Publishers Weekly
05/27/2024
Kilroy’s gut-wrenching latest (after The Devil I Know) finds a mother, Soldier, recounting to her son, Sailor, the first few years of his life. The action moves fluidly between past and present, mimicking the out-of-time nature of early motherhood, and the immersive prose veers from lyrical (“The world rotated beneath us and we were the world”) to brutal (when Sailor was whining at six months old, Soldier screamed at him to “Shut the fuck up”). Soldier also expresses resentment toward men, including her husband, for never having to go through childbirth (“Tell me, men: when were you last split open from the inside?”). At times it can be difficult to distinguish between what actually happened and Soldier’s dark fantasies, such as her plan to abandon Sailor as an infant—but the novel builds to a gorgeous closing soliloquy, in which Soldier lays bare the confounding and heartbreaking reality of mothering. This is worth seeking out. (June)
From the Publisher
Oh this novel! Powerful beyond description. I read it in a day, holding my breath, heart bursting. This is essential reading for anyone who has ever felt swallowed alive by caring for a child, and essential reading for everyone who hasn't.” —Barbara Kingsolver, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of DEMON COPPERHEAD
"At turns lyrical and incisive, this novel depicts the chaos, distress and humor of motherhood." —The New York Times Book Review
“A spare, searing account... there is something akin to electricity in her connection with her child... a chance encounter allows her to see and appreciate the beautiful contours of her life..” —Vogue’s “Best Books of 2024 So Far”
“The narrator’s wit, brutal honesty, and unsentimental love for her child set this book apart... a sharp, funny, often painful yet hopeful take on adjusting to motherhood.” —Kirkus, Starred Review
“Gut-wrenching... the immersive prose veers from lyrical to brutal...lays bare the confounding and heartbreaking reality of mothering. This is worth seeking out.” —Publishers Weekly
“Kilroy's writing hums with poetry, insight, and humor... full of truths so sharp and beautiful readers will need to take a breath.” —Booklist, starred review
“The most vivid account I’ve ever read of how difficult it is to cope with the demands of an infant. Through a prism of love and despair, Kilroy’s narrator illuminates how a baby can tear away at a woman’s sense of self, as her needs disintegrate in the face of her child’s interminable demands.., if a woman chooses to devote herself to ensuring her child’s wellbeing, then someone needs to take care of her too.” —John Boyne, The Guardian
"Searing, spellbinding... With the urgency of a thriller and the intimacy of a memoir, the book explores the fever dream that is new motherhood." —People
"Kilroy’s willingness to depict how immolating motherhood can be balances beautifully with her tender evocation of the mother-child relationship." —Bustle
"Kilroy puts motherhood at the heart of her acclaimed debut... captures the complex and daunting life of a new mother and how destabilizing and challenging it can be to maintain a sense of self." —Parade
"Soldier Sailor is the best account of early motherhood I've ever read. Claire Kilroy is a rare genius." —Sarah Manguso, author of Very Cold People
"A bring-you-to-your-knees depiction of motherhood that is at once a descent into despair and an ode to the deepest love imaginable. I want to frame the final pages, revisit them every day as a reminder of why we risk ourselves in the name of devotion. Fearless, exacting, and absolutely hot to the touch, Kilroy's novel is wise, urgent, and completely unforgettable." —Chelsea Bieker, author of Godshot
"Raw, funny and angry, it is a novel that provokes a huge range of emotions in the reader: sorrow for the agony that the new mum endures, laughter and tenderness, and awe at the elemental and universal aspects of parenthood." —Monica Ali in The Guardian's "Why we chose the Women’s prize for fiction shortlist"
“Virtuosic . . . a resonant and important book, vital in all senses of the word, a flare sent up from the shores of early motherhood, a lesson in surviving the wilderness.” —Irish Times
“Not a word is wasted in this profound short novel . . . Soldier Sailor is a novel which is about time and language as much as parenthood . . . A stylistic whirlwind that left me breathless.” —The Independent
“Claire Kilroy made me cry. The ending to her novel is beautiful, tender, noble even. A happy ending that makes you cry—surely that’s the best of both worlds. Kilroy makes a well-trodden subject feel original by combining literary skill with warmth, humor and wicked observations of everyday life. On nearly every page there was a sentence or an observation that I wanted to underline because it was funny, lovely or real.” —The Times (UK)
“A whole-body experience . . . it comes at you full-throttle, as if delivered on a single breath. . . . [Read] alongside the likes of Helen Simpson, Rachel Cusk and Sarah Moss.” —The Guardian
“Brilliant, brutally honest, very funny . . . A novel that immediately feels like the definitive work on modern motherhood, one that breaks every taboo.” —The Sunday Times (UK)
“A novel about motherhood that captures the chaos, exhaustion, and almost unbearable moments of joy so perfectly. It’s very moving and also very funny.” —Paul Murray
“I'm not aware of another book like this... So touching, with a sense of tenderness and element of the mythological... a book that many women will enjoy and I think most men would not only benefit from but need badly.” —Colm Toibin
“A scorching read, I could not put it down.” —Anne Enright
“Intense, furious, moving and often extremely funny.” —David Nicholls
“Claire Kilroy manages to articulate something about motherhood and selfhood that I didn't think could be articulated. Parents especially—read this novel.” —Mary Beth Keane
“Every woman on earth will identify with this book. Every man will learn something urgent to his betterment. It sings with great authority about the wretched entrapment and molecular joy of motherhood.” —Sebastian Barry
“My favorite novel this year, Soldier, Sailor manages, extraordinarily, to capture the frayed nerves and frittered mind of a woman with a young child, trying to recalibrate after childbirth. Addressed to her infant son as he begins his maiden voyage, a woman stares at the narrowing margins of her world, trying to get a foothold. She undergoes a near-hallucinatory deprivation of self, a kind of dazzling blackout. This is the diamond-sharp story that lies beneath the peaceful, swaying bassinet; the story of the cataclysmic, earth-shaking shift of one life gone off the rails just as another is set on its tracks.” —Sarah Blakley-Cartwright, author of Alice Sadie Celine
“A searing portrait of the early years of parenting... Kilroy succeeds in offering readers a glimpse into motherhood that feels as primal as it is poetic, a brilliant reflection of how impossibly enormous all emotions become in the transition into motherhood. Raw and honest, Soldier Sailor will leave readers white-knuckled at the end of an emotional roller-coaster of anguish and joy alike that perfectly encapsulates the extremes of becoming a parent.” —Shelf Awareness
JUNE 2024 - AudioFile
This novel, short-listed for the Woman's Book Prize, details a young mother's fatigue, frustrations, and joys at raising a trying infant who becomes a willful toddler. Simone Collins's narration benefits from her intimate and persuasive tone, as well as the lovely lilt of her Irish accent. Her performance resonates as her tone, pace, and intonation reveal the struggling mom's love. Much of the narration is addressed to "Sailor," the wailing baby, then obstinate toddler, whom Mom, the "Soldier" of the title, is raising, mostly on her own. Her husband represents the patriarchy--he goes to work early, stays late, helps little--and the couple's bickering is the soundtrack of the plot. This brief, powerful depiction of motherhood rings true and creates an immersive listening experience. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2024-04-05
In this intense first-person narrative, a mother explores the emotional extremes she has experienced during her son’s first years of life.
Irish novelist Kilroy, who has previously written autobiographical nonfiction about postpartum cognitive difficulties, joins the coterie of recent writers whose fiction exposes the dark alleys of early motherhood. A pattern of ambivalence, guilt, and overpowering love repeats throughout Kilroy’s novel. Narrator Soldier recounts to her 4-year-old son, Sailor, her difficulties in adjusting to being his mother: the depth of her love (“I would kill for you”), her exhaustion, her loss of independence and ambition, her resentment toward her largely clueless husband. A pivotal scene that shows the thin membrane “between coping and not” occurs months after Sailor’s birth, the day after Soldier endures a particularly nasty fight with her husband: In a state of fatigue and dejection approaching delirium, she decides to abandon her infant son in a misguided act of protectiveness “so another woman could love you better,” only to rush back when she hears his cry. While she never acts that scarily again, she shares other moments of milder derangement any mother will recognize. Soldier’s sense of isolation, exacerbated by her husband’s seeming obliviousness, continues until she meets a former acquaintance who happens to be a stay-at-home dad. Hanging out with her new friend at the playground makes mothering more fun and turns her into a “better mother” if a “worse wife.” While the friendship remains ostensibly platonic, her marriage reaches a crisis point. Kilroy’s central idea about the difficulties of early motherhood can feel familiar, but her narrator’s wit, brutal honesty, and unsentimental love for her child—and imperfect but ultimately decent husband—set this book apart.
A sharp, funny, often painful yet oddly hopeful take on adjusting to motherhood.
