The Maker’s Name is set in Ireland and is about the Considine family and those around them.
The story spans across decades, from 1950 to 2010, and we follow a plethora of characters.
I picked this up because I am interested in Ireland, and I like flawed characters, stories with comeuppance, family wars, sibling rivalry.
Hence, the backdrop sounded perfect for my tastes.
Unfortunately, despite its strengths such as the setting, the concept/idea, and some of the interesting characters, this was majorly a miss for me.
The structure of the plot and the prose needed editing for my tastes. Other readers might think differently. Most chapters cover a large amount of time, however, what the main story is gets lost a bit. We do not always get enough opportunity to delve into the plot and the characters. Though, they all have immense potential. Kudos to the writer for coming up with them and I appreciate his lived experience feeding into this book. Perhaps, that is one of the best parts about it. The level of authenticity being good at times.
As someone who appreciates curious writing styles, a balance between descriptions and dialogue, and the use of subtext, metaphors and wit, I found this book to be a bit reliant on dialogue.