Nine Lives. Four Generations. One Family. The MacEntees are no ordinary family.
Determined to be different from other people, they have carved out a place for themselves in Irish life by the sheer force of their personalities. But when a series of misfortunes befall them over the course of one long hot summer, even the MacEntees will struggle to make sense of who they are.
As media storms rage about them and secrets rise to the surface, Deirdre plans a family party for her 80th birthday-and with it one final, shocking surprise. 

‘Relationships between men and women are about power. It’s all about the balance of power, and if you can’t get that right, then it’s a fight to the death.’

The Long, Hot Summer is an insightful, poignant and funny novel about the intricacies of real life. It covers everything from abortion, to adult relationships, mother-daughter complexities, theft, to politics, childhood, and how our experiences truly do shape us.

I loved MacMahon’s writing style – it is easy flowing and swallows you up whole. She has a real talent for writing descriptive prose, and it was so enjoyable to read, that I found I could not stop reading it. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about the characters, and their lives, and their individual stories. The author has a great ability to humanise even the coldest, and most unfeeling characters; I wanted to sit down and interview each of them!

The novel as a whole was incredibly insightful; MacMahon’s perceptions of the everyday are funny, poignant and sometimes, cynical. Each character experienced some sadness, and MacMahon’s interpretation of their experiences invoked a strong feeling of loneliness, yet there were other moments that were surprisingly life-affirming. I felt that she added unexpected insights into extremely normal topics, such as marriage, families, politics, etc. that I hadn’t really thought of before. I particularly loved that the strongest characters are revealed to be the most vulnerable.

The characterisations are great, and although none of them are really likeable, you find yourself warming to them. I loved Alma and Mick particularly – their stubbornness, but also their small, unspoken weaknesses that made them so real. The tragedy that strikes Alma changes her immensely and it was so intriguing to see how her character develops through this. Mick’s storyline was also great, and very, very funny – his mild kleptomania with the crippling consequences, and the fact that he is constantly compared to his brother, was amusing and revealing. I felt that perhaps he was the kindest character, and I liked him the most.

All the characters felt real, in some way, to me. They were very relatable in many different ways and had very humanistic flaws and weaknesses. There was no perfect protagonist, and I think this was why the story worked so exceptionally well. The novel split itself between the family, going from one point of view to another. I loved the structure of the story, written around all the different characters in the same family, all extremely unique, all on very different journeys, but somehow all also meeting up at one important moment in their lives.

I felt that this novel had great depth; it is a strong tale that weaves together the individual stories of many. It was compelling, moving, insightful and funny. The incredible character-based narratives are told with wit, and astute observation, and MacMahon has a great talent for putting normal relationships under the microscope and making warm, funny, and very, very truthful observations. The Long, Hot Summer is the perfect read for fans of family sagas, and Irish writers such as Marian Keyes and Maeve Binchy.

Thank you to Little, Brown for the opportunity to review this title!