Ask Again, Yes

I feel like everyone has a relationship with mental illness. Either they themselves have dealt with one or they know a relative or even a stranger on the street or in a shelter who has. But maybe not. I definitely think that would affect what you think of this book. I loved the messiness and the hope intertwined in all of the different relationships. I also loved that things weren't nearly left behind when a character wanted to move on. A beautiful novel.

The story starts slow, and is told from different characters perspectives. I thought it was an interesting and at times heartbreaking look at how mental health impacts families. I think it suffers from trying too hard to tell too many things - is it a love story? a coming of age story? a recovery story? But overall I enjoyed reading it.

An interesting and complicated story about two families living next door to each other. One home has a mentally-ill mother and alcoholic father and these issues in the one family ultimately affect both families. Both families also have one person each who is born in Ireland which was mostly irrelevant but gave the book an interesting flavor. It's well-written and I became invested in all the characters.

This book started out strong, but dragged in the middle and then everything was tied into a neat little package that somehow still didn’t fully satisfy me. I didn’t buy into Peter and Kate’s love story. There was no passion between them. The same goes for Lena and Francis, and Brian and Ann (obviously). The author skims the surface with the different plot lines. For example, Lena gets cancer-then she recovers; Francis has an affair, then he is forgiven; Peter is an alcoholic, then he goes to rehab. I would’ve also appreciated some closure with peter and his dad, but I got none. The more I think about this book the less I like it.

Ask Again, Yes is a bleak insight into life with a family member who has a mental illness, and the impact that can have on the lives of their spouse, children and neighbours. The story starts fairly slowly and it took me a while to engage with the story or characters but the plot does develop into a gripping web of tragic events leading from one to the next. It is not a light read and deals with a range of heavy issues which I won't list due to spoilers. The book spans about five decades, beginning with the Gleesons and Stanhopes before they had families and then following their children, Peter and Kate, from their childhood into adulthood, carefully revealing key details at relevant moments. I don’t often enjoy books that jump around in time, but this format worked very well for this story. Mary Beth Keane does well to show the reader all sides of her characters so it is easy to pivot from strong dislike to sympathy in a short space of time. The audiobook is well read by Molly Pope, although her Irish accents tended to waver a little.