Overview: Rachel is coming of age in Cork, Ireland, in 2010 as the recession is making the job market impossible, and the world feels collectively bleak. She's crawling through an English degree that feels pointless, especially in light of the recession. She picked it with no career goals in mind and feels relatively aimless in her swan dive into adulthood. Thankfully, she has her best friend James by her side, and as they share a run down house on Shandon Street, their lives bend, change, and shift so that every few months they're nearly unidentifiable. Framed around Rachel's life in 2021 as a fully grown adult, we sink into her adult-coming of age from around 19-22 as her life takes unexpected turns. Overall: 4.5

Characters: 4.5 Rachel is a character I immediately connected with as a fellow 20-year-old girl afloat in the abyss of "what am I going to do with my life?". She has a certain insecurity that feels embedded into her person, both physically about her height and emotionally in her connections with others. Once she meets James at the bookshop, her life finds a shape completely bent around his. While James maintains a strong skeleton of his own life, Rachel's is at the mercy of her best friend's path to her detriment. She has a similar tendency in romantic relationships, but the intensity of those is spared by her utter devotion to James that keeps them playing second fiddle. This creates both the sense of a powerful and important friendship and a warning about folding your life into someone else's completely.

So much of these characters are expressed in extremely subtle nuances, so it feels impossible to really get into them without spoiling what's so delightful and interesting about the book. The subtleties of the relationships and interactions is what the book is made of. Their various romantic entanglements and life choices as they cement their career aspirations paint a fascinating, relatable, and compelling portrait of some very different people, and surprising for literary fiction, each significant character does get some kind of send off by the end of the novel. I wish I could say more about the wonder of the wildly mixed up relationships and the characters that drive this book, but I would hate to ruin the surprises.

Plot: 4 This is a quintessential literary fiction novel. It's all about characters and subtlety and relationships, and I find that delicious. If you're not a fan of that style, you'll likely find the book quite boring. There are some truly dramatic moments, but that's sandwiched between a lot of quiet life that builds up to the most emotional twists. These moments felt earned, which is something I really appreciate, and I do feel like this novel has more plot than some in its category. I also appreciated the interesting framing of introducing us to Rachel in the present day and showing us small glimpses of her grown up life that created foreshadowing for the flashbacks to 2010 that constitute most of this book. It's a perfect literary coming of age creation, and I get the hype.

Writing: 4.5 I don't request books on NetGalley very often anymore (this is the only one I've requested all year), and I hadn't heard anything about this book when I sent in the request. I wasn't sure if I'd even get approved since I'd only ever read YA off NetGalley. I requested this one off the gorgeous cover and the Sally Rooney comparison. I had a much more natural and effortless connection with O'Donoghue's writing than with Rooney, but that might have to do with the 50 literary novels I've read in-between as practice. Still, if you're a fan of Irish literature or of Rooney, The Rachel Incident should be an easy favorite. There's a similarity in the quiet dedication to character portraits as well as an intensity and messiness to the relationships that unfold here that make the novels good companions. The book is expertly executed and feels both intimate and relatable as well as beautifully artistic.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this book early! I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing was very well done, and the story kept me interested. I believe my students/patrons would also love this book and will be acquiring it for the library!

Compelling, thoughtful, meaningful book about young adulthood, keeping secrets, and what we owe to other people.

A fun & thoughtful story. Recommend!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is everything I thought I would love but I could notttt get into it. I got about 40% in and had to dnf. I am so bummed!!!

Loved her first adult novel. The sections that were my favourite was when it looked into abortions. four out of five stars

DNF at 40%. Nothing really happened. I was very bored. I liked a few of the stories along the way but didn’t care to finish. I found myself zoning out a lot.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue
Is a coming of age story of sorts. Rachel is a young adult and kind of a mess. I loved being in her head though. She was very endearing. She and her best friend/Roomate James are living in Ireland Fumbling their way through their early twenties and end up in an interesting situation that affects several lives. I really enjoyed the writing style, Rachel really seemed like a real person and I just hoped for the best for her the whole way through. It was funny and also touched on some serious topics. I would like to read more by this author.

This was my first O'Donoghue novel and I enjoyed it more than I expected to. While the synopsis makes the novel sound rather cliché, I found it charming and even funny at times. The characters are flawed and believable, and O'Donoghue captures young adulthood well. I felt nostalgic for college and found Rachel's emergence into adulthood realistic and bittersweet. The novel is set mostly in Ireland and I enjoyed the setting and culture she effuses the novel with. Overall, this is a breezy novel that belies O'Donoghue's skills in pacing and character development, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

Thank you to Knopf for my gifted advance reader copy!

Rachel lives in Ireland and is working to complete a degree in English. Working in a local bookshop, she befriends James, a coworker, and quickly decides to move in with him. Struggling to find her path and facing the job crisis so many of us experienced in the early aughts, Rachel distracts herself with riotous nights out with James. As happens with close friends, Rachel becomes James’ secret keeper, but doesn’t realize the impact her silence will have on her own life.

This coming of age novel is absolutely brilliant. There’s some element I can’t quite pinpoint that absolutely sucked me in to Rachel’s story. I’m reminded strongly of how quickly I bonded with Lee from Curtis Sittenfeld’s PREP.

Rachel is a contemporary of mine, and I completely identified with the difficulty she experiences in finding a job, developing healthy romantic relationships, and simply existing in a recession. Despite some of her more questionable choices, I found Rachel to be a likable and compelling protagonist.

This one is an easy, breezy five stars from yours truly.

Oh well this absolutely slapped, what else can I say, I read it all in one sitting not because of the plot but because I wanted to live in the vibe of this book. It's not, like, comforting...just consuming.

A darker type of coming of age story. The author did a wonderful job of giving Rachel different voices as she became older and matured. From a young girl who had a terrible case of fomo - to the adult that eventually had the wherewithal to recognize opportunities that were real and beneficial, we see how one can complicate their own life by not being able to see beyond the end of one's own nose. I found the book to be full of moral dilemmas filled with the possibility of discussion.

This book was so so good. As someone in my 20s this book spoke to me on so many levels.

It definitely reads like a fun sitcom but has a lot of heart and weight to it.

O’Donoghue captures a youthful energy so brilliantly, with incredible writing that had me laughing, crying and almost always smiling.

If you’re in your 20s read this book!

I liked the characters and the love triangle. This is witty and sad and relatable with a bit of quirk. Roomies who fall for the same professor and how there lives change ad a result of having certain people in their orbit. A fast and full year thoughtful read with a bookstore and some literary professions.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

I really thought this book was going to be more about a student/teacher relationship and how one dealt with that. Turns out the teacher is just a small part of this story. This book is mainly about Rachel, her coming of age, fails/successes, and her friendship with James. If you like Sally Rooney, you will like this book. It is very witty and heartfelt. It reminded of me of Rooney in the sense that nothing is happening, yet things are also somewhat happening, and somehow you just feel comforted journeying along through the questionable shenanigans of the characters. IYKYK.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I give this book 3.5 stars.

Given the hype around the title and the description, I had high hopes. This is an entertaining look at a woman reflecting on a particularly formative time in her early 20s, with great local Irish color and humor.
The title is interesting in that Rachel is the main character but this phrase comes from her professor's wife, looking back on how briefly entwined in their lives she became for a period of time. At this part in her life, Rachel is very much identified by her peer group, and figuring out who she is in comparison with friends, lovers, mentors, crushes, etc.
The dialog and characters are very entertaining and witty, and it's a fun read.

Rachel is a college student and her best friend is James Devlin. When she meets another James, she tells him she already has a James in her life, so she calls him Carey (his last name). The story follows Rachel and her relationships with the 2 James. When Rachel falls for her married college professor, she is sad when he opts for her roommate instead. Rachel and Carey's relationship is good, but circumstances get in the way..The professor / roommate love affair leads to strange consequences in the life of Rachel - one she uses to her benefit (if you can call it that).
Rachel reflects on all of this a few years later, when she hears news of her professor and his situation - he is in a coma. She reflects on her life then, and her life now. She also became a journalist writing on feminist issues.
The book is a coming of age story of sorts, with a focus on sexuality and issues affecting sexuality. Several bursts of humor are interspersed with some serious issues.
I enjoyed it.

"The Rachel Incident" offers a unique yet relatable glimpse into the life of Rachel, a young woman navigating post-2008 recession Ireland. Her chance encounter with James ignites a captivating tale of love at first sight, leading to a transformative friendship that challenges societal norms. Amidst the backdrop of Cork city's bohemian chaos and impending financial crisis, the story delves into Rachel's journey of self-discovery and the complexities of loving others. Her passionate entanglement with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, unfolds with humor and heartache, revealing the intricate web of secrets and compromises that bind their fates. Aching with unrequited love, "The Rachel Incident" beautifully captures the essence of growing up, making it a triumphant exploration of love, self-identity, and resilience in the face of uncertainty.

I ended up enjoying this book a lot more than I thought I would. It took me a few chapters to really get into it but once I did, I really liked it. And I wouldn't consider it a humorous book as the blurb states. It was a just good story of love and friendship.

A great read about coming of age and navigating the new world of adulthood. Loved the complexity and realness of the characters and will definitely seek out this author in the future.