this book was better. James was the stereotypical gay best friend, and I wish he had been more developed. I found the Byrne character very despicable and couldn't enjoy any scenes that included him. Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy!

It’s 2010. Rachel Murray is at university in Cork and working at a bookstore, thanks to global financial crisis that is squeezing her dentist parents, when she meets James Devlin, lower class and insistently heterosexual, who invites her to move in with him. The two of them develop a deep and caring friendship. When Rachel confides her crush on a professor, James helps her put together a book launch at the shop. But rather than Rachel connecting with her professor, it’s James who stumbles out of the closet. The resulting complications–of Rachel’s English degree, future in publishing, of the lives of her professor and his wife, of James and his dreams of writing comedy–will swirl in a direction that none of them could have foreseen.
Caroline O’Donoghue is a fantastic writer with an absolute gift for similes. (Sample: an Icelandic geyser is “Sea-World for the kind of people who read The New York Times on their phones”) Even when her characters lack compassion and insight for each other, her readers will ache for each of them trapped in impossible situations. She’s also brilliantly funny. The Rachel Incident is the best book I’ve read in ages and I enjoyed it immensely. Highly recommended.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue is a great story of friendship and reaching adulthood in the early 2000s in Ireland.
The Rachel Incident follows Rachel and her friend James as their friendship grows, they fall in love and be come adults. The story tackles so deeper topics like coming out in the era of Will and Grace.
While I loved the story, I thought O’Donoghue’s writing was the best part. She captivated me, made me laugh out loud and even stop to read portions of the story to whomever was next to me!
I think The Rachel Incident stuck with me as I was about the same age as Rachel when the story took place and while I did not grow up in Ireland, there were a lot of similarities and I could relate.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Rachel Murray is living a most ordinary life. As a small-town, Irish student working in a bookstore searching for meaning between late shifts and paychecks, Rachel doesn't quite know what she wants out of life--she just knows she wants more. Enter James Devlin: he's unapologetically brazen, almost criminally-extroverted, and sexually-ambiguous And it's evidently a James Devlin-sized void that's been the ache in Rachel's life.
Soon, the two are inseparable and living together in Cork. James is in love with the unpredictability of life; Rachel is in love with her literature professor, Dr. Fred Byrnes. When a chance encounter at their bookstore sends Dr. Byrnes into not only Rachel's orbit, but James', their lives are interwoven--and irrevocably changed--overnight.
A poignant, endearing, deeply-human coming-of-age story, "The Rachel Incident" is sure to please fans of "Normal People" and "Frankenstein and Cleopatra." At their core, Rachel and James (and yes, the other James, too) are achingly-plausible; I rooted for them, rolled my eyes at them, pleaded with them, and ached for them. They aren't perfect characters, and there were a few moments throughout the story where I wished they were a tad more nuanced, a tad more complete. And while "The Rachel Incident" doesn't necessarily boast anything that hasn't been done before in a character-driven story, its voice is certainly refreshing and charming enough to tether readers to Rachel and James, especially readers asking themselves the same questions: "Who am I?" "Where am I headed?"
One of the more surprising standouts of the season for me, "The Rachel Incident" left a Rachel (and especially James)-sized imprint on my heart. Just lovely.

I've been on a bit of a thriller/mystery kick lately (aka all the time) and after digging through my to-be read pile, The Rachel Incident jumped out at me. It is easy to label this story as a coming of age tale but I think it is so much more. The story centers around Rachel Murray, a young woman entering into her last year at University as Ireland is on the brink of a recession. Rachel, a young woman that appears to never quite know who she is, especially in relation to those around her, finds herself drawn to her co-worker, James, at a local bookstore. Quickly, Rachel and James become inseparable, eventually moving in together. Their platonic relationship is the center of the Rachel Incident, a driving force behind Rachel's developing sense of self.
Rachel finds herself in a convoluted love triangle (love square?) between herself, James, her professor Dr. Brynes, and Dr. Byrnes' wife. I can confidently say the unraveling story and the relationships between these characters is not something I predicted, making the story that much more enjoyable. Ultimately, this is a story about friendship and how those in our lives help to structure who we are capable of becoming. By the end of the story, Rachel Murray has developed a stronger sense of self which is something she struggled to find at the beginning of the novel.
The only reason I deducted a star from my final review is because I found myself wanting more from Rachel. While I accept and appreciate her growth, and the strong relationships she is able to develop without sacrificing herself, I still feel like we lost out on some of that growth. Too much is left unsaid with the time jumps to present day (2018) London.
Thank you to the publisher, Caroline O'Donoghue, and to NetGalley for my copy of The Rachel Incident in exchange for my honest review.

4⭐️
Rachel Murray has only every had one fight with her best friend James and that happened shortly after they met at the bookstore they both worked at. But that one fight cemented a life long slightly codependent friendship. They moved into a slightly questionable flat on Shandon Street spend all of their time together. James is a closeted gay man and Rachel is the only one who knows. Rachel is attracted to her college English professor, Dr. Byrne, and James is the only one who knows.
James helps Rachel plan a book reading for Dr. Byrne's new book at their job with the hope that Rachel will be able to make her move. That night is the starting point of James and Rachel's whirlwind relationship with Dr. Byrne and his beautiful wife, Deenie. A relationship that ends in a misunderstanding but completely changes Rachel's life forever.
Did I request this book because my name is Rachel? Maybe. Did I actually enjoy this book even though I had no expectations? Yes, yes I did. This was a nice break from my normal Thriller. I really enjoyed reading about platonic soulmates and the lengths they were willing to go to protect each other. I liked seeing what Rachel was willing to sacrifice for James when he needed her most and vice-versa. I also liked how all of Rachel's future relationships have to live up to the relationship she has with James, which I think is very relatable.
I also liked how much of the pro-choice movement in Ireland this book went into. The book went into aspects of obtaining an abortion when you live in an area where they weren't available at all, including travel logistics and requirements and costs. It was a really eye-opening breakdown and is even more depressing when thinking that that is where the US is going.
Thanks Netgalley for providing this ARC to me!

The Rachel Incident is a coming of age story about Rachel Murray, her best friend James, and their tumultuous lives. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but I didn't really get anything out of it. Rachel is a 21 year old trying to navigate her life through college, relationships, and working. James seems to be a couple years older, gay, and that's about all I really know. The story is told in a disjointed way - as an older Rachel reflecting mainly on the year she and James lived together in 2009-2010 before they parted ways. Overall, the novel was just fine - nothing great or new about it in my opinion. I did enjoy (probably the wrong word but hopefully you understand when I mean) learning about the experience of Irish females and their reproductive rights. The fight to get the ability to choose to have a child or not is something that is a big topic today. This work shows that it is not new and will be an ongoing battle. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ultimately this comes down to a story of friendship and coming of age. I loved the pop culture references. Rachel likens her bookstore job to an Empire Records situation which completely made me chuckle since I love that movie and there were additional unacknowledged tie-ins along the way. Rachel and James worry they are becoming Will & Grace, among other many references that I may or may not have understood. In this way, the story speaks to a broad range of ages. While not considered a romance, there are several romantic interests and relationships throughout the book. But while I am not a fan of romance, I was able to enjoy the interactions without feeling like I was reading a romance because the romance was secondary to how Rachel and James interact with each other and with those around them based on their own relationship.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue is an on-point homage to young adulthood and the everlasting friendships that are forged through sheer naivety and youth. This book had me hooked from the very beginning and I felt so invested in all of the characters. They were so relatable and dealt with life in the most real way. Sometimes when you are young and you feel like the world is shitting on you and it will never get better...this book is here to tell you that if you hold on tight to what matters most and keep forging ahead, life will indeed get better. This was a beautiful story of humanity.

Such an engaging, original story -- made even more so by the Ireland setting. Rachel, a student who works in a bookstore, is wondering when her "real life" will begin when she meets James, soon to be her bff, then develops a crush on her married professor. James tries to help Rachel get together with the professor, and it all goes completely, entirely, and very humorously wrong. I look forward to recommending this title.

I read this in one day, drawn in from the first page! I really enjoyed the multi layered aspect of this book, telling the story of Rachel, and the education about the rights of women in Ireland at the time of the story. The time of the story, college years into adulthood, I think most can find an aspect to relate to, maybe not to the extremes of the book, but that is what makes reading so fun. Great characters, great writing and story arc, I enjoyed this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

The Rachel Incident
Sometimes I love to read contemporary books set in the UK and I’ve never really been able to explain why, but if you are the same way, this book is great! I enjoyed the explanations of what it’s like to grow up in a small Irish town and try to make it without ending up at the same call center as everyone else you know.
The Rachel Incident was a story about a girl named Rachel, her best friend James, and their life together as they tried to become adults in Ireland. They made plans to move to London for a change of pace, but economic times were making it hard to find jobs that would pay well.
I loved the story and the characters, even when all of them were decidedly unlikable. I felt a raw realness to it and it was messy. If coming of age books are your thing, I definitely recommend this one.

To me, the Rachel Incident is a good representation of the mess and insecurities that exist when you leave your parents house and come crashing into the realization that you are considered an adult now and that your actions can have a far-reaching impact.
I think every person wishes they had a best friend they were as close with as Rachel was with James. A friend for the good, the bad and the ugly, and a friend you can still be friends with even after living with each other. The writing was really well done and I have added more [author:Caroline O'Donoghue|17126758] books to my TBR.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.