Thank you you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to preview The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue. I didn't know what to expect when I received a recommendation from the publisher based on my review of Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I loved that book with all my heart, so I took a chance on The Rachel Incident. I'm very glad that I did!

As a 40 year old woman, I related so much to Rachel unflinchingly looking back on her 20s and the events that shaped her future. Everyone felt real; the best friend/roommate, the professor and his wife, the flaky boyfriend...I felt like I knew them in the way that Rachel knew them. I appreciated that although Rachel clearly has main character syndrome (didn't we all in our 20s?) that she doesn't cut herself much slack. I could see so much of myself in her and the way I felt about myself at her age.

I don't have much else to say other than to strongly recommend this book, especially for those of us a few years or decades past our 20s.

I thought THE RACHEL INCIDENT was a great read -- a quiet, polished, and unexpectedly thought-provoking coming-of-age drama centring the character of Irish uni student Rachel Murray and the significant (and variously intimate) relationships she develops with three different men during her last year of undergrad study in Cork. It so beautifully captured that uniquely-twenties excitement and idealism for the future, despite the contrary feeling of being constantly overwhelmed by the limitless possibilities ahead of you, despite feeling constantly on the brink of something but unable to take any meaningful steps forward because you haven't figured out quite how the world works yet.

Rachel was an imperfect yet sympathetic character, whose tendency towards accidental self-destruction struck many familiar chords. Her friendship with James, the focal point relationship around which this entire book moves, was compelling and all-encompassing, but I found his individual development lacking in a way that was enormously disappointing. His character was of equal significance to hers, his own romantic relationships and sexuality forming one of the book's most important plot threads, but his voice, though extremely funny and aware, wasn't nearly as strong. I also think there was so much left unsaid between the two of them by the end of the book that it sapped some of the emotional pay-off.

It was an enormous relief to me that Caroline O'Donoghue didn't do the obvious thing of turning the whole 'academic scandal' plotline into an over-the-top soap opera; this made Rachel's experiences more realistic and relatable, and I suspect it will afford readers a better opportunity to genuinely connect with her as a character. The political engagement, likewise, was unexpected but so sensitively accomplished; in particular, I will never not love a plotline, a book, an author who speaks so frankly and uncompromisingly about abortion, about choice, and about the realities and difficulties attached to being a woman in a world that men have gotten stupidly used to being in charge of.

My main criticism (and the reason I can't bring myself to give this five stars) is because there was something about the tone of the book that held me at a remove from the real human feeling of it. Which isn't to say the writing was bad, because it wasn't: this was a superbly well-written book. I suppose I just mean that the telling of the events was much more straightforward and much less emotive than I would have expected. A lot of reviewers have been comparing this to Sally Rooney's novels, which is absolutely fair and right -- but whereas Rooney's novels always leave me in bits on the floor by the end of them, I just couldn't make the same emotional connection here.

I need more O'Donoghue books asap, her writing is funny and convincing and just clicked with my brain. What makes this an even better coming-of-age story is that Rachel looks back with sharp self-awareness as she narrates from 10ish years in the future. So it's not just about what it's like to be young but what it's like to have grown up and to understand the things you couldn't understand before.

The Rachel Incident is a coming-of-age story about Rachel. Rachel is working in a bookstore while finishing up her senior year at university. She is living with her closeted roommate James, infatuated with her English professor Dr. Byrne and dating Carey a loveable but unreliable man.

The characters are all engaging and humanly flawed, the relationships are rich and complex. It was a pleasure to read about Rachel as she navigates her way through the sticky life situations and relationships that young adults endure. The story was funny and heartfelt, a total enjoyment...
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for and advance copy.

4.5 stars

*I received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

I knew I would like this book before even starting and I definitely wasn’t wrong! Caroline O’Donoghue has such an amazing way of building character relationships that you can’t help being drawn into, with the sort of intensity that makes it difficult to stop reading. The friendship between Rachel and James was loving and supportive, but often toxic, and really made this book for me.

It’s a novel about being in your late teens/early twenties, and all the uncertainty that comes with trying to discover where you belong and what you want. It reflects on the importance of friendship and how this can sometimes overshadow what’s best for you, and does this in such a tender and relatable way. It also shows different perspectives on sexuality and tackles a wide range of difficult topics with sensitivity.

Such a compelling and emotional read and one that I’ll definitely be thinking about for a long time.

Okay okay okay, to me Caroline O’Donaghue can do no wrong. She is hilarious and I will sit and listen/read everything that she produces. Like, can you do the eulogy at my funeral? Just to make everyone a little bit up and about? Okay thanks.

Anyway, The Rachel Incident is one of those stories that you can imagine happening to every other 20 something girl and their best friend. I mean, maybe minus the *cough cough* incident, Rachel and James are best friends, work together, live together, are everything to each other and I love it. They live in conservative Ireland and whilst their lives get tangled in the questioning of their morals and what is accepted in society, the story continues to come back to their strong friendship. Through relationships, careers, family dramas and drunken nights, O’Donoghue has a way of writing like the story is about you. It’s not, the story isn’t about you, or me, but I had to kinda stop and think, I did have a blue sweater & a boyfriend called James… Is this me? No, it’s not.

I heavily endorse this book and if you are fan of Caz and Dolly and the likes, you will enjoy this fictional journey.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #TheRachelIncident which is coming out in June.

I think this was a case of wrong book, wrong person because I just could not get into this one. There are so many rave reviews - this one was just a miss for me. The writing seemed chaotic, I didn’t particularly love the main characters, and I wanted to DNF this one many times. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this one early - it just wasn’t my taste.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy.

Oh my goodness, the ending of this book, saved this book. I almost DNF'd it several times, as I didn't really get into it, until about 65% in. The one thing that kept me reading was the unbreakable bond and friendship between James and Rachel. Their relationship was so pure and so sweet. Even though the first part of the book was giving the readers the background story, it felt pointless; I didn't understand the direction or how these seemingly isolated incidents were going to carry through. Miraculously, the second half of the story somehow tied everything together, but it was the getting there that was a bit painful. I truly loved the ending of this book though and how everything turned out in the end. Everyone seemed to get their deserved happy ending. I was so relieved that Rachel finally got herself together and reconnected with old friends. Sometimes the difficult journey is worth the end result!

I struggled with this one in the beginning and for quite a bit (probably the first third) until I was settled in and began enjoying the story. I loved the depth of the relationship Rachel had with James (the friend). You spend a lot of time inside Rachel's head and this is more stream of consciousness storytelling than anything. That can be tricky to pull off, but I thought this was done very well in that regard.

#THERACHELINCIDENT by #carolineodonoghue is a bit like Jersey Shore but Irish. There are heaps of excellent catchphrases and quips, haphazard adulting and tons of misadventures; this book is peak 2009. I loved 2009. To be young and broke and living it up with your best friend as you both make a go at city life is something that a girl who works in a bookstore will always cherish.

This may be my first favorite read of the year and it hasn’t even come out yet! The #netgalley link landed in my inbox this month and from the instant I met James and Rachel (as Sabrina) I was swept away. The friendship between the closeted gay guy and six-foot tall Glamazon is beautifully rendered. From their attempts at securing love - one with a married English professor and the other with an invisible man from the north - to their attempts at saving money (i.e. making a list of all the people they can ask money from), their moments together are at once poignant and hysterical. I paused so often to share laugh out loud lines to my husband. Life does catch up to them, eventually, but the lightness and levity maintains throughout; I so enjoyed seeing how life turned out for these two kindred souls.

Many thanks to @aaknopf and @netgalley for providing an eARC for review. I’m beyond grateful I got to read this one early. #THERACHELINCIDENT comes out 6/27/2023.

Wow. This book was utterly beautiful. Captivating prose, intricate characters and steeped in rich Irishness, The Rachel Incident is on track to be a modern classic. An effective illustration of what it means to be a young person forging a path in a climate of uncertainty and bleakness, this story is powerfully relatable in both its honesty and emphatic self-awareness.

Let’s start by saying, The Rachel Incident took me on a JOURNEY. Beginning at the end, O’Donoghue ferries us twelve years into the past, to Rachel’s youth, her houseshare with her best friend, James, and her courtship with her lover, also called James.

Rachel and James, two best friends who meet whilst working at a bookshop in Cork, are victims of a fallen economy, a broken job market and a general direness of national spirit, developing a platonic codependency that (while beautiful in many ways) should probably be severed in the interest of their own individual progression.

The Rachel Incident examines how we’re constantly changing and that we will survive without the things we thought anchored us. We tether ourselves to new people. New experiences. New places. New realities. 5/5 stars!!

“It was easy, now that I understood passion properly, to see why you would move heaven and earth to secure it.”

Thank you to NetGalley for this arc! I was initially intrigued by the synopsis and am so glad I got the opportunity to read this. It’s one that will stick around for a while. Rachel, a young college student, and James, her magnetic best friend, have the kind of friendship that makes your heart hurt. The political themes mixed with their own personal experiences was done so beautifully. I loved the writing, the characters, and thought it did a wonderful job of showing the evolution of friendships and relationships as life goes on. Easily a 5-star review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Knopf Doubleday for this ARC. O’Donoghue’s tone is reminiscent of Miranda July. Rachel’s character is blunt and incredibly complex, making her much more in tune with what runs through one’s head rather than what is said out loud. As a reader, you witness her intrusive and inappropriate thoughts, complex relationships, and messy life. The niche literary references throughout added a very personal touch to the book and you were really able to witness Rachel grow as a character and literary geek. The one issues I seemed to repeatedly encounter throughout the book was differing between the past and present, especially in the beginning. The transition was see less in the writing but it would have been helpful if the time shift was indicated with more than a paragraph separation. The characters throughout the book had incredible depth and all served as an antagonist and a protagonist in one another’s stories- this can be an incredibly difficult balance. O’Donoghue tackled it beautifully, creating intricate relationships where everyone served a different role in one another’s worlds.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue is a funny, heart-rending, incredible, delectable story.
I was so engrossed in this novel, it became the only thing I could think about for the two days I read this.
Caroline O'Donoghue’s writing is swift, witty and engaging.
The characters are fun and chaotic.
This coming of age story will likely resonate - whatever your age.
And you’ll enjoy this amazing journey.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Knopf for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC

This novel tells the story of a complex friendship between best friends James and Rachel who are young, wild, and carefree. Rachel is the narrator and she takes you back to her university days in Cork, Ireland, as she studies English, works in a bookstore, and is just trying to navigate life. These two main characters are hugely flawed, raw, selfish, and a times highly unlikeable, yet something kept me drawn to them. This story is more than about friendship and love, it is about growing up and find yourself even when at your lowest and breaking point. The realness of the characters keep me wanting to know what would happen next and made for a page turning read. The ending felt a bit too "perfect" and tied up nicely for characters that felt so messy and imperfect. For fans of Sally Rooney and Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, this is a book that you shouldn't pass up.

Thank you to Net Galley and Knopf books for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and feedback.

This book and its heroine Rachel really spoke to ME! I loved her story. Though I have nothing in common with Rachel ( she is a millennial, me a baby boomer) I felt her coming of age story so keenly. I think it was so well written and so eloquently conveyed what Rachel was feeling.
This is the story primarily of Rachel - a college student and her best friend James Devlin. We meet them working together at a bookstore (got to love that) and they become roommates and life long friends. Both Rachel and James have romantic tribulations revolving around one of her professors. ( Dr. Byrne ) The reader goes through many twists with them.
This a book that I was power reading because it was so compelling. The ending was satisfying but I felt sad to no longer be in Rachel's world and in her confidence.
It was great to see the many paths to happiness and success the characters in the story experienced. I loved how brave Rachel ultimately was in seeking her destiny.
I also very much enjoyed the setting , mostly in Dublin and the commentary on difficult economic and social themes which gave a little different perspectives for U.S. readers.
Overall this is a brilliant book that I think readers will love.
Thanks to NetGalley and Virago for the ARC. Expected publication date is 6/2/2023.

I am in the vast minority here but I just could not find my way into this one... I didn't relate to the characters, their experiences, or their situations. I am not really the target demographic here, which may be the problem (or at least part of it), but I also didn't find the writing style very resonant even setting that aside. Others seem enraptured with it though, so this is likely just a case of wrong book/ wrong reader.

Loved this. Felt like Nora Ephron vibes in the UK. Funny and real and cinematic, but smart and focusing on important topics. This book gives women’s fiction a serious side and I am looking forward to reading more from this author!

It’s really hard to be a young adult with an English degree, when all you have to dine out on are your questionable sexual choices. Wouldn’t go back there for a million bucks, but this book was a pleasant time capsule back to
the best worst years of a literary life.

This is a brutally honest coming of age set in the late 2000s ,exploring themes of friendship, love, sexuality and abortion in catholic Ireland.

The characters, especially the vivacious James, draw you in and don’t let you go until the end. I devoured this book in two days and think the story it tells is so important and done so well.

The writing is funny and the images it conjures are so lucid.

This is wonderfully immersive, funny and important.