Review of Aurelius

[Sharill Rasowo]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Aurelius" by Ariel O'Suilleabhain.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Ariel O'Suilleabhain's novel Aurelius is about a little Irish girl named Aibrea'n who grows up in the Alaskan tundra in the 1960s. It describes her day-to-day activities and travels. The book delves into her relationships with her family and how they shape her outlook on life. The novel is a work of fiction, yet it is informed by the author's real-life family.

The concept of the book appealed to me. The idea of depicting the life of a little girl growing up in the Alaskan wilderness was fascinating to me. I admired Aibrea'n's independence. She appeared to be extremely capable of assisting her father with his fishing business. Her love for her family shined through in the story, which I found really touching.

The episode with the pocket watch was one of my favorites. It felt like a passage from A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I rather loved. The author added an unexpected twist with the mystery of the Russian man, which I believe added to the story's allure. I was intrigued by the mystery surrounding the origins of Aibrea'n’s family, and I wish it had been explored further in the novel.

I enjoyed how the narrative started with her as an elderly woman reflecting on her life. I was pleased to see her large family, which included great-grandkids because I felt she had had a full life.

However, I found the sentences to be too wordy. This made the book more difficult for me to read since I could not always figure out what the author was trying to express. The author should, in my view, have changed the length and structure of the sentences. Using a combination of long and short sentences would have substantially improved the reading experience and avoided a monotonous tone. The sentences also had a lot of repetition. Some sections included large amounts of text that were difficult to read.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars because the construction of the sentences made it hard to read. However, I would like to point out that, despite the difficulty of the sentences, grammatical mistakes were few. This work, I believe, would benefit from the assistance of an editor, particularly when it comes to sentence structuring. I would recommend this book to youngsters aged 12 to 15 years old because they would be able to relate to the main character, who is of that age.

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Aurelius
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[Aisha Yakub]

Simple but great read. Thanks for your review.

[Mary Lou Mills]

I would imagine that growing up in Alaska would be like a frontier experience. I like the perspective of this woman looking back at her life.

[Shridhar Suryawanshi]

I simply cannot imagine how hard it would be to grow up in Alaska. Thanks for the detailed review.

[Walter R]

A book about a girl growing up in the Alaskan Wilderness. Great review.

[Julius Nwohiri]

An interesting story set in the tough Alaskan Tundras. Although recounted through the eyes of an old woman, the day-to-day life of teenage Aibrean clearly captures the early life of the author shaped by family influence and survival in a harsh environment. The book should be re-edited so it can capture its proper place. Good review