THE RACHEL INCIDENT
By Caroline O’Donoghue
Penguin Random House
€19.99

WE HAVE moved into the era of Celtic Tiger crash coming-of-age stories. Where once we had the effects of the boom on young literary minds – the excess, the disposable income, the wiping your forehead with a €50 note at the Galway Races, and all the hardship that came with that – now we have the comedown, the literal crash that ruined many a young dream after being brought up without a financial care in the world.
Rachel is a student in University College Cork, post the 2008 bust. Her parents, once successful dentists, have had their savings, their nest-eggs, wiped out, and Rachel’s college career, once assumed to be financed completely by her folks, has had to be supplemented by a part-time job in a bookshop.
As far as part-time jobs go, it’s a good one, particularly for an English student with notions. The only snag is the declining hours being offered, the poor pay and the unsociable hours. But when James joins the team she is instantly smitten, and the two quickly form a double-act that goes from small unrequited crush to fast-friends and then housemates, when he convinces her to move out of her parent’s house and in with him.
When Rachel confesses to fancying her tutor, Dr. Fred Byrne, the pair conspire an event at the bookshop to launch the professor’s minor literary tome. She hopes to gain his favour, James hopes to finally set eyes on the man who has enchanted his best friend. As everyone knows, the course of true love never did run smooth, and this slightly chaotic event throws every and all romantic inclination into complete disarray.
The Rachel Incident is a well-paced, observant farcical comedy with hints of poignancy and even tragedy, as every quality comedy should. Because of its coming of age university setting it has provoked comparison to the work of Sally Rooney, but the only thing it has in common with Rooney is that it is also O’Donoghue’s third and best novel so far.
Much of it is set in Cork, where Rachel is half-heartedly finishing up her undergrad, a far cry from the overachievers suffering for their degrees in Trinity. It is peppered with passages from where Rachel is now – in London, thriving in her chosen career and expecting a baby – as she reminisces on the incident that shaped her future.
It is sharp and witty, well-observed and astute at capturing those frankly weird early years of adulthood where you are free to move about independently in the world, yet frequently make questionable, self-centered decision upon questionable, self-destructive decision while dismissing the guidance of people who could have guided you towards better choices.
But there is a lot to be said for learning from your mistakes, which could be said to be the heart of The Rachel Incident. Rachel is a relatable heroine, James a vibrant, funny supporting character, and their romantic ups and downs are achingly captured by an author with a distinct, assured voice.

I'm unsure if I would categorize this one as funny... the first word that comes to my mind is "lonely." I felt the characters like the characters were walking around in lonely circles among one another.
I didn't dislike the book, but I also didn't like it.

A great look back on an older Rachel to her twenty something self… set in Ireland. Well done character development and story pace. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Three stars!

A funny and thoughtful novel about the messiness of young adulthood, making friends, and finding one's path in 2010s Ireland.

Rachel is in her last years of university when she makes fast friends with her closeted co-worker, James, at the local bookshop. He enables her fascination with one of her professors by helping her set up an author event at the store to win his favor and maybe get a bit of something more out of it. When things go awry, the friends are tested and things quickly escalate out of their control bringing them into closer relations with the professor and his wife than they originally anticipated.

In the vein of Sally Rooney's "Conversation with Friends" and Coco Mellors' "Cleopatra and Frankenstein", Caroline O'Donoghue has written a contemporary novel full of morally questionable characters that will keep you turning the pages. You may cringe at their decisions while simultaneously be endeared by their naive attempts to find their way as adults in a tanking economy. O'Donoghue manages to weave these topics organically into the novel as the characters are preoccupied with morality, sexuality, bodily autonomy, economic stability, and career aspirations.

I actually found myself chuckling at this book, which is rare. I can find books witty or funny, but rarely do I audibly laugh out loud at what the characters say or do. Rachel and James' dynamic is electric and jumps off the page. This creates a real feeling of something at stake as the novel progresses. And as we see everything through Rachel's flawed point-of-view, but as she writes from years later, we get to see what really happened versus how she perceived it in a way that felt fresh and authentic instead of contrived or manipulative. Rachel doesn't let her younger self off the hook which I really appreciated.

The writing in this book is excellent as well. She has a sharp eye for detail without overdoing it, and a quick turn of phrase that balanced being unique without trying too hard. She will describe a feeling or experience in a way that cuts right to the heart and yet you may think, "I've never seen it described like that before." I was very impressed.

I will definitely check out more of O'Donoghue's books in the future. This would be a great book to read when you have plenty of time to read because you won't want to put it down. When I wasn't reading the book, I was thinking about the characters and dying to know what happened next!

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ebook. Set in Ireland, in Cork, Rachel, just graduating from the local college with an English degree that she’s starting to feel might be useless, and her roommate James are barely surviving on the salaries they get working at a local bookstore. They both stare at the imposing future, she might want to write, he is obsessed with creating a sitcom, but the biggest thing that they seem to struggle with is love. She loves a man from the north who seems to be everything she could ever want but is often silent and sometimes disappears, while he has a very secret affair with a married professor. This is such a funny and honest look at two best friends as they make a million missteps until they final find the road that each should be on.

Rachel, a twenty-year-old woman about to graduate with an English degree and working part-time in a book store, decides to move out of her family's home and into an apartment with James, a co-worker. Rachel falls in love with another James who is know to drop in and out of her life. Set in Ireland, author Caroline O'Donoghue's novel takes off from there with many plot lines involving love, marriage, sexuality and reproductive rights. At the core though, is the story of a young woman who, weeks before she graduates, is trying to find out how to pay her bills with her English degree. Book discussion groups will have a lot to talk about when choosing The Rachel Incident.

Uniquely witty with rich characters. O’Donoghue’s prose is so cinematic, yet realistic. I truly enjoyed this read a lot more than I thought I would have!

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced copy about a young Irish woman discovering what she is capable of being and looking at back at the events that made her.

One tends o look back at life with wonder and awe. Wonder in that we could be that stupid and awe that what we were so stupid about meant so much at the time, but now seems almost quaint. Life was over when we ran out of milk, life would never be the same when that person never called. Not to say that everything in the past was trivial, far from it. Many events do have repercussions. And many things become lessons that will serve us well later in life. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue is a novel about a young woman looking back at what seems at first like her feckless youth, but turns out to be much more than that.

The times is about 2010 and the world economy is still in recovery, except in Ireland where the roar of the Celtic Tiger has been replaced with with meow of a kitten in recovery. Rachel Murray is a young woman in Cork close to graduating school, working in a bookstore. Her best mate is Jimmy, a man finding himself and his sexuality in the world, along with a dream of being a screenwriter. Rachel and Jimmy decide to become roommates sharing a place, and sharing thoughts on the things they are doing wrong in their lives. Until a professor of Rachel's makes life very difficult for Rachel and Jimmy.

A very funny novel, with quite a lot going on. The book is Irish, and so is the humor which can be off putting to people on this side of the Atlantic, but the not enough to make people go, ughh this is just like Joyce. The characters are well developed, and seem real, and for a change act right, not some sort of media idea of how people should act. Rachel is interesting, but lost, not sure of what to do, or even who to trust. The cast is well developed and really could carry a book themselves, which is a credit to Caroline O'Donoghue. The book is told in flashbacks, but is never confusing or jump around. O'Donoghue has a steady hand on the story an knows how to tell it. The feeling of both nostalgia and oh my God I can't believe she or he is doing that balances quite well, and really makes for an enjoyable read.

This is the first that I have read by Caroline O'Donoghue, and I really enjoyed it. Readers of Sally Rooney, or even watchers of the show Derry Girls, will enjoy the story, the language, and the characters. A very strong story that reads well on the beach, or while waiting for the streaming series that I am sure will be made from it.

This book is told through flashbacks that are extremely well done. The author provides Rachel’s current day perspective on her actions and thoughts in her early 20s. I felt like this was a good paced read and I would definitely recommend this book.



Thank you NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for allowing me to read this ARC in advance for my honest opinion.

A bittersweet story about coming of age, friendship, love and loss that immediately took me back to my college years. I found this book to be hilarious and witty. I adored Rachel, and while most of the topics in this book were heavy and there was a significant power imbalance going on with the professor, her relationship with James was honest and endearing.

This book definitely made me think at the end. In the beginning it was hard to understand where we were going and the jumping around from perspective was sometimes hard to follow. I did appreciate the LQBTQ representation as well as the 2000s Ireland takes but I wish some of the references were explained more. Definity for the literary fiction lovers.

The Rachel Incident, by Caroline O'Donoghue, is a beautifully written novel about coming of age in Ireland during the economic collapse of 2010. The protagonists of this novel are Rachel, a recent English major, and her closest friend James, who are both struggling to find their places in a world that seems to be collapsing around them.

The Rachel Incident's superb characterization is what sets it apart from other novels about millennials. O'Donoghue expertly brings to life each character in this work, making them feel real despite their human flaws and complexity. Rachel's efforts to find her place in the world and her intense need for love and connection make her a very human and sympathetic main character.

O'Donoghue's wit and humour provide for a pleasant contrast to the novel's otherwise grim economic and emotional settings. Particularly entertaining are the many odd and humorous moments that interrupt the narrative, as well as the scenes of Rachel and James wandering around Cork city, attempting to make sense of their lives and their place in the world.

The Rachel Incident is an excellent book that will speak to everyone who has ever felt lost or alone. It's an enjoyable and profoundly emotional read because to its vividly realised characters, witty observations, and sobering introspective passages. Strongly suggested.

4/5 Stars from me.

***A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.***

O'Donoghue has a gift for creating empathetic, thoroughly human characters. All the surprises come at exactly the right moments and all make perfect sense.

I received this ARC thanks to netgalley and Knopf and 4 stars, I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't sure if I'd care for a book about millennials who are struggling to find work during a recession but I ended up caring very much. Current day Rachel Murray discovers that someone from her past is in a coma and so begins the story that takes place in 2010 in Cork, Ireland. Rachel and her best friend James, both work in a bookstore, both struggling to make ends meet. James aspires to be a screenwriter. Rachel is about to graduate with an English degree. Both are just trying to get by and along the way we meet other characters who play significant roles in their lives, many ups and down, many plans and dreams for the future. This was at times bleak, at times funny, and at times poignant but always captivating. I highly recommend it!

One of my favourite books of the year so far! I saw a review compare this to Sally Rooney’s novels and whilst I see the similarities in terms of how character relationships are presented, O’Donoghue’s characters feel a little less poetic and a lot more gritty and likeable but as a fan of both authors, I would definitely recommend this to fans of Rooney’s work. I couldn’t put this one down and look forward to whatever Caroline O’Donoghue does next!

I think we probably all have that one year we can point to as the year that changed it all. The Rachel Incident is the story of that year - the year she lived on Shandon Street with her best friend, James - for Rachel Murray. This is the story of a girl finding her way in the world as she struggles with university, first love, a failing economy, and the concept of being an adult.

O'Donoghue's writing kept me engaged the entire time... she has a way with words, and I found myself re-reading some of her metaphors simply because they were so on point.

I recently read The Heart's Invisible Furies, another coming-of-age novel that takes place in Ireland and shines a light on some of the country's troubles. The similarities end there, but I felt it was worth noting as I kept being reminded of The Heart's Invisible Furies as I read.

WOW! What a read! I was hooked after the first chapter and loved the character development and storyline. Can’t wait for this to come out!

I'm not one to grab a "coming of age" story, but I am so glad that I did - I thoroughly enjoyed "The Rachel Incident" and finished it rather quickly! In the words of its author, Caroline O'Donoghue, this book was a banger.

This book is written from older Rachel's POV, remembering her early-twenties life in recession-riddled Cork, Ireland. We read of her struggles to finish the assignments needed to graduate from university and feeling like she chose a major (English) that would set her up for the impossibility of finding a job. So at a high level, we see Rachel struggling with familial relationships, finding the motivation to make big decisions for her future, and fighting to make ends meet, all while dealing with this intense desire for love and connection - even if the relationship is toxic. We know this; heck, I loved this book so much because I felt like I was reminiscing on my difficulties when I was in my young 20s!

But the main plotline is the relationship between Rachel and her best friend/roommate James, a closeted gay man who's fallen in love with one of Rachel's married school professors. Rachel finds herself embroiled in their chaotic love affair, all the while dealing with the chaos of her relationship and struggling to balance keeping this massive secret as she works directly with the wife of her cheating school professor. Despite their poor choices in their early 20s, I love that this book never painted them as villains - they were people who made poor decisions, yes. Still, also deeply enmeshed best friends who would do anything to support each other, and by the end, we are overjoyed to see they've blossomed in adulthood and they're finally where the reader wants them to be by the end of the novel.

Each character was fleshed out well. The dialogue was witty (albeit funny at times, I found myself chuckling), and there are some brilliantly-tacked, sensitive issues about sexuality and abortion, for example. And as someone who studied abroad in Ireland and fell in love with the culture, I loved the historical piece of this novel and learning more about Cork in recession-riddled 2008.

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf, for the eARC in exchange for an honest review - "The Rachel Incident" will be available in July.

Caroline O'Donoghue has a beautiful way with words. While this story is not to my preference I'm still glad I read it and I want to read more of her work. I don't know that the right line is drawn here between gay best friend trope and educating others on the gay community, but an attempt was certainly made.

Excellent piece of fiction See my full review posted on Good Reads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63094957