Sara Machado's Reviews > The Rachel Incident

Happy publication day!

The Rachel Incident is a coming of age story of a Millennial girl in Cork, at the peak of the financial crises. It is also a love story, a journey of self discovery and acceptance and a tale of the lack of reproductive healthcare in Ireland.

I absolutely adored this book! It was so easy to relate with the characters that parts of the story just felt like a trip down memory lane. Being a Millennial myself, who was also trying to find her place in the world at the described timeline, probably enhanced my understanding of some of the struggles. However, Caroline O’Donoghue perfectly describes the insecurities, struggles, feelings, passions and the absolute mess of entering the adult age, which I believe are pretty much the same for all generations.

The writing is beautiful and I particularly liked the fact the story is told from the present time. This allow us not only to experience what the characters were feeling at the time, but also see it through adult eyes and understand the different perspectives.

This book is perfect for Sally Rooney fans, with the advantage of including likable and a lot less pretentious characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!