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Close to Home
- Narrated by: Conor MacNeill
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
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Close to Home
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
WINNER OF THE ROONEY PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2023
WATERSTONES IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2023
Sean is back. Back in Belfast and back into old habits. Back on the mad all-nighters, the borrowed tenners and missing rent, the casual jobs that always fall through. Back in these scarred streets, where the promised prosperity of peacetime has never arrived. Back among his brothers, his ma, and all the things they never talk about. Until one night Sean finds himself at a party – dog-tired, surrounded by jeering strangers, his back against the wall – and he makes a big mistake.
'Staggeringly humane, unfaltering, taut and tender... [It] feels like that rarest of things: a genuinely necessary book' Guardian
'Every detail rings true, every character is fleshy and real and heartbreaking... Michael Magee has a remarkable talent' Sunday Times
What listeners say about Close to Home
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark
- 20-12-23
Loved It
I really enjoyed this book for the way it engaged me in another person's world. The subject is an ordinary working class lad from the same United Kingdom as me but culturally a million miles away and that is what is so great about it. To walk a few miles in someone else's shoes, to experience their struggles, hopes and achievements. All this is made possible by the quality of the writing and narration that puts you right alongside the main character. Everyone has a story; this is Sean's.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 04-07-23
We all need help
Both the writing and the narration felt truthful and real. Set in 2013 it reflects unresolved issues - both at individual (personal) and communal (belonging). The story (and narration) draw you in and you become part of this world. Provides a great sense of place - both of west and central Belfast, as well as student land.
If your interested, the rapper Jun Tzu provides a different perspective from "another side", albeit in a comic book/graphic novel/broad brush style. "Born in Belfast" and "A cause worth living for". are particularly good.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Deirdre
- 23-07-23
Outstanding
A bruise to the heart. The story and the narration will stay with me for a long time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 01-04-24
Beautiful and authentic
Didn’t want this to end! A very real immersive depiction of working class life in Belfast
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Child psychotherapist
- 18-04-23
Stunning first novel
This is one of the most authentic and artful books set in and about Belfast I’ve read. Just like Belfast itself it is frightening, beautiful, entertaining, clever, subversive, witty, harrowing and really funny.
The narration is also brilliant.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- FB
- 02-02-24
Immersed fro the start
An engaging story, great characterisation. Memorable and could not stop listening. Hope to have more from this author soon.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 22-03-24
Great listen
Love the story, would definitely recommend. Can't wait for more books. The guy reading was great
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Catherine
- 17-04-23
Incredible Debut
Understated writing in the best possible way. An accomplished novel that draws you in from the first paragraph. Wonderful narration.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 04-10-23
Brilliant
I loved this book.
Couldn’t stop listening until I’d finished it.
Believable characters in a story set in places I know so well having lived in the university area of Belfast.
I found it very moving.
I’m now at a loss as to what to read next.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Angela Morrison
- 17-01-24
Brilliant 👏
I'm not listening to this book for the 2nd time in as many weeks. I just love the story and can't help but like Sean and all around him. The narration is the best I've listened to. He tells the story brilliantly and the voices he does puts a face to the character. I hope to find more books about Belfast with him narrating.
Think it will be a book I will listen to quite a few times.
5*
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