Orchid and the Wasp is an excellent and entertaining character study of a brilliant but restless young woman coming of age during the first decade of the 2000s. The political and cultural climate of the time is almost another character in the novel, while the main character's family members are almost as detailed and fascinating as she is. I might have wished for more of a concrete conclusion for the main character, but in the end she is still wandering through life, which is perhaps fitting and right. Hughes will likely be a writer to watch in the years to come.

Orchid and the Wasp is a captivating work, with its delicate but straight- talking style and fascinating characters. Gael, in particular, bursts into your life and from the outset this feels like a smart and funny novel, and not just for the sake of it.
Caoilinn Hughes makes no allowances for her readers, hers is a book which relates conversations between characters first and explains the background later. The musical allusions are pleasing, noteworthy is the danger of razors and Sibelius.
The intricate description of the New York gallery pays off, you could be there, but this cameo is diminished by a long trail of characters to be learnt.
Between Gael’s return from New York and the ending, there was light shed on the relationship between her mother and Art, and their lives but I couldn’t settle with Guthrie, which was rather the whole point.
An interesting read, but more for its individual parts than as a sum of them.
Thanks to NetGalley UK and Oneworld

I must admit that I didn't make it very far into this title. I found Gael to be unlikeable and the writing difficult to follow. Something about her reminded me of a raunchier Flavia de Luche. I don't enjoy those books either, but if you do, then maybe you will find something redeeming about this title.

Evocative, sharp, edgy, strong. I appreciate a brilliant author who treats her audience as her intellectual equals, even while many of us can only dream of being such. Hughes' ability to spin words in unexpected ways and her willingness to create characters who don't fit into predefined literary molds makes reading "Orchid and the Wasp" a delightful challenge and full of discovery.

I did not finish. I got 60% through and then got so lost in the story I couldn't find the will to finish. The protagonist is miserable.

Loved this book! I had been waiting to read it for a while and finally went on vacation and had the opportunity to read it. I highly recommend the atmospheric feeling and the well-developed characterization.

Caolinn Hughes’ writing in Orchid and the Wasp is superb, almost lyrical, in parts. I highlighted more lines in my Kindle than in almost any book I’ve bought recently and joyously reread certain lines over and over. That said, the book is not without its flaws. It's a hard read. Despite the brilliant writing, a plot I thought I’d enjoy, and and interesting characters, I had a difficult time connecting.

Gael Foess, despite having a unique voice and strong presence, is a prime example of an unreliable, unsympathetic protagonist. In the beginning, she is a precocious, super smart, annoying, preteen con artist who completely lacks boundaries. At this point, she is cute and likable simply because of her audacity. Her unmarried parents, a financier father and an orchestra conductor mother, had children to promote the father’s political agenda. As the Irish economic crisis deepens, the father leaves the family. Over the course of the book, Gael becomes an adult and an anti-heroine. At times she is extremely protective of her mother and brother and, only occasionally, becomes somewhat likable. As Gael’s ability to con expands, she raises the stakes and manipulates and uses people with premeditated cunning. She makes many mistakes and relies on her native cunning to save her neck. She repeatedly makes the same type of mistake, believing she’s doing the right thing. 

There is some dialect I found difficult to read. In the middle of the book, Gael’s interaction with an elderly man on a first-class flight to New York seems far too drawn-out for the transition it is. Orchid and the Wasp tackles dysfunctional family dynamics, fluid sexuality, the economy, and politics with a high-powered magnifying glass. Hughes captures her locations (Dublin, London, and New York) with ease and accuracy. Overall, a mixed bag of a book, but the author's deft way with words makes Orchid and the Wasp worthwhile.

I’ve been reading Orchid & The Wasp for entirely too long. It wasn’t written badly or anything. Although, sometimes it seemed to get off track from the storyline.

The characters, Gael and her brother, Guthrie, are in one of those dysfunctional families where the parents are more neglectful and selfish than physically abusive. The father leaves to pursue his career during the financial crisis in 2008. He was tired of being in the shadows of his successful wife and having to be responsible for the kids. I don’t think he was really committed to his wife or his children.

All of the family members have their own successful skill set but it doesn’t make them less of a hot mess. The mother gets on my nerves so much that I hate reading about her.

Gael uses people to get what she wants so her people skills are seriously lacking. I’m not sure she even knows what she wants besides to get some sort of revenge against her father. He’s a jerk so it makes sense that she wants him to suffer a little. I kind of like Gael regardless of her flaws. If I were a character in this book, I would be Gael. Scary.

At some point, I thought about not finishing this book. I didn’t know if it was going to go anywhere with this family. Only one family member, Guthrie, is likable and even he isn’t who he seems to be.

So I finished the book and can move on with my life now. Hopefully, the characters will also move on with their lives. Am I the only one that thinks the characters still carry on with life even after the book has been read?

Orchid & the Wasp is not my favorite book but it wasn’t terrible. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Debut novel ORCHID AND THE WASP by Irish poet Caoilinn Hughes describes feisty heroine Gael Foess from ages 11 to 20 as she moves from Dublin to London to New York and back. Her father is a rather unprincipled financier and early on she learns from him while eventually trying to support her troubled, orchestral conductor mother and younger brother, Guthrie, who is prone to seizures. Both have artistic abilities which the ambitious, manipulative, and deceitful Gael exploits to help her family while becoming increasingly estranged from them. The cover is beautiful and inviting. Gael's character is not and, sadly, it was difficult to develop any empathy for her despite Hughes' often lovely prose.

4 stars to the character study, Orchid & the Wasp!

Gael Foss is at the center of Orchid & the Wasp, and the book follows her life from middle childhood through early adulthood. Gael and her younger brother, Guthrie, are living in Dublin with their parents who are very focused on their careers and not necessarily the family or the children.

Guthrie is needy. He has somatic complaints that turn into genuine illness, and Gael is protective of him and parents him more than their actual mother and father. I enjoyed this softer side of Gael, when it comes to her brother, because she has some sharp edges, too, and I think she is forced to harden because of her parents’ lack of availability, physically and emotionally. Her father left the family when the economy crashed in 2008. His leaving causes her mother to be even less available than she was before.

Gael is smart and worldly, and she takes advantage of others. As she becomes an adult, her manipulation of others is on a much larger scale.

Orchid & the Wasp is filled with heavier language and is engaging to analyze. When I dug deep into the lovely, but dark, writing, I found messages related to morality, ambition, mental health, and religion. Gael is formidable and intense, and the Orchid & the Wasp is her in depth character study.

ORCHID & THE WASP, Caoilinn Hughes’ debut contemporary fiction, follows the life of Gael Foess from her childhood up through her early twenties as she bounces back and forth between Ireland, England, and the United States. Gael’s father is an investment banker, her mother is an orchestra conductor, and her younger brother has himself convinced that he is epileptic. Her childhood might not be considered normal, but it is normal to her until her father abandons his family. Gael, who is independent and self-sufficient, does whatever she has to do to take care of herself and her mother and brother – even if she has to hurt the people that she loves in order to save them.

Gael Foess is a formidable protagonist. She is head strong, determined, and flawed. She is also cunning, conniving, and a bit of a con artist. Gael isn’t always the most likable character, but her desire to succeed and help her family is relatable. The problem is that Gael is trying to save her mother and brother despite the fact that they don’t necessarily need saving. Gael wants more for them, and she can’t seem to accept that they already have what they want. Gael makes many mistakes, and, even though she learns from her mistakes, she continues to make some of the same mistakes out of a deep-seated belief that she is doing the right thing. ORCHID & THE WASP tackles sexuality and family dynamics, as well as politics and the economy. While the novel is character driven, Hughes also brings to life the multiple settings with beautifully written prose. ORCHID & THE WASP is a fascinating read.

The author's voice is powerful and enveloping. One finds oneself fascinated and needing to know what happens next to this odd main character. There's quite a bit of Christian faith in the book, be aware of that going in. A very good read.

This was a challenging read for me. It's a character driven novel about Gael, a young woman whose family is driven apart by the 2008 financial crisis. Not an uncommon problem, especially in Ireland, but how she reacts is more extreme than some. I found it a bit unrealistic, given her age. The writing was at times frantic and others so wrapped in slang and other things that it was hard to follow. It was an unusual meh from me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Just because this wasn't my cup of tea, doesn't mean you won't enjoy it.

Young and motivated, Gael Foess attempts to help her family during the recession with her own sharp intellect in this bright and brimming debut.

Off the bat Gael wears her genius boldly. Suited with two independently successful parents and a sensitive younger brother, her family never praises her, but instead fosters a unique type of care and lessons. That is until her father, a banker, packs up and leaves. It's before this point though that Gael feels a protectiveness towards her mother and brother, and something like resentment for her father. She never loses the desire to impress him, even as an adult. As she sees her brother become comfortable in his discomfort, she can't help but strive to be part of the exclusive top percent of society like her father, as much as she hates it. As her story continues, you may want her to succeed - or perhaps not. Gael will certainly be insufferable to some readers. Her cunning lacks traditional honor, but still deserves praise. I couldn't help but gape at moments of this language driven story. Gael (and her creator Caoilinn Hughes) is so whip smart, enough to spark genuine joy.

Gael weaves her way through plot after plot, eventually making her way to New York with a one way ticket to sell her brother's abstract paintings (stolen, of course). She is driven to help him succeed, as she knows he couldn't do it without her. But she never stops to think if he'd want to do it in the first place. Nor does she stop to consider the paintings themselves, though she can see past her own love for her brother that they deserve high praise. Gael is stuck in the balance of love and respect for her brother. She simply can't see past what she believes is best for him, even to the potential detriment to his mental health. It's in her DNA to help him succeed, and only she knows how to do it, or so she believes.

Gael's relationship to her brother is fascinating and utterly unlike anything I've read before. I found myself relating her protectiveness to my own towards my parents as they get older. When you believe you know what's best for someone, to the point of not stopping to consider what it may mean to them, it can get tricky. In Gael's case, she never pauses to stop digging herself out of a hole. Though her love is strong and may seem righteous (to herself), she can't stop pushing.

It's easy to forget that Gael herself is so young by the end of the novel. Her prowess and intellect suit her well. As she begins her next mysterious course, I couldn't help but miss her already.

Caoilinn Hughes is a brilliant writer. I wanted to highlight half the book just for her ability to create literary brilliance. However, despite the brilliance, the plot that I thought that was right up my alley, and the interesting characters, I just couldn’t really get into this book. But as with most books I start, I pushed myself to finish, feeling guilty that I wasn’t rushing to finish while also feeling guilty that I couldn’t just give up, because reading is a pleasure, not a chore, no? Although reading Orchid and the Wasp wasn’t really a chore... Just not exactly enjoyable.

Orchid and the Wasp is the story of Gael Foess, anti-heroine, super smart, annoying, lacking of boundaries, but also extremely protective, and over time even likeable. Her family (orchestral conductor mother, financier father, and mentally unstable younger brother) is dysfunctional to say the least. When her father walks out and her brother has to quit high school Gael seems to hop between leaving her family for good, and being pulled back to help them through tough times. We follow Gael through her teenage years, into her twenties, through Dublin, London and then Manhattan.

Caoilinn Hughes’s writing merits 5 stars, no doubt about it. And for a debut novel this is pretty heavyweight, and a good promise of what she is capable of I think. While Orchid and the Wasp isn’t a novel that I will most likely revisit, it will probably rattle around my brain for a while. I think it will either appeal off the bat to people or not at all. Just know that you probably won’t like any of the characters very much, which is basically part of the plot really. I did however enjoy revisiting the Occupy Wall St protests of 2011 in NYC that I also participated in, and in the end I found that I really had a soft spot for Gael.

Orchid and the Wasp will be published on July 10th by Hogarth. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

Sidenote: the cover is absolutely gorgeous.

oooohhh.. The writing to this book was very, very intriguing. This is utterly different than anything I have ever read before. I was first interested in this book after I read the initial reviews on GoodReads and saw some examples of the language used. While this didn't receive stellar reviews I think it was just because people got caught up on the way the book was written. I, however, found it moving and poetic in a nature. The story keeps flashing forward with each section as Gael keeps growing up, perhaps I could say physically but not as much mentally. I felt there wasn't tons of character growth for her but that's how she was written. 3.5 stars from me.

I downloaded this title based on the expectation of an interesting main character, and Gael was indeed that. The book is well-written, introspective and has some humor, as well. However, I tried several times to read the novel, and kept encountering situations that were not enjoyable, such as the opening scene dialogue about hymens, virginity, etc. and the scene where Gael observes her father in the shower. Just....ick. This is one of the few I have to say I did not finish. I do appreciate the opportunity to review the book, and I'm sure it will have its audience. It just wasn't for me.

'Her only brother. She’d imagined lesions on the soft tissues of his personality.'

In Caoilinn Hughes’ debut novel, we are introduced to Gael Foess an intelligent, tough young woman who is good at lots of things. Gael knows it takes more than talent, skills to make a rich life. Her brother Guthrie suffers from an unusual illness his choices narrow his life, dull his talent, his brilliance. Gael refuses to let him sink in mediocrity, she will force all the good things she knows he deserves on him, whether he wants it or not. They have seen how their parents were reduced when life hit them, her father left, her mother’s luster dimmed out, no longer the amazing orchestral conductor she once was. It doesn’t have to be this way, she refuses to let Guthrie or herself submit to the mechanisms of fate. They won’t be victims!

When Gael leaves Dublin for the art scene in London and Manhattan, she has a plan. She knows how to work people, how to level the playing field. If it means success for her brother, what does it matter if she deceives? Artist, illness… it’s exactly what the wealthy hunger for. The further,longer she is away from her home and family the more she loses herself. She has to work the gallery scene, and it’s a jungle. Like any business, it requires decpetion. Just how much of her brother is she willing to sell, if it’s for the best? At what cost? There is tenderness in the telling of Guthrie’s childhood difficulties and the affection she gave him. But he is no longer a child.

For all of Gael’s shrewdness, she is blind when it comes to her family. Sometimes you can’t conquer every problem through sheer will, sometimes you have to accept the state of things and move forward. When we attempt to ‘fix’ our loved ones, sometimes we end up breaking them. It takes a sober mind to see oneself with clarity, Gael spends most of her days plowing through life, sure she knows what’s best for everyone, when she is sober. She gets tangled up in Occupy on Wall Street, works the galleries with a talent similar to her father’s, has run ins with love and remains sealed off to becoming truly close to anyone. She knows best, though, when it comes to her family. Or does she?

Gael can be a bit much but her actions are born out of love. The problem is she isn’t dealing with her own inner turmoil nor is she aware that her brother is his own person, with his own needs, desires. In fact, I think there is a little of Gael in all of us as we want to push our loved ones to strive for the best self they can. There is something maniacal in the ways we shadow our friends and family. It’s so much easier to fix others, isn’t it? It takes leaving Dublin and returning home to confront the reality she has been unable to discern in order to move forward. Love itself is all we can give, loving people enough to let them be who they are, and make their own choices, even if it’s against the life we imagined they deserve.

Publication Date: July 10, 2018

Crown Publishing

Hogarth

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I have read (and partially skimmed) the first chapter of this novel and concluded that it is not for me. The part I read was from the perspective of the (in some ways) extremely precocious 11 year old Gael, as she gets into trouble at school, cares for her younger brother and manages her father (or perhaps only thinks she does). While I can see Gael has potential, I do not like her and am reluctant to read an entire novel of her outlook on life. I found the opening off-putting (Gael explains to her friends her views on virginity and hymen removal/fake restoration) and once we got to her watching her father in the shower I had had enough.