The Rachel Incident is an excellent book. I reads to me as more accessible Sally Rooney and not just because they’re both Irish writers. (And that isn’t meant as an insult to Rooney’s work.)

This is a coming of age story told with the benefit of hindsight. Rachel, now 31, recounts her friendship with James who she meets while working in a bookshop the last year of university in Cork. The year is 2009 and that setting allows the opportunity to dive into big ideas. Rachel and James quickly become best friends, but James’s affair with her male professor makes life extremely complicated as the book goes on. And Rachel’s intense friendship and loyalty to James hinders her own romantic relationship.

As a young person navigating the world, Rachel doesn’t always make the best choices, but you still emphasize with her and root for both her and James.

The writing is exceptional with vivid phrases like, “if I didn’t have carbs three times a day I couldn’t finish a sentence” and “my attraction to him came on like food positioning.”

This is a very lovely book and I highly recommend.

The reader will not be able to put this book down! The Rachel Incident is a engaging story of a young woman in Ireland, finding her way with work, romance, and personal growth. Very relatable, smart, and rich characters!

This relatable novel follows Rachel through her feckless twenties as she tries on her adulthood and learns some important lessons along the way. It is also about friendship and finding the people that will keep loving you even when you are awful. The authenticity of this read will resonate with many and it was truly an enjoyable read. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a digital ARC for review.

The Rachel Incident. I finished it this morning at 3am.
O'Donoghue portrays the struggles of life brilliantly. She writes of the harder things in life like abortion, coming out as LGABTQ, the struggles of not finding work after college, friendships over time and the cost of life. The story and characters were well written and composed.
In my opinion, it was slow to start, but the middle and ending picked up significantly for me. I can understand Rachels struggles and can related to her on a personal level.
I would recommend this to anyone and will be adding it to my shelves when it comes out on publication date.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishing company for allowing me this ARC in return for an honest review.

I remember the uncertainty, codependency, and insecurity of my early 20s and goodness gracious you’re transported right back to that season of life in this book.

These are the exact kind of characters that I like: flawed and kind of unlikeable, but redeemable. I spent the entire novel hoping for growth and their success.

If you’re a fan of sally Rooney books, you will be a fan of this book.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this ARC.

I love this book. There is a pervasive sense of codependence throughout that can feel claustrophobic at times, and at other times it feels like remembering your early twenties. There is a sense of otherworldliness to this story because at its heart it is an Irish story, but O'Donoghue does a beautiful job at making that world accessible to all readers.

From the title, you think you know what the story is going to be about, or at least I made a grand assumption. But as the story unfolds, there are several bumps in that road and the story becomes something else entirely. It becomes heavier, in my opinion, than if it had been simply what I had first assumed.

O'Donoghue has crafted characters that are extremely relatable in their youth, in their dreams and desires. Most importantly, they're relatable in their stagnation. I can remember being at the end of my college years and not knowing where I was going next. I can remember living with friends (albeit still in college) and simply being the worst version of myself. I can remember the economy and the job market at the time that this book takes place as if it was happening still. O'Donoghue creates an atmosphere that is suffocating due to wanting desperately to take that next step but being unable to, whether because of finances, or jobs, or geographical location.

Each of the relationships in this book are important. They're all different, but they're impactful no matter how big or small they are. One of my favorite sections of the book is when Rachel is first in london and getting on her feet. Its such a deeply felt feeling, that feels pervasive to this day.

<i> Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!</i>

<b>The Rachel Incident</b> is a coming of age story of a Millennial girl in Cork, at the peak of the financial crises. It is also a love story, a journey of self discovery and acceptance and a tale of the lack of reproductive healthcare in Ireland.

I absolutely adored this book! It was so easy to relate with the characters that parts of the story just felt like a trip down memory lane. Being a Millennial myself, who was also trying to find her place in the world at the described timeline, probably enhanced my understanding of some of the struggles. However, Caroline O’Donoghue perfectly describes the insecurities, struggles, feelings, passions and the absolute mess of entering the adult age, which I believe are pretty much the same for all generations.

The writing is beautiful and I particularly liked the fact the story is told from the present time. This allow us not only to experience what the characters were feeling at the time, but also see it through adult eyes and understand the different perspectives.

This book is perfect for Sally Rooney fans, with the advantage of including likable and a lot less pretentious characters. <b>The Rachel Incident</b> will be published in July and I couldn’t recommend it enough!

Sweet, really, but in a completely backward and wildly irreverent way. It's kind of a banger, actually.

The Rachel Incident, a novel about early twenty-somethings in Cork, Ireland gave me a look at the Irish Republic, its people, and its history regarding abortion rights and its fight for women's reproductive rights.

I also loved the story the novel tells of young Rachel and her love for two men, both named James, who play an important part in her life.

The feelings that Rachel has for both Jameses leads her into rocky relationships with her college lit teacher and his wife. All these people interact to make for a compelling story of love in many different manifestations.

Funny, heart warming, amazing characters lead us on a merry dance in this novel of manners, friendships, and some tragedy. The comedy and the drama and even damaging hypocrisy also makes this a thoughtfully unusual book.

Caroline O'Donoghue's The Rachel Incident is a hilarious and heartfelt novel that captures the essence of being young and in love in a world full of chaos. Rachel, the protagonist, is a relatable character who navigates her way through life and love with a sense of humor and a determination to make the most of every situation. Her relationship with James is a highlight of the novel, as they embark on a journey of self-discovery and adventure.

However, things take a complicated turn when Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, and James helps her devise a plan to seduce him. The resulting secrets and compromises that follow intertwine the fates of all the characters in unexpected ways, leading to a climax that is both heart-wrenching and satisfying.

O'Donoghue's writing is witty, poignant, and engaging, and she skillfully captures the atmosphere of Cork city in all its bohemian glory. The Rachel Incident is a novel that will make readers laugh out loud, while also tugging at their heartstrings. It is a triumph of storytelling and a must-read for anyone who has ever been young and in love.

THE RACHEL INCIDENT
By Caroline O’Donoghue
Penguin Random House
€19.99

WE HAVE moved into the era of Celtic Tiger crash coming-of-age stories. Where once we had the effects of the boom on young literary minds – the excess, the disposable income, the wiping your forehead with a €50 note at the Galway Races, and all the hardship that came with that – now we have the comedown, the literal crash that ruined many a young dream after being brought up without a financial care in the world.
Rachel is a student in University College Cork, post the 2008 bust. Her parents, once successful dentists, have had their savings, their nest-eggs, wiped out, and Rachel’s college career, once assumed to be financed completely by her folks, has had to be supplemented by a part-time job in a bookshop.
As far as part-time jobs go, it’s a good one, particularly for an English student with notions. The only snag is the declining hours being offered, the poor pay and the unsociable hours. But when James joins the team she is instantly smitten, and the two quickly form a double-act that goes from small unrequited crush to fast-friends and then housemates, when he convinces her to move out of her parent’s house and in with him.
When Rachel confesses to fancying her tutor, Dr. Fred Byrne, the pair conspire an event at the bookshop to launch the professor’s minor literary tome. She hopes to gain his favour, James hopes to finally set eyes on the man who has enchanted his best friend. As everyone knows, the course of true love never did run smooth, and this slightly chaotic event throws every and all romantic inclination into complete disarray.
The Rachel Incident is a well-paced, observant farcical comedy with hints of poignancy and even tragedy, as every quality comedy should. Because of its coming of age university setting it has provoked comparison to the work of Sally Rooney, but the only thing it has in common with Rooney is that it is also O’Donoghue’s third and best novel so far.
Much of it is set in Cork, where Rachel is half-heartedly finishing up her undergrad, a far cry from the overachievers suffering for their degrees in Trinity. It is peppered with passages from where Rachel is now – in London, thriving in her chosen career and expecting a baby – as she reminisces on the incident that shaped her future.
It is sharp and witty, well-observed and astute at capturing those frankly weird early years of adulthood where you are free to move about independently in the world, yet frequently make questionable, self-centered decision upon questionable, self-destructive decision while dismissing the guidance of people who could have guided you towards better choices.
But there is a lot to be said for learning from your mistakes, which could be said to be the heart of The Rachel Incident. Rachel is a relatable heroine, James a vibrant, funny supporting character, and their romantic ups and downs are achingly captured by an author with a distinct, assured voice.

I'm unsure if I would categorize this one as funny... the first word that comes to my mind is "lonely." I felt the characters like the characters were walking around in lonely circles among one another.
I didn't dislike the book, but I also didn't like it.

A great look back on an older Rachel to her twenty something self… set in Ireland. Well done character development and story pace. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Three stars!

A funny and thoughtful novel about the messiness of young adulthood, making friends, and finding one's path in 2010s Ireland.

Rachel is in her last years of university when she makes fast friends with her closeted co-worker, James, at the local bookshop. He enables her fascination with one of her professors by helping her set up an author event at the store to win his favor and maybe get a bit of something more out of it. When things go awry, the friends are tested and things quickly escalate out of their control bringing them into closer relations with the professor and his wife than they originally anticipated.

In the vein of Sally Rooney's "Conversation with Friends" and Coco Mellors' "Cleopatra and Frankenstein", Caroline O'Donoghue has written a contemporary novel full of morally questionable characters that will keep you turning the pages. You may cringe at their decisions while simultaneously be endeared by their naive attempts to find their way as adults in a tanking economy. O'Donoghue manages to weave these topics organically into the novel as the characters are preoccupied with morality, sexuality, bodily autonomy, economic stability, and career aspirations.

I actually found myself chuckling at this book, which is rare. I can find books witty or funny, but rarely do I audibly laugh out loud at what the characters say or do. Rachel and James' dynamic is electric and jumps off the page. This creates a real feeling of something at stake as the novel progresses. And as we see everything through Rachel's flawed point-of-view, but as she writes from years later, we get to see what really happened versus how she perceived it in a way that felt fresh and authentic instead of contrived or manipulative. Rachel doesn't let her younger self off the hook which I really appreciated.

The writing in this book is excellent as well. She has a sharp eye for detail without overdoing it, and a quick turn of phrase that balanced being unique without trying too hard. She will describe a feeling or experience in a way that cuts right to the heart and yet you may think, "I've never seen it described like that before." I was very impressed.

I will definitely check out more of O'Donoghue's books in the future. This would be a great book to read when you have plenty of time to read because you won't want to put it down. When I wasn't reading the book, I was thinking about the characters and dying to know what happened next!

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ebook. Set in Ireland, in Cork, Rachel, just graduating from the local college with an English degree that she’s starting to feel might be useless, and her roommate James are barely surviving on the salaries they get working at a local bookstore. They both stare at the imposing future, she might want to write, he is obsessed with creating a sitcom, but the biggest thing that they seem to struggle with is love. She loves a man from the north who seems to be everything she could ever want but is often silent and sometimes disappears, while he has a very secret affair with a married professor. This is such a funny and honest look at two best friends as they make a million missteps until they final find the road that each should be on.

Rachel, a twenty-year-old woman about to graduate with an English degree and working part-time in a book store, decides to move out of her family's home and into an apartment with James, a co-worker. Rachel falls in love with another James who is know to drop in and out of her life. Set in Ireland, author Caroline O'Donoghue's novel takes off from there with many plot lines involving love, marriage, sexuality and reproductive rights. At the core though, is the story of a young woman who, weeks before she graduates, is trying to find out how to pay her bills with her English degree. Book discussion groups will have a lot to talk about when choosing The Rachel Incident.

Uniquely witty with rich characters. O’Donoghue’s prose is so cinematic, yet realistic. I truly enjoyed this read a lot more than I thought I would have!

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced copy about a young Irish woman discovering what she is capable of being and looking at back at the events that made her.

One tends o look back at life with wonder and awe. Wonder in that we could be that stupid and awe that what we were so stupid about meant so much at the time, but now seems almost quaint. Life was over when we ran out of milk, life would never be the same when that person never called. Not to say that everything in the past was trivial, far from it. Many events do have repercussions. And many things become lessons that will serve us well later in life. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue is a novel about a young woman looking back at what seems at first like her feckless youth, but turns out to be much more than that.

The times is about 2010 and the world economy is still in recovery, except in Ireland where the roar of the Celtic Tiger has been replaced with with meow of a kitten in recovery. Rachel Murray is a young woman in Cork close to graduating school, working in a bookstore. Her best mate is Jimmy, a man finding himself and his sexuality in the world, along with a dream of being a screenwriter. Rachel and Jimmy decide to become roommates sharing a place, and sharing thoughts on the things they are doing wrong in their lives. Until a professor of Rachel's makes life very difficult for Rachel and Jimmy.

A very funny novel, with quite a lot going on. The book is Irish, and so is the humor which can be off putting to people on this side of the Atlantic, but the not enough to make people go, ughh this is just like Joyce. The characters are well developed, and seem real, and for a change act right, not some sort of media idea of how people should act. Rachel is interesting, but lost, not sure of what to do, or even who to trust. The cast is well developed and really could carry a book themselves, which is a credit to Caroline O'Donoghue. The book is told in flashbacks, but is never confusing or jump around. O'Donoghue has a steady hand on the story an knows how to tell it. The feeling of both nostalgia and oh my God I can't believe she or he is doing that balances quite well, and really makes for an enjoyable read.

This is the first that I have read by Caroline O'Donoghue, and I really enjoyed it. Readers of Sally Rooney, or even watchers of the show Derry Girls, will enjoy the story, the language, and the characters. A very strong story that reads well on the beach, or while waiting for the streaming series that I am sure will be made from it.

This book is told through flashbacks that are extremely well done. The author provides Rachel’s current day perspective on her actions and thoughts in her early 20s. I felt like this was a good paced read and I would definitely recommend this book.



Thank you NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for allowing me to read this ARC in advance for my honest opinion.

A bittersweet story about coming of age, friendship, love and loss that immediately took me back to my college years. I found this book to be hilarious and witty. I adored Rachel, and while most of the topics in this book were heavy and there was a significant power imbalance going on with the professor, her relationship with James was honest and endearing.