Big Girl, Small Town

Big Girl, Small Town

Michelle Gallen

Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 3.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 2.0
🍟
🇮🇪
🦊

Meet Majella O’Neill, a heroine like no other, in this captivating Irish debut that has been called Milkman meets Derry Girls Majella is happiest out of the spotlight, away from her neighbors’ stares and the gossips of the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up just after the Troubles. She lives a quiet life caring for her alcoholic mother, working in the local chip shop, watching the regular customers come and go. She wears the same clothes each day (overalls, too small), has the same dinner each night (fish and chips, microwaved at home after her shift ends), and binge-watches old DVDs of the same show (Dallas, best show on TV) from the comfort of her bed.  But underneath Majella’s seemingly ordinary life are the facts that she doesn’t know where her father is and that every person in her town has been changed by the lingering divide between Protestants and Catholics. When Majella’s predictable existence is upended by the death of her granny, she comes to realize there may be more to life than the gossips of Aghybogey, the pub, and the chip shop. In fact, there just may be a whole big world outside her small town.  Told in a highly original voice, with a captivating heroine readers will love and root for, Big Girl, Small Town will appeal to fans of Sally Rooney, Ottessa Moshfegh, and accessible literary fiction with an edge.


From the Forum
  • What was that ending?
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    1
    comments 0
    Reply
  • View all posts
    Recent Reviews

    Your rating:

  • Natalia
    Aug 29, 2024
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • kellywilder
    Apr 09, 2025
    Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 3.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 2.0
    🍟
    🇮🇪
    🦊

    I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, narrated by Nicola Coughlan. I didn’t mind the repetition of Marjella’s days. But there was never any resolution. I was so frustrated by the ending. The description says “In fact, there just may be a whole big world outside her small town.” But I never got the feeling that Marjella was interested in that. I felt that she was just resigned to her life. I thought maybe something would happen to her mom. Or they’d find out who killed her grandma. But the most exciting thing she decided to do was buy a new duvet?

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • View all reviews
    Community recs if you liked this book...