Make Strange

Reviews / Votes

Beautifully poised between love and wonder, Campbell captures the uncanny mystery of motherhood so well. Her richly evocative prose delivers new pleasures on every page. Making Strange is a shifting, hopeful novel about the nature of change -- Anne Enright Sometimes it is worth stating things plainly: this is a great novel by a great novelist . . . Deeply wise, deeply humane, deeply stylish and deeply moving -- Keiran Goddard Cool, poised, stylish, sharp and fiercely intelligent, Make Strange takes its striking premise, of a child who claims to have lived and died before, and uses it as a prism through which to make our most quotidian days strange and mysterious; to explore what strangers we are even to ourselves. An impressive book, and a writer to be admired -- Lucy Caldwell Niamh Campbell writes contemporary Dublin like no other writer I can think of. Make Strange is a glowing, moving, daring book - sharp as flint, and supple, almost shape-shifting in its observation. This is a novel that asks big questions - about life, family, the mind, and about how we live in a world full of estrangements. Niamh Campbell is building a body of work that feels, to me, important and truthful and brilliantly new -- Sean Hewitt Every novel by Niamh Campbell is a gift and Make Strange is no exception. I am in love with Campbell's prose: this is a forensic examination of the psychological effects of childrearing, and of trying to make a good life for oneself and for others. The uncanniness of parenting haunts the novel like a spectre in sentences that are shaped like the feelings they evoke. It's Anne Enright meets John McGahern meets the contemporary moment, while also being completely, distinctly Niamh Campbell. Bravo -- Madeleine Gray Make Strange is a brilliant novel, full of curious ideas and melancholic beauty and gorgeous prose. Reminiscent of Anne Enright, Paul Murray, Claire Kilroy and Belinda McKeon, though that is not to say that Campbell doesn't have a singular voice; she absolutely does. I devoured it -- Sara Baume Make Happy is an attentive and at times breathtaking novel, written by an exceptional writer in full flow -- Adrian Duncan Campbell captures the lives of one small family in extraordinary ways. Luscious language and delicious detail drip from every page making this novel simply exquisite -- Anne Griffin Haunting, lyrical and tender. A luminous portrait of a young family under pressure -- Michelle Gallen This book is so rich. Both haunting and funny, the novel captures the way motherhood both blurs and sharpens one's sense of self. I've rarely encountered characters who felt so nuanced and alive. Make Strange will stay with me for a long time -- Anna Beecher A fiercely intelligent and accomplished stylist, capturing contemporary Irish life with astonishing accuracy. Make Strange is a rich story of contemporary family life and the pasts that come to haunt them told through Campbell's signature descriptive and vivid prose * Bristol Magazine * Intriguing and original * Irish Times *