❛ Maybe there were no villains in my mother’s story at all. Just men and women, trying to do their best by each other. And failing. ❜


Cyril Avery is an adopted child who is quickly taught by the world that his place in the society has to be earned. Unable to fit into those boxes at a time when Ireland was deeply rooted in theocracy and homophobia, his journey as a gay man undergoes several layers of finding oneself and losing yourself altogether.

Reading THIF was akin to reading someone's personal diary over the course of 70 years. You grow up and grow old with Cyril through so many historic moments of his life as well as the world's.

I think it's one of those books that just had the right kind of humour: subtle, simplistic, slightly cartoonish but also realistic. Reading THIF was like watch a sitcom on a Saturday night— you finish each chapter with either a pleasing smile, a shocked face or an agreeable nod.

While the plot did lose me for a couple chapters around the quarterly touchdown, it picked up quickly right after. It's wonderful how you lose memory with Cyril or recollect old characters with him. Bastiaan and Alice were characters that i rooted for from the beginning to the end. I loved how Cyril's life in a lot of ways was a retelling of Smoot's life. The ending never changes, but history repeats itself nonetheless. John Boyne cleverly made it seem like 70 years had truly passed through these 700 pages. I think this book is something one should pick up every few years or so, just to see what it reads like to your 20 year old self..30...40...and beyond.