Book review: Style

Critically acclaimed author, Joseph Connolly, presents a dystopian vision of a future in which celebrity and scandal become entwined.

Joseph Connolly

Quercus, €29.50;

ebook €12.99

At times, colloquial language and regional dialect make the text difficult, and the informal narrative, which presents the story through conversations or thoughts, can be hard to follow, particularly as you pick up where you stopped reading the night before.

However, this style of writing is informative, amusing, and detailed. There are intriguing plot points about child stardom and the family rivalries which follow, but some of these become warped and leave you wondering whether the novelist really had a story to tell, or whether he just wanted to condemn contemporary society for its media obsession with celebrity culture.

This aside, Joseph Connolly is an extremely talented author, and fans of his work won’t be disappointed with his latest offering.