Emma Donoghue is one of the best contemporary fiction authors out there for a reason, and HAVEN only serves to amplify this fact! It was a story of survival and human connection, and one I won't soon forget!

The author has a great way of telling a story. It was just a little draggy for me. Maybe I was just not in the right headspace?

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting book. I liked the details that the author provided that painted a picture of the characters and the setting. I thought the story moved at a good pace and made sense. The author really made you feel strongly (good or bad) about the three main characters. I do admit that I sometimes mixed them up and sometimes forgot what the time period was, but it was a good read.

3.5

“To travel is to turn the pages of the great book of life.”

I loved that quote! What a book by Emma Donoghue. I have read several of her books and enjoy her writing style. Haven was a strong character-driven novel in a vivid setting. I did have a difficult time making an emotional connection with any of the three main characters and this one moved a little too slowly for me. While it wasn't my favorite of her books, I still enjoyed reading it and would pick up a book by her again.

A beautiful story of religious mania and survival. Three monks leave their monetary to live in solitude. They end up secluded and trying to survive on Skelling Island. Brutal and beautiful.

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯!
This story was a great adventure, a story about survival and faith. A bit slow at times and profound, but a short story that was a great to listen.

Thank you Hachette Audio and NetGalley for this complimentary audiobook.

Haven is a great character study of odd characters, isolated from the world. I love Emma Donaghue's writing and evocative sense of place and writing.

A priest and two monks take off from the shores of Ireland to find a new remote place to build a monastery to their God. They find a completely remote island aside from birds.

Then…these men live on this island for the rest of the book. They plant the seeds they brought, they try build a monastery from rock as there are no trees on the island. They see no one. I felt like I was plopped on this island with them!

Not much happened. I would say this was more of a character study which Donahue did a great job with. I felt like I was almost a 4th monk watching their interactions. The location, mood, and feel was nailed! Loved that. I was just a little bored. It did help that it wasn’t too long…

It would’ve helped to know that this island, Skellig Michael was where they filmed Star Wars with Luke Skywalker-where he died (right?). It is now a UNESCO site and now I really want to go. It has been visited and lived on for years by hermits, and religious men. So I found that rid but super interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hatchette Audio, Little, Brown & Company for the audiobook.

Without question, Emma Donoghue has a profound gift when transferring idea to page. Her novels are among my favorites for her ability to describe and portray the human spirit so superbly. Haven is not an easy read. It simmers in its telling and weighs heavily in its descriptors. It will definitely not be for everyone. But if you have a deep inquisitive mind, you'll want to see this to the end. The journey of these three will stay with you long after.

I have loved Emma Donoghue's books in the past, so I was very excited for this. While I loved her intriguing characters, atmospheric setting and (usual) evocative prose, it was too slow moving for me with not enough story or plot to old my attention. I really wanted to love it more and still look forward to what Donoghue comes out with next. Many thanks to NetGalley an the publisher for an advanced reading copy.

𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ⭐️ (1 star)

𝙈𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨:

I’m clearly an outlier here. I did finish this book, but wow, was it hard.

I found the pace brutally slow. I didn’t understand the “why”. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters. I finished it, but I really shouldn’t have bothered.

I’m a fan of Ms. Donahue’s work and this book doesn’t change that, but dear lord, this one certainly wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company and Emma Donahue for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣 is available now.

I just couldn't get into this one. I think it was the narrator's monotone voice and the slower pacing of the novel.

I picked this up once before in the summer, but put it down for those same reasons. Tried again this week, and just determined this was not working for me.
The concept sounds intriguing, but did not engage me right away.
I ended up DNF-ing this audio book 34% in. Felt like I gave it a good run.

I really want to love Haven but unfortunately it hasn't held my attention. I set it aside when I was 1o% in as a "not right now" book. I plan to pick it back up at a later time.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for my copy of Haven by Emma Donoghue Narrated by Aidan Kelly in exchange for an honest review. It published August 23, 2022.
This book had me very surprised. The build up of how things were going and were going to go really threw me off in the best possible way. I didn't know what to expect going into it, and once I got into it, everything I expected was wrong. I think if you even have a marginal interest in historical fiction, you might find this interesting to read,

This is an interesting g historical fiction novel that follows three monks who are working to establish a monetary on Skellig Michael (many know this as a Star Wars filming location), off the Western coast of Ireland. It takes place in the 6th century and on its surface is a straightforward story, but also focuses on an extreme religious leader and the dynamics that develop internally with him, and with his followers. The narrator does a good job of communicating the story and projecting an low hum of ominousness.

Some books make me think. Some books make me feel. This book made me want to push one of the characters off of a very high cliff. And there are plenty of precipitous crags and rocky outcroppings to choose from on the Great Skellig.

(In case the location of this story sounds a bit familiar, it probably is. The Great Skellig is now known as Skellig Michael, and was the place where Luke’s Jedi retreat was filmed in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.)

There really was a monastic retreat on Skellig Michael, and it probably was founded at the time this story is set, the 7th century AD. But probably, hopefully, not like this. Because the monastery at Skellig Michael seems to have had continuous occupation – barring the occasional Viking raid – from its founding through at least the 11th century.

That record of continuous occupation requires a level of both practicality and sanity that is just not present in this story. Haven could be read as a how NOT to do it book.

The opening is not exactly a reasonable start for the 21st century, but would have been for the 7th. Brother Artt, a well-known monastic scholar, has a dream that he and two other monks found a monastery that will be isolated from the temptations of the world. Artt sees those temptations everywhere, including in the safe and well-endowed monasteries of Ireland where he travels.

Artt’s real dilemma, however, is the one that Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar so eloquently described a millennium later. That the fault is not in our stars – or in this case Artt’s stars or even his dreams – but in himself.

It’s not even that Artt is a rather extreme ascetic, not merely willing but seemingly desirous of giving up even the relatively spare comforts of an established monastery because they simply aren’t spare enough for his desire to punish himself to death. It’s that he takes two men with him into his remote, deprived and in some ways even depraved exile, and that because of the rules of the church they are sworn to obey him no matter how crazy he gets.

And he gets very crazy indeed. It’s Artt’s descent into madness and Cormac’s and Trian’s diligence and obedience – to the point of their own mental and emotional breaking – that forms the rocks and crags of this thoughtful, sometimes lyrical, but also exceedingly cold story.

Escape Rating C+: One of the things about reading is the way that it gives the reader the ability to step into another’s shoes and see the world as they might have seen it. This is a book that made me wonder just how far out of ourselves we are, or even should be, able to step.

It’s not just that Artt is an arsehole – although he certainly is in the way he treats Trian and Cormac – it’s that his arseholery comes from a place that is so foreign to me that he grates on me every bit as much as Cormac’s endless stories and Trian’s burbling chatter grate on him. (And I’m saying that even though Artt’s reaction to their constant need to make verbal noise would drive me just as far round the twist as it does him.) Howsomever, while I don’t share their religious faith – let alone the almost blind way in which they practice it – I can see both reason and fellowship in Cormac’s practicality, just as I can in Trian’s youthful curiosity. I can walk a bit in their shoes – or sandals as the case may be.

Artt I’d prefer to throw off one of the rocks. But because his outlook on life is so completely foreign to me, I spent an uncomfortable half of the story caught between wondering if that’s because his perspective is so alien – or if he’s just an arsehole and he’d be one in any time and place in which he found himself. But as the situation on Skellig Michael became increasingly dire, and Artt’s response to the direness of those circumstances and his complete, total and utter unwillingness to consider ANY of the practicalities of their inevitable plight I reached the conclusion that he was just an insecure and angry arsehole and that he’d be one no matter what the situation. His arseholery would just manifest differently in other times and places.

So this is not a comfortable story and not just because of the increasing discomfort of the monks’ situation. And that is well beyond uncomfortable. But Cormac and Trian are under the rule of an emotionally and psychologically abusive master and what we witness is their increasing desperation and self-blame as they attempt to reconcile what they’ve been taught to believe with the increasing insanity of what they feel compelled to do.

One of the few shining lights of this story was that I listened to the audiobook instead of reading the text. I probably would not have continued without the audio because this story felt so brutal. But the narrator Aiden Kelly was excellent. I have to particularly call out that he did a terrific job of making the three men’s voices sound so distinct that I could easily tell one from another even when dropping back into the audio after a day or two away from it. His reading elevated the book to that plus in the rating.

In the end, I’d have to say that I’d recommend this narrator unreservedly, and I’ll look for more audiobooks he’s been part of. The book, on the other hand, I’d be guarded about who I recommended it to. The writing, as I said, is lovely to the point of being lyrical, but this story is so very cold. The author is extremely popular, but for someone looking for an introduction to her work I’d definitely choose something else, either The Pull of the Stars or Room.

And if someone is interested in historical fiction about this time period in Ireland in general and the Catholic Church in Ireland at this period in particular, I’d recommend the Sister Fidelma series by Peter Tremayne, which begins with Absolution By Murder. These are historical mysteries, featuring a central character who is both part of the church and a practicing lawyer. She’s also, I have to say, someone who Artt would detest on sight, so recommending her instead of him seems like a bit of well-deserved payback.

I just couldn’t get into this book. I tried both reading it and listening to the audiobook, but ultimately I was just bored with the story. I’ve loved everything else Donoghue has written and this was true to her writing style and included beautiful descriptions of settings and great character development. I do think that if the story speaks to you, you’ll enjoy this. It just didn’t speak to me. If you don’t like this or it doesn’t sound like your thing, I do encourage you to check out the author’s other books, because she is extremely talented.

It's the seventh century, we're at a monastery in Ireland. Visiting monk Artt has a dream and decides he's been called on to embark on a journey to establish a new, pure, unblemished tribute of worship. On an island, somewhere out there. He'll know it when he sees it. He brings along old timer Cormac and young, earnest Trian.

A slow burn, this book covers the birth of the mission, spurred on by Artt's disillusionment with the current state of the (sinful) monastery, the arduous journey, the establishment of the outpost. There's a lot of talking, philosophical ponderings. A lot of exasperating decisions, the direness of their situation, the chances of survival just get worse and worse. There are some surprises, maybe foreshadowed a bit by all of Artt's preaching.

I kept comparing this story to Lauren Groff's Matrix, where nuns must survive in the outskirts of France in less than desirable circumstances. Comparing how the women handled this challenge versus these three men.

The narrator was stern, articulate, a voice fitting to the subject.

My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the audiobook in exchange for this review. Haven was published in August 2023.

Dear Haven,
I love Emma Donoghue. She has such deep and introspective characters. I wasn't sure how well I would resonate with three monks in the 17th century, and I was a bit hesitant to even start listening to you. The first part, before the monks head out to sea felt dry and way too filled with religious overtones for me. But once their journey took off, I was pulled into the depth of all three monks. Trian is so innocent and eager and Cormack is so entertaining and likeable. Art honestly scares me, with his religious fervor and fallible logic. I loved the interactions between the three of them as they struggled for survival against all odds. The eventual twist was such an interesting and shocking. Emma Donoghue writes so lyrically and beautifully and I can't help but fall in love with her characters.

Skellig Michael is a remote island off the coast of Ireland where against all odds, a monastic community was formed. This is author Emma Donoghue's fictional account of how that might have happened. Three monks travel to what feels like the end of the world to an island with no real soil to speak of, only one tree, and more birds than can be counted. They have come to this island for different reasons. Artt is following what he believes was a vision from God. Cormac came to the monastery later in life after losing his family. Young Trian has been at the monastery since he was a boy. Their story is one of isolation, but also of relationships.

I found the characters engaging and the setting fully realized, but at the end of the day, nothing much happens in this novel. There is a bit of a reveal at the end, but that felt underdeveloped and the ending abrupt. The narrator was skilled, and it was nice to hear the pronunciations of Irish place names.