Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending this ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book.

I’m deciding to give this book 4.25 stars.

My favorite sorts of books are those that capture societal dynamics and boil them down to show how they manifest into interpersonal dynamics, and this did that. Gay rights and reproductive rights in the Irish context are explored effortlessly well here.

The premise is a little predictable given the description, but the author still builds tension really well. The pacing is like a 6/10—there’s sort of a split timelines element, and the part where those are reconciled in the middle/end is by far the weakest point—the pacing is really thrown off, and a lot of character growth (which I do think is necessary and important) is crammed into a small amount of pages, so it’s tough to buy in to that arc. Still, I liked the book’s conclusion.

I see the comparisons between Sally Rooney and this book, beyond just being Irish. If you enjoyed Conversations with Friends, you will likely enjoy this a lot. If you liked The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne, this has similar themes. I’d recommend this to fans of Phoebe Bridgers and Lorde as well.

I'll preface this by saying I'm normally not drawn to slice of life/character driven novels but thought I would take a leap with this one thanks to the strong early reviews. In the end I really liked this one! There was enough drama and pivotal events in the plot which kept me hooked wanting to read more. The characters felt like real, relatable people, flaws and all. A bunch of people making some good decision, more bad decisions, and just living a very real life in Cork, Ireland. A major theme (THE major theme?) is friendship, the ups and downs, the support given and mistakes made. I think the comparisons to Sally Rooney's writing are accurate, and people who like her novels would probably like this one as well.

I am a fan of Caroline O'Donoghue's YA fiction so I was excited to read this. The cover alone intrigued me and I was hooked from the first page. Unfortunately, the plot slowed down for me in the second half and I didn't love it as much as I originally thought I would.

Rachel Murray is twenty-one, a senior in college, and working in a bookstore when she meets James Devlin. Rachel and James are platonic soul mates who quickly become infatuated with each other. Enter Dr. Byrne, Rachel's married English professor who becomes intertwined with their lives forever.

The concept of this drew me in immediately, and I loved that it was set in Ireland. I read the first half of this so quickly, but when the plot started to slow, so did my reading. I think the characters were well thought out and interesting, but I think I just needed more from the plot. Overall, I still enjoyed it and I think many will love and connect with this book.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this look at life in Ireland as a young adult, but the pacing was a little bit off! I did really enjoy the ending and the wrap up.

What is it about novels set in Ireland that make me fall hopelessly in love with them?

The Rachel Incident follows the life of—well, Rachel, as she navigates university, her job(s), romance(s), friendship, and the overall chaos the universe offers. It’s told in a memoir sort of narrative, where we see snippets of the older Rachel looking back at her old life.

This was somewhere between an immensely funnier Sally Rooney novel and Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love. It’s incredibly funny, touching, and painfully real—to the point where I wondered if I was reading a memoir or a work of fiction. I don’t think the culture in my country allows me to relate to this in a fuller extent, but the novel touches on so many topics and issues that plague most, if not all, of us.

O’Donoghue’s writing is just so fresh and deliriously entertaining. There are notes on the issues of classism, LGBTQIA+, gender equality, abortion, reproductive health, and economic turmoil told in such an approachable way. There wasn’t a single dull moment in this book. I guarantee as well that you will fall in love with all of the Jameses in this book! There was a fair bit of romance, but not the kind that’s typical in rom-com novels. As this was told in a sort of memoir perspective, the romance aspects were narrated in a very real, grounded way. Every single bit of this was so remarkably believable that I really thought it was non-fiction.

The overarching narrative of finding yourself and not having a clue as to how to go about it is one I’m sure we all can relate to. Add to that the unanticipated curveballs life often throws in our faces and you have the gem that is The Rachel Incident.

I love THIS. I would recommend that when the book comes out in June of this year, that you run—don’t walk, RUN. Every bit worth the hype it’s been getting!

This book was not for me. If I knew what "incident" in the title was about, I would not have picked this book up. But by the time the crux of it got around to the actual moment, it was too late for me to DNF. Don't get me wrong, the writing is fine. Rachel and her friends are just aimless, degenerates for most of the story. Most of the choices they made were abhorrent. I felt bad for Carey and Deenie and felt like both of them should have gotten the hell away from these people. I get that there was a political statement wrapped up in the drama but that is one that I am not on board with.

But just because it didn't work for me, doesn't mean it won't work for you. It reminded me of Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends. If you liked that, you'll probably like this.

Thanks to Knopf for the gifted copy. All opinions above are my own.

Like Rachel in this book, I remember the uncertainty and fecklessness of my early twenties all too well. It was a time of confusion, insecurity, first love, heartbreak, friendship, trying to figure out who you are and who you're not, and bouncing around from job to job after university because there are bills to pay even though the economy's in the sewer. That's what made this coming of age tale relatable in a lot of ways. Familiar even, especially as a fellow millennial.

O'Donoghue did a good job of transporting me back to the 2010's, of reminding me of how messy life could be (and was) at that particular time. Through Rachel and James, who were co-workers turned roommates turned best friends in Ireland, she showed how untogether people can be when they're young. The way they can be reckless, naive, hopeful, lazy. How they can fall in love with unhealthy partners or hide parts of themselves away because they're afraid for them to be seen just yet. How they might want to take that next step, plan that next move, but not have any idea of how to accomplish it.

I appreciated the disorderliness of it all, with the characters rushing headlong into things and not always taking the time to think about the consequences, making mistakes, because that's what your twenties are about: finding a foothold, trying to piece together who you are or want to be. I thought Rachel and James represented that well. They were two people with flaws, two friends who collided and bonded, each doing what they could to step out into the world as adults for the first time.

I also liked the nuggets readers got about social unrest in Ireland, about abortion, and about coming out. There was an authenticity to the story that I think will resonate with a lot of people.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC in exchange for my review.

I read this in one sitting, staying up way past my bedtime to finish. This is a great coming-of-age story a la Sally Rooney (Conversations with Friends in particular) and Dolly Alderton. O’Donaghue masterfully captures that painful transition from college to the real world and the pain of first love, all to the backdrop of Ireland’s social issues. Sounds heavy, and while there were some tough scenes, there was so much humor and heart that it balanced it out well. I loved Rachel and James and always rooted for them, even when they made dumb (but sadly relatable!) choices. Can’t recommend enough!

We've all been there, messy, stumbling, making mistakes trying to figure out who we are and what we want to be (hell some of us are still there). O'Donoghue delivers marvelously a slow burning novel about Rachel Murray coming into her own. Set in Ireland in the early 2010's Rachel meets James Devlin, a not quite out, gay man and they quickly become best friends. They may be codependent at times and muddling through life together but I adored the way O'Donoghue is able to poignantly capture the wholeness of the experience of trying to find oneself. I found her writing witty, smart, and biting. I don't want to give anything away, so I will just leave it with- this is more than a coming of age novel, this is a story of friendship, of reclamation, of love, of grief, of women's rights, of not giving up.

Thank you NetGalley & Alfred A Knopf for allowing me an ARC of The Rachel Incident for a honest review.

The Rachel Incident
A novel
by Caroline O'Donoghue

Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, They started out as co-workers in a bookshop. Then the fun began when they became roommates. I loved how close they were, shared everything TMI, and the laughs were so good. I was actually laughing out loud. Love the book.

I had a tough time getting into this one but after the first two chapters, it became a can't-put-it-down kind of book. The Rachel Incident tells the story of Rachel and her best friend James - how they met and their friendship through the years. Likeable characters and an interesting story kept me reading far too late into the night to find out what would happen to these young people as they plodded through their lives in Cork, Ireland. No spoilers - but I will say that this book has the happy, satisfying ending that I love so much. Caroline O'Donoghue's easy-to-read writing style is one I enjoyed and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I simply don't have enough good things to say about this. Contemporary fiction at its absolute best with phrasing that I remember long after reading it. Will be recommending this to anyone I can and screaming about it from the rooftops, if I'm honest!

WOW. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, as I have a few of this author's YA fiction already sitting on my shelf. Her transition to adult fiction was absolutely seamless—Rachel was such a messy and vibrant protagonist, and the small cast that rotated around her were each a perfect fit to give life to her story. I lived in turns for Rachel's pettiness and heart, and I liked that we got to see snippets of her 'present day' throughout the story; it gave a sense of resolution without feeling trite.

I took my sweet time reading, but I've already recommended The Rachel Incident to a handful of close friends. I think this title would be an excellent fit for fans of Kyle Lucia Wu (Win Me Something) or Katie Kitamura (Intimacies). I absolutely cannot wait for pub day!

I got an email about this book and the description sounded like something I might like so on a whim I requested it. I was pleasantly surprised. Very good read. I enjoyed it and will continue to read what this author puts out.

I really wanted to love The Rachel Incident but I only ended up liking it. I felt like some of the ideas never came around full circle and that I wasn’t 100% sold on the relationship between the main character and James from the beginning. I did like some of the humour that was woven through. Thank you for the arc!

At this point, Caroline O'Donoghue has me in a chokehold and can write whatever she wants, and I'll likely love it. I adored her YA series "The Gifts" with her plucky protagonist, Maeve, and was eager to enjoy one of her adult offerings. "The Rachel Incident" follows the titular young woman, who is broke and creative and aimless and self-involved, as many people in their early 20s are, and her friendship with James, a closeted bookseller. Specifically, it's about loyalty - about cheating, about love affairs, about keeping quiet for a friend, about friendships with older people, and about staying or going when the world is trying to tear you apart, It is also about abortion, and a woman's right to choose. These heady topics are balanced easily in the air; the first few chapters I wondered how on earth this book would be more substantial than a well-made souffle, so frothy and silly were Rachel and James. And they weren't terribly likeable, either - their actions were obviously setting them up to hurt people. But I needn't have worried - O'Donoghue pulled off a brilliant coming-of-age novel that balances silly with splendid, This novel is particularly meaningful to me now that the United States has taken a hammer to reproductive rights. Irish women's fight for abortion is more timely than ever. Despite the darker subject matter, "The Rachel Incident" is warm, loving, wry, and forgiving - a complex, thoughtful story.

The description of this book begins like this:

A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three

Was this the same book that I read? What was brilliantly funny about this? I didn't think there was humor in it at all, save for the jokes made between Rachel and James. And I don't think Rachel was desperately trying to manage anything. Instead she just put her head under the covers whenever things were difficult. She was not a very likable character. I found her to be whiny and selfish for the most part. Carey was a jerk at the beginning but then you find the problem is really Rachel. James was the most likable character and he made some very questionable decisions as well.

I thought this was very slow and drawn out until we actually get to THE INCIDENT that is about 3/4 through the book. That is when I started enjoying it a little but it was too late.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I got this book and started to read it but it pleasantly surprised me in a good way! I overall really enjoyed this book. I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

This book felt like a lot of build up with disappointing, half-baked payoff. I often found myself asking, “so what?” As I read the book. What does it matter that this happened? What is the implication of this? I didn’t feel as though I got an answer by the end of the book.

The book begins from the perspective of present-day, adult Rachel hearing that a professor whose life was deeply and inappropriately intertwined with her own as a young woman is in a coma. The novel then explores Rachel’s years in her early 20’s living in the suffocatingly small-town Cork, Ireland. Importantly, the examination of these years occurs through the perspective of an older, adult Rachel, who reflects on this time as the woman she is now.

First, we learn how Rachel and James, her formerly closeted male best friend (who later comes out as gay), first met while working at the same bookstore. A lot of emphasis is placed on their class differences when they first meet – James is working class and Rachel is middle class, something he seems to tease her about a lot. When i mentioned a disappointing, half-baked payoff, this is one of those things I’m talking about. Throughout the novel we see Rachel struggle with money in different ways, but never in such a way to make this class difference between James and Rachel salient or important. Sure, they both struggle financially, but they always seem to find themselves back on their feet. It seems the author wanted to make some sort of class analysis in this book through the differentiation of Rachel and James, but it fell flat. It was lazily sprinkled throughout the book, e.g., James reminding Rachel that he was disadvantaged because he was working class. There was never any moment when this class difference was entirely pertinent or salient to the story, it just existed.

Next, a lot of Rachel’s reflections on her early 20’s is told through the perspective of herself as an adult woman. This perspective is supposed to give readers insight into how Rachel’s ideas on feminism, sexual orientation, and other things, weren’t fully formed as a young adult. However, the contrast between older, adult Rachel and young Rachel wasn’t sharp enough for this point to stick. It didn’t seem that adult Rachel’s opinions or perspectives on these ideas were necessarily any more sophisticated than they were when she was in her early 20’s. For example, there’s a lot of talk of how younger Rachel had elementary ideas on feminism despite being a self-proclaimed feminist, and yet, reflecting on an encounter she’d had with a man after the club, she states that she did really want to have sex with this man and essentially led him on all night, but when it came time to actually have sex, she had to pretend she didn’t want to even though she really did. This strikes me as odd and potentially problematic, as very few women pretend to not want to have sex although they do. In fact, I think the opposite is true; most women realize they do not want to have sex but end up doing so because they feel they must. This is just one example of a half-baked idea that isn’t developed or fleshed out enough.

Additionally, I had some gripes with the confusing time jumps; we’ll find ourselves in young Rachel’s perspective, then suddenly in older, adult Rachel’s perspective without a smooth transition. More significantly, the contrast between older Rachel and younger Rachel didn’t really offer much by way of advancing the plot or offering insight into how Rachel has grown from those years.

There were some really great things about the book. I genuinely gasped when I learned Rachel was pregnant. Rachel and James’ dynamic – often teetering on extremes – was a fantastic representation of what most friendships in your early 20’s feel like. The examination of the inaccessibility of reproductive healthcare in early 2000’s Ireland was great. But, they just weren’t fully fleshed out enough.

In sum, there were just too many insignificant details that just didn’t come to fruition. An example is Rachel’s height. We are reminded again and again of just how tall she is, but this detail doesn’t really tell us anything about Rachel as a character and doesn’t really advance the plot in any meaningful way. The ending felt rushed and too perfect. I wish the author had let some of the more interesting plot points simmer a little more, and really let the readers sit with them.

This book is really special, the voice of the main character is unique because she maintains an adult’s objectivity while talking about her life from 19-21. The characters really jump off the page, I hadn’t done much research before reading this book but it seems obvious to me that the author either went through this or knows someone who did. The plot can seem a bit meandering at times but provides context as the story progresses. Overall I just really enjoyed this read, once I sat down and committed to reading it, I finished it the same day.