The Rachel Incident is a heartwarming coming of age story that I enjoyed.
Rachel who is in her 20's is very relatable as I thought of my own coming of age at that time.

The story started slow and I kept waiting for the "incident".

The story was well written all In Rachel's voice.

It was a well written contemporary fiction novel.

Caroline O'Donoghue's THE RACHEL INCIDENT is wonderfully written, absolutely engaging. Like all my favorite novels, her story drew me into an entirely new world filled with fully realized characters. I felt as if I witnessed their ups and downs, empathizing with the situations they encounter and live through with their individual charm, grace, and intelligence. Would I recognize them on the street or in a pub? You bet -- and I would thank them for an entertaining, unique story. I received a copy of this novel and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Rachel is by turns funny, infuriating, lovable and cringe-inducing. Born and raised, and now attending university in Cork, she feels like everyone knows her and her business, and she is determined to confound their assumptions. Her relationship with her best friend and roommate James, sets off a chain of events that culminates in "The Rachel Incident", a situation that changes the course of several lives. The story is narrated by an older, married and pregnant Rachel. Sex, alcohol, pregnancy, abortion and economic malaise all set in a struggling Ireland make for a combustible background.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rachel is a married journalist living in London and expecting a child. The book goes back in time recounting Rachel’s journey to the more immediate present and the role the “Rachel Incident” had on her life choices. When she was in her last year of college, it was hard financial times in Ireland and she roomed with James, her fellow sales associate at the bookshop in which she worked. James, who is gay, came to be her lifelong best friend. Rachel had a crush on her married college professor, Dr. Byrne, who, to her dismay, developed a liaison with James. While Rachel participated in the dating scene, her only long term relationship, although on again, off again, was with another James…James Carey.



Although it took me a while to get into it, I enjoyed the story. It is a tale of of friendship, loyalty, autonomy, self discovery. The author created a good sense of time, place and lifestyles of the main and supporting characters. Some have talked about the humor in this book, but I didn’t really find it particularly funny.

The Rachel Incident is a great character-driven novel about adulting in Cork, Ireland during the Great Recession.

Rachel meets James while working at the same bookstore. In the way of twenty-year-olds, they are quickly best friends and move in together. James is gay but hasn’t come out yet. He helps Rachel navigate her crush on a married, and older, college professor. She helps James expand his horizons. Eventually, a plot twist occurs.

I adored the language within The Rachel Incident. It is beautifully lyrical. Each word seems lovingly selected. The quirky characters feel genuine—just living their lives during their confusing twenties like the rest of us are (or did). I usually don’t like slice-of-life novels like this, but I did enjoy this one. 4 stars!

Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

2.5 stars

Well, Rachel creates an incident alright, and readers might be expecting that this will be the central focus of the novel. The biggest surprise for me? Readers spend the whole novel with Rachel, but there is a lot of waiting around for that incident. It doesn't occur until an extremely advanced stage (think 3/4ish mark)!

Rachel, the titular character, can be described as gross in the way that most college age dudes are. Think a household in which you do not want to set anything down (and actually wish you had those realtor-provided booties for your shoes), indoor climate crisis, unclean clothes and bodies based on lacking awareness of hygiene, and so on. Honestly, I was so creeped out by the general descriptions of her swampiness that at times I could focus on little else. The un/fortunate news is that for a very long time, there really doesn't feel like much else TO focus on...it's just an ongoing drama of the relationship between Rachel and her best buddy/roommate, James.

Rachel finds herself in a difficult situation that due to naivete, entitlement, and lack of common sense creates more trouble than is necessary at home, at school, and even in her professional life. There's a separate situation related ONLY to Rachel that changes her life and focus in a positive way, but the central one - and that which is primarily tied to the titular incident - can only happen to a person like Rachel. Will she grow? Readers have to hope she will (and may get some insight into the answer as the novel concludes).

As a former English major who watched my mentor have a very inappropriate relationship with a classmate, aspects of this novel - aside from Rachel's grossness - were also tough to read. Others who have been subject to this IRL will maybe be less inclined to find this a humorous or intriguing backdrop as well.

Based on some incoming descriptions and reviews, I was expecting something a little lighter and more creative than I got. I do really appreciate the way that one social issue is handled here, but otherwise, this is an okay read that I'm glad I experienced but will be recommending with only moderate and caveat-filled effort.

The Rachel Incident is a satisfying, often funny, look at power with the friendship between a young college student and her gay best friend. This novel looks back to the start of their friendship and how a relationship with a college professor shaped and shifted each of these young people and their relationship to each other. This novel is getting compared to the novels of Sally Rooney for both the Irish setting and the focus on relationships and power. While I see Rooney fans enjoying this novel, the thread of humor lends itself well to readers who may not enjoy Rooney’s style. This novel is highly readable, and I enjoyed how there was such focus on this platonic love between Rachel and James. The novel is structures as a looking back with glimpses of the present day. While I can appreciate how this decision adds some tension to the question of how this situation plays out, I often felt those future glimpses distracting. While a scene late in the book was served well by this decision, it came up so infrequently that the jumps to the present sometimes felt disorienting. Overall, an enjoyable, well crafted novel that leaves me excited for future novels from O’Donoghue and thrilled to see it has been optioned for adaptation, Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for access to the eARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for the advanced copy of this book!

I will say it took me a bit to find my rhythm with this book. I felt a little all over the place, but was immediately sucked in by O'Donoghue's writing style and wit. Rachel and James' relationship absolutely sucked me. I was laughing at their ridiculous banter while also cringing at some of their less than ideal decision making skills. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this read and will definitely be picking up a physical copy!

I loved The Rachel Incident! O'Donoghue's writing is witty and makes you laugh out loud. I got so invested in these characters' lives- this book will stay with me for a long time! This is perfect for fans of character-driven stories about messy relationships.

So, this was such a strange read to me. Why? Because I wanted to DNF it, but absolutely could not. I knew something good was going to happen, whether it be in the book, or in myself by the time I got to the end.

The writing was compelling. The story was interesting, touched on a LOT of things that were happening in Ireland in the early 2000's. And mentioned the famine quite often as well, for a bit of throwback history. Not in a funny way, but in a way that amused me, just because of the character that kept bringing it up.

In the end, I thought this book was good. Was it amazing for me? No. Would I read more from this author, absolutely yes. I'm not sure if it was the characters that didn't appeal to me too much, or how parts of the story weren't detailed enough. Something was just not for me, but I finished it, and am glad I did.

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Rachel Incident. Still, I loved this messy novel that perfectly captures the overwhelming emotions that 20-somethings experience within friendships and romantic relationships. This book showed how important it is to have a close friendship where you are able to love, grieve, and experience life together. Rachel was very endearing, even though she did have a knack for making bad decisions.

Caroline O’Donoughue has written a novel about a young college student, Rachel, and her gay live-in friend James. Rachel has a crush on one of her married college professors, but he is more interested in James than Rachel. And the story devolves from there.
I think that this may be a generational issue: I found the book sophomoric to a fault. The characters were all so ego-centric that they lost my interest early on. The book blurb talked of sparkling humor—I did not find that humor. I found sad characters, without direction, bumbling through life.
The redeeming part of the story is the ending where Rachel and her friends have finally grown up. Themes in the book include deception, homosexuality, and abortion.
My thanks to NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for an advanced copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

We meet thirty-something year old Rachel at a Soho pub where she's covering a television show for the newspaper she writes for, covering Irish ex-pat events. Somebody at the pub recognizes her from their university days in Cork and brings up the Victorian literature class they had together, taught by a Dr. Byrne, who the classmate conveys, is in a coma. This sets Rachel off, and all she wants to do is get in touch with her best friend James to relay the news. 

We go back in time to when Rachel and James meet. They're working at a bookstore together, and they're in their early twenties. They become the best of friends and move in together. Rachel's got a crush on the very married Dr. Byrne. Where the story goes from there completely ran over any and all of my expectations.  

O'Donoghue's writing deserves all the accolades. Every sentence is a nugget. There are asides that illustrate the setting - one in particular about how cold their apartment was. In relaying the story of a coach breaking down on the way back from a geyser in Iceland that "...splashed everyone, and the splash was so happily received that it felt like a version of Sea World for people who read the New York Times on their phone" where "the water stuck to our skin and froze there, as we waited and waited...The whole time I stamped my feet and ate my frigid packed lunch and thought: But is this as cold as January in Shandon Street? No." The buildup to that bit of information is earned and very funny. The book is full of this wit and snark, with the friendship between James and Rachel taking center stage, a friendship many will relate to. What they experience together, leading up to the "Incident," feels real and earnest. There's compassion and empathy that thirty-something year old Rachel has for twenty-something Rachel, without an ounce of sap. 

Caroline O'Donoghue is drawing some Sally Rooney comparisons. Both writers are from Ireland, in their thirties, writing about twenty-somethings in Ireland. If you squint, I guess that's valid, but pretty generic. The Rachel Incident transcends comparison. The relationships she writes about, the conversations, the in-jokes, the sex, the booze, the squalid apartments, etc....just blew me away. I loved this book with its humor, heart, and unexpected twists.

Put aside a weekend to read this book. It will be worth it. 

My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for the ARC.

If you ever reflect back on your formative years and cringe, this book is for you. If you have best friends who you lean on through thick and thin, this one’s for you. If the ghosts from young adulthood still visit you occasionally; if you were ever forced to make an impossible decision; or if you still wonder about a certain someone who made a permanent impression on your life, you should read THE RACHEL INCIDENT.

This is the kind of book that grows on you. At first, I thought it was just ok, but when the story hit I was completely entranced. And when I figured out how the title fit in? I was blown away.

I highly recommend this one!

Thanks to NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, & Anchor, and the author for an ARC of THE RACHEL INCIDENT.

This is a coming-of-age story I’d describe as ‘The Heart’s Invisible Furies’ meets ‘Adelaide.’ Thank you to @aaknopf & @netgalley for the sneak peek. This is out today!

🇮🇪 I appreciated so much about Rachel’s story. Looking back, I could identify with that ‘lost’ feeling that often comes with being in your early 20’s. Trying to figure out who you want to be, where you want to be, what you want to be. And sometimes, clinging to others and getting caught up in them, because you don’t yet know yourself. I found Rachel’s story, although ugly at times, to be somewhat relatable.

🇮🇪 I also appreciated the social commentary on what was going on around Rachel at the time. The hurdles society put in front of her as a young woman, and on her gay roommate as well.

🇮🇪 What didn’t work for me in this book was a lack of growth. I’m not sure what Rachel learned from her experiences, or if she ever really became a better person than the somewhat self-absorbed, lost person she was in her early 20’s. I would have liked to see a lot more change in her. While I sometimes caught myself wondering when the story would end while I was reading it, I also spent a lot of time processing the story and the characters long after I finished.

🇮🇪 Read this if you like…
- character driven novels
- coming-of-age stories
- challenging the system

🇮🇪 Or if you really loved…
- The Heart’s Invisible Furies
- Adelaide
- Maame

This book invoked a lot of nostalgia in me. It perfectly captures that awkward feeling in your early 20s when you think you know everything, but in reality you know nothing and are just stumbling your way to adulthood. I found a lot of it very funny, especially some of the interactions between James and Rachel. And I found a lot of it poignant in that yearning, pure, candid way of youth. The characters are all complex and feel familiar, and I enjoyed the explorations of the different connections between them.

I was a little conflicted about the structure of the novel. On one hand, I enjoyed the voice of the narrator, and how Rachel was interjecting the wisdom that comes with hindsight on her younger actions. By doing that, O’Donoghue strengthened the message of the story quite a bit. On the other hand, I thought the mechanism for why she was reflecting on it all (what was going on with Frank) was weak, and how that culminated in the final scene lacked punch. I also wanted more James in the present timeline because he felt largely absent.

Other than wishing the present storyline could have been stronger, I really enjoyed this book. If you like strongly character-driven novels, check it out!

My advice for reading The Rachel Incident would be to clear your calendar before you start because you aren't going to want to put it down. The story centers on Rachel and her best friend James as they navigate tricky relationships, job struggles, love, and betrayal. The book has a nostalgic feel to it as it's told in past tense from Rachel's point of view. She looks back on the time in her life as she was graduating from college - times that weren't always happy, but they informed who she became. The characters are flawed, funny, and real. I loved it.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for this ARC.

The Rachel Incident is about friendship, love, and finding your way in your early twenties. Rachel Murray is at the end of her undergraduate degree, she’s working in a bookstore, and she is just trying to get by as best as she can. While Rachel grew up in a professional family, the financial crisis in Ireland has seen her family go through some difficult times, resulting in her having to work while in school and living a more meager lifestyle.

One bright spot in Rachel’s life is her co-worker, James Devlin. He is full of personality, charm, and wit, and they become fast friends. In fact, they become the best of friends, and soon after, roommates. While James claims to be heterosexual, there really was no doubt in Rachel’s mind that he wasn’t, but Ireland had left many gay people closeted.

O’Donoghue portrayed these characters as just normal folks, living their lives, socializing, falling in love (and lust), and trying to make ends meet. While they were normal, their escapades sometimes seemed anything but, and this led to a great deal of drama for this duo. Did they always make the best decisions? Absolutely not. Did I shake my head and offer up quiet words of advice to them? Perhaps. Ah, but this is all part of growing up and becoming adults, the mistakes, and the choices that we make are supposed to be learning experiences. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t, but in Rachel and James’s cases, I was a happy voyeur on their journey.

In my opinion, this book was a page-turner; I wanted to know what was going to happen to these characters and how they were going to see themselves through some truly rough times. Oh, and they really did have some truly difficult times.

The Rachel Incident was an enjoyable reading experience. It was witty, touching, relevant, and left me feeling completely satisfied. This was my first novel by Caroline O’Donoghue, but now I am looking forward to reading more of her novels.

*4.5 Stars

I devoured Caroline O’Donoghue’s YA fantasy ‘All of our Hidden Gifts’ series. I was intrigued to read her upcoming adult fiction (I know she has two already, I haven’t read them yet!) THE RACHEL INCIDENT. I’m blown away by how I felt about this book. In the beginning, I thought about DNF-ing (twice!!) because I found the characters annoying. This is where O’Donoghue lured me in with her extremely talented writing. I couldn’t pull myself away from this book. So I continued reading and thought it’d be a 3 star read. As the book went on… I was enjoying the messiness of being in your 20s, the chaos of Ireland, the friendship of Rachel and James. Once I reached the ending, it made sense why the whole book played out the way it did. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. An excellent writer, definitely one of my favorites! Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Most of us have stories about our own coming-of-age—about our friendships and relationships and maybe some bad decisions, too. And in The Rachel Incident by author Caroline O’Donoghue, a grown woman finds herself reflecting back on the lessons she learned during her own turbulent 20s.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery