Outlier here. I had a bit of a tough time with this Scottish novel. There were some very good things about this book, but the not so good things brought my rating down significantly.

First the good. This is a storyline I hadn’t read before, so points for uniqueness. I connected (after a while) with the narrator Jimmy (aka “Noodles”) and to a lesser extent Tully. I also admired Iona. The characterization is very good. More importantly, I loved the brilliant manner in which Mr. O’Hagan handles the subject of assisted suicide. He explores the enormous complexities of disparate types of love and how each kind of love leads to a different approach to this very controversial issue. This part of the storyline encompasses the entire second half of the book and is what saved the book for me.

On the downside, the majority of the first half of the novel lost me. Jimmy and Tully head off to Manchester, England, for a blowout music festival with several of their friends. At that point, we are bombarded with the antics of “young men being young men” and inundated with the names of European bands that I never heard of. I’m a big music fan but didn’t know any of these acts and thus there was nothing for me to relate to. I did not enjoy this arc of the tale at all. If I were not reading to review, I would have undoubtedly put the book down. I am glad I persevered, however, as the second act of the book was just excellent.

So a tale of two parts for me, leading to a middle of the road rating of 3 stars.

Thank you, Net Galley, Faber & Faber, and Andrew O’Hagan for granting me an ARC of Mayflies. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Unfortunately, this title was a DNF for me. It just didn’t hold my interest and I had a hard time connecting with the characters. But don’t let that deter you from giving it a try! It just wasn’t the book for me. Because I didn’t finish, I won’t be sharing this review on any other platform. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Mayflies is an excellent coming-of-age novel about young men growing up in Scotland. James has disinterested, uninvolved parents who barely notice he's alive. Fortunately he has a lifelong friend in Tully Dawson. Since they were school boys Tully has taken James in to his own family and treated him like a brother. As they mature and graduate school, they make plans to head to Manchester for a world-shaking music festival. There in the throes of musial ecstasy they vow to live life differently from their fathers. And they do. They pick up 30 years later when Tully calls James with devastating news. Mayflies is a very thoughtful and emotional book. O'Hagan hits the perfect tone of male friendship. He writes dialog in Scottish dialect which only adds to the story. Many thanks to Net Galley for the ARC.

Mayflies by Andrew OHagan is one of those books that stick with you. Deep friendship, intimate knowledge of each other’s dreams and disappointments over the years are all a part of this novel. Questions of what makes a life well lived and end of life decisions are explored within the context of life long friendships and family/love obligations.
This is a Bristish book and it is helpful to know British idioms and references. #netgalley #mayflies #friendship #goodreads

Fiction | Adult

Mayflies, by Andrew O'Hagan (2020, 2021)
Do you remember the passion and absolutely exuberance of being with your friends in your teen years? How you felt alive and full of hope? Anything is possible with them by your side. This two-part novel opens in 1986, in a Scottish working-class town, where a group of young men share dreams of a life of music, film, drink, and love as they decide to take a weekend trip to Manchester for the Festival of the Tenth Summer. It’s a celebration of punk rock – The Smiths, The Fall, and more (though Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark makes a hilarious appearance) – a chance to celebrate life and hope and potential as they deal, by not dealing, with the crap at home. At the centre of the group is Tully, about 20 years old, facing a discouraging life of working in a factory. His best mate is Jimmy, whom he calls Noodles after the De Niro character in Once Upon a Time in America). Noodles is determined to get out – he reads voraciously, encouraged by a teacher, and ends up surprising everyone by going to university. There are several others who make the weekend trip – a raging socialist called Limbo, an apprentice postie named Tibbs, and Hogg, a poser in Doc Martens and peroxided hair. They make it to Manchester and raise hell, having the time of their lives, somehow knowing it’s a last blast before adult responsibilities will begin to weigh. O’Hagan then leaps ahead three decades to 2017. Now in their 50s, Jimmy and Tully are still close, and when one of them gets devastating news, he asks the other to do something very difficult. That decision is the central issue for the second part of the book. Spoiler alert, and trigger alert – O’Hagan takes an unflinching look at assisted dying as part of this novel, in a way that quite literally had me in tears. I’m struck by how this theme has emerged a few times in recent novels: The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett and Rules of the Road, specifically. The need to be in control of one’s death, when illness threatens a tortuous departure. I wonder if it’s a literary response to the times we live in – violence, climate change, a frigging pandemic, and more. Sigh. Anyway, back to this novel. There is no romance in death, in any death, and this novel brings that home in a way that knocked me to my core. But it’s also a book about love and a rare, deep, and lasting friendship, the kind that Yeats refers to when he writes “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and And say my glory was I had such friends.” O’Hagan opens the book with this quote. First published in Scotland last year, then released this spring in North America, Mayflies won the 2020 Christopher Isherwood Prize. Drawing on his own memories, O’Hagan nails the 1980s with references to pop culture, Thatcherism, and a youthful optimism that rings true. I’ll cheerfully admit most of the punk rock references and the Scottish slang sailed over my head, but I loved the hope for a different future that each young man holds dear. The second half is just as powerful as Jimmy, Tully and their partners seek moments of peace, joy, and appreciation even as the tension builds. I hope I haven’t revealed too much – this is a beautifully written novel of human nature in all its glory and failure. My thanks to McClelland and Stewart for the digital reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Grand Forks & District Public Library has just added a copy to its adult fiction collection, too.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54879613

The story telling in this book is wonderful and immersive. The gritty, brash young men attending a music festival in the 80s grow and change but stay connected into their 40s. I enjoyed both "halves" of the book. The ending was one I was dreading but it was beautiful in its raw, honesty.

The obscure literary reference to the title of this book doesn't appear until the final chapter or so of the book. So I mostly thought of this book as Tully or Manchester Boys not Mayflies as I read it.

*I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law.*

Really interesting poignant and bittersweet read.
A Tale of male friendship at it's finest. Life, Death, love it's got everything.
Starts in 1986 and sails through to 2017.
I found it to be a slow read but it lets you savor it throughout.
Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin Random House Canada and the Author Andrew O'Hagan for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mayflies begins in 1986 in a Scottish town with Tully and James about to travel to Manchester with friends.
The beginning of book is filled with sports and music references . The second half of the book is totally different as Tully is battling cancer.
A deeply emotional book for those willing to take the ride.

Thank you to netgalley.com for this ARC.

This is a two part story of 2 friends. The first part takes places in Manchaster in the 1980's during a music festival. I loved reading about that time as it was when I was listening to music and going to concerts and it brought back memories. The second part takes places at the present time and when both friends are grown and facing adult life and problems.

The story showed the depth of friendship between two men and how their lives have diverged and converged. It was heartbreakingly sad at times but well done.

I really loved this book, not just enjoyed, but loved. It's a bit like Trainspotting without the misery.

I grew up in Ireland at around the same time the characters in the first half of this book were growing up in Scotland so the settings - geographical, cultural, societal, political - were all very familiar to me and quite nostalgia-inducing. Even the less positive aspects of growing up at the time -unemployment, Thatcherism - invoke feelings of familiarity but its O'Hagan's capturing of that sheer adventure and heady excitement of heading off for a few hours, a day, or in the case of Mayflies, a weekend with your pals and throwing off the banality and drudgery of everyday life for a while that really grabbed me. There's so much warm humor and believable banter between the characters. The dark side of the Thatcher years are also captured without trying to drape them in gauzy softness - the tragic and sick former miners, the necessity of taking a job, any job, because the machine demanded that you did, the two sides of escaping, being the first to get out but not wanting to leave it behind. There's really terrific writing here which evokes all of this.

The second half of the book then takes us forward to near the present day and we see how our childhood and teenage years begin to die behind us and how it begins to catch up with us. The phone call you get that is inevitably bearing traumatic news. The fracturing of once rock-solid forever friendships for no other reason than people grow up, move away, pursue different paths.

The ending couldn't have been better handled.

This is a book about the good things - micro and macro - and the tragedies - big and bigger - that happen to people, friends, and family over the course of a lifetime, or several lifetimes.

This one will stick with me for a long time.

Mayflies is the story of a friendship that defines you and your story. Of friends that are more than family. Of the magical nights as young men that become lore, and create a bond that friendships developed later in life can't touch. Even if you do fall out of touch, that doesn't mean you fall out of friends.
Mayflies starts with the story of this magical night when these blokes head to Manchester for a music festival - it was the 80s and they are living every minute of their lives. You can feel the excitement, the energy, the bond that they share. Tully is the life of the party, the guy you can figure anything out, the energy that keeps you connected and going even when the worst happens.

You live this weekend with them, and then they are men. They grew up, have partners and spouses and jobs. And Tully... this book is so much more than I thought it would be - the type of book that takes a while to get you in, but then it becomes a book you stay up late reading and then have a book hangover from.

This is the story of two friends, James and Tully. They are into music and movies. Everyone loves Tully because he is so charismatic. At 18 and 20 respectively they go to a concert in Manchester and then the book jumps to 30 years later when Tully calls James to tell him he has terminal cancer. I think I was expecting a story like Beaches and this was nothing like that. The first half of the book was all these boys going to a concert, there was drinking and drugs, lots of movie and music references from the 1980's that I didn't understand and boys talking stupid like young drunk boys do. They were a group of friends but and I never bothered to keep track, they had names and nicknames and were never well defined characters. I never felt this great connection between James and Tully. After he calls James he asks him for a plan to die with dignity and he finally marries his long time love, Anna, but he never discusses anything like this with her. For myself he just wasn't a character I loved or even liked and I think doing that would have made the book much better for me.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me this book.

Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan are a novel in two parts. It begins in the 1980s as a group of young men begin their friendship. As they are leaving their childhood, O’Hagan follows their lives from high school as they enter into adulthood and the different paths they take. Then it moves to thirty years later, their lives are full with careers, families and a devastating medical diagnosis.
I struggled with the first part of the novel. I think I struggled because it took me a while to get use to dialect. I was soon hooked. It was interesting to see the inside of a friendship between men and how it carried through to the end. It was well worth reading.
Many thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel.

Loved the friendship between James and Tully whom we meet in 1986. They are going to a music festival. The book is in two parts, early friendship and then 20 years later. Love how it dealt with love, life, friendship, and death. I really loved that The Great Gatsby was Tully’s favorite book! The author dealt with how much you can ask of your best friend. Overall I’m glad I read this one.

Mixed emotions with this book... On one hand reliving the 80's was nostalgic, but somewhat not what I remembered. The friendship and emotions on the other hand were on point and a massive tug on the heart strings. First part of the book was 3.5 but the rest of it 5 stars...

This book. This book will tug at your heartstrings and force you to think about your own experiences and mis-spent youth.
Thsi book is divided into two sections. In the first section we meet James- the bookish one and Tully- the charismatic one. When we first meet them, the boys are on the cusp of adulthood with the great unknown just a touch away. They plan a trip to Manchester filled with alcohol, drugs and girls.

And then the whole mood of the book changes. We start the second half knowing that James and Tully are still close but something has changed.

The book is an ode to the good memories we create not knowing if we'll ever be the same. This book is a beautiful yet cautionary tale about the passing of time and the nostalgia it leaves behind.

What do I say about this book? I have mixed feelings. The writing was good, covering the genre of friendship but It felt slow to me. I could not relate to the characters and I did not enjoy reading it as well.

I'm not even sure how to synopsize this book so I'll go with the blurb which states it's "A heartbreaking novel of an extraordinary lifelong friendship". This book was released on May 18, 2021.

Even though I'm old enough to look back fondly on the 80s, I'm a bit older than the characters in this book and it obviously wasn't written with someone like me in mind. Although I could see the allure of the story to certain readers, I almost gave up on it. There were so many references to music and musicians, football and football players, and politics that would probably mean a lot to someone in Scotland or England but that went right over my head. I wasn't even interested enough to google the references. Many reviewers said the second half of the book was better so I persevered and it did get a little more interesting but still not my cup of tea. Even in the second half there were too many references that held no meaning for me. It did make me think though about how nice it would be to have a friend that you've known forever and that you've experienced so much with, like Tully. It was also interesting to read about Dignitas on Wikipedia and learn that it's a real organization in Switzerland providing assisted/accompanied suicide.

The reviews for this one are all over the place so if you're interested you should probably take a chance and read it.

Many thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel.

From the beginning, Mayflies goes to the heart of a friendship that eventually spans a lifetime despite all the challenges inherent in such a relationship. This joins Shuggie Bain in providing an insider look of growing up in Glasgow, but goes a step further in shifting focus on a friendship rather than a family connection. Loved it.

I'm giving this book 5 Stars but to tell the truth, I had a love/hate relationship with it. The story is very depressing at times, will make you laugh at other times and be downright confusing the rest of the time. I'm used to reading fantasy or dystopian so this was supposed to be a break into real world reading. Perhaps if the author hadn't tried to write the Scottish accent, it would have been easier to read. The story takes place in Manchester, England in the 70's and the characters are in their twenties which is what I was at that time. Still, I had no idea what they were referring to most of time as is normal for us Americans. I was determined not to quit on this story and it was worth the fight. It's a great story of human failures and successes.