Early Review: Roar

Roar
Cecelia Ahern

Published By: Harper Collins UK
Publication Date: November 1, 2018
Date Read: September 20, 2018
Genre: Adult - Contemporary / Feminism

Source: ARC from Harper Collins
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352

From Goodreads:
‘These stories sing and cry and shout and whisper from the page. They're sharp, clever, witty…a joy to read.’
Donal Ryan, international bestselling author of The Spinning Heart

I am woman. Hear me roar.

Have you ever imagined a different life?
Have you ever stood at a crossroads, undecided?
Have you ever had a moment when you wanted to roar?

The women in these startlingly original stories are all of us: the women who befriend us, the women who encourage us, the women who make us brave. From The Woman Who Slowly Disappeared to The Woman Who Was Kept on the Shelf and The Woman Who Returned and Exchanged her Husband, discover thirty touching, often hilarious, stories and meet thirty very different women. Each discovers her strength; each realizes she holds the power to make a change.

Witty, tender, surprising, these keenly observed tales speak to us all, and capture the moment when we all want to roar.

When I was asked if I would like to review Roar, the new collection of short stories by Cecelia Ahern, I jumped at the chance. I absolutely love Cecelia Ahern's work, I have devoured all of her novels from the moment I discovered PS, I Love You when I was 16 years old. Roar is very different to Cecelia's other works and although I didn't enjoy it quite as much as her full-length novels, or YA series, I did find these 30 feminist short stories enjoyable.

Roar is a collection of 30 short stories all entitled 'The Woman Who...' and follows stories of various women, at various ages going through things like guilt, inequality, comparing ourselves to others and various other things. I felt like Roar will definitely have some short stories in there that every woman will relate to but some others I found a little odd and over-exaggerated... like the woman who doesn't get notices so she actually becomes invisible... that one was a bit of a stretch for me.

I enjoyed Roar, but as a reader who normally loved series I did find it a bit hard to associate with some of the characters as I find, with short stories, by the time things get going and you get to know the characters it's over. Roar is filled with stories that are incredibly thought provoking and challenges stereotypes and for the most part I enjoyed them.

If you enjoy reading stories about empowering women and love a good short and snappy story that won't take long for you to read then I highly recommend Roar. It was a very enjoyable read.