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Playing on Cotton Clouds
by
Michela O'Brien (Goodreads Author)
When arty Livy falls for her sister’s boyfriend, she knows her dreams are unlikely to come true… Sensitive Seth thinks he has hit the jackpot when the girl of his dreams finally looks his way… While laidback Aidan is every girl’s hero.
Fast forward twenty-five years as carefree youth turns into adulthood responsibilities, relationships begin and end, music and fashion chang...more
Fast forward twenty-five years as carefree youth turns into adulthood responsibilities, relationships begin and end, music and fashion chang...more
Kindle Edition, First Edition
Published
April 20th 2012
by Crooked Cat Publishing
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I really enjoyed reading this book! Emerging adulthood, for some, is a wonderful, carefree time with an emphasis on achieving what you daily desire. For others growing up is a painful, disappointing and distressing time where little of what you want seems achievable, and alternatives are sought. That’s the way of it for Michela O’Brien’s characters, and very true to life in general. Aiden is a likeable character, full of flaws, and seemingly successful in his love life. But does he get his just...more
Playing on Cotton Clouds follows the ups and downs, joys and tragedies of a group of friends over a thirty year period from the late 1980s onwards. At the centre of the story, is the intense on-off relationship between two old school friends Aiden and Seth, and all of the characters,events and dramas that swing around and between them.
When I started reading Playing on Cotton Clouds, I didn't think I was going to like it. I thought it might be a little too soap opera-ish, too Hollyoaks for me. Bu...more
When I started reading Playing on Cotton Clouds, I didn't think I was going to like it. I thought it might be a little too soap opera-ish, too Hollyoaks for me. Bu...more
BETH'S REVIEW
Rarely does a work of fiction portray a generation accurately, but Michela O’Brien weaves twenty-five years of love, life, friendship, tragedy, and triumph seamlessly in one novel. PLAYING ON COTTON CLOUDS is a well-written novel chronicling the lives and inter-action of four people in England from their teen years in 1980’s England into their forties.
I appreciated the way O’Brien divided the novel by year. She made it easy to follow the passage of time as well as dropping the read...more
Rarely does a work of fiction portray a generation accurately, but Michela O’Brien weaves twenty-five years of love, life, friendship, tragedy, and triumph seamlessly in one novel. PLAYING ON COTTON CLOUDS is a well-written novel chronicling the lives and inter-action of four people in England from their teen years in 1980’s England into their forties.
I appreciated the way O’Brien divided the novel by year. She made it easy to follow the passage of time as well as dropping the read...more
Once recovered from the first few eyebrow-raising paragraphs, this story has introduced me to the absorbing lives of four young people struggling through to maturity in a bewildering world. The characters take pleasure where they find it, grab anything going to get them out of pain, then learn to live with their mistakes and move on.
There is Livy whose “carefully tucked away feelings were now scattered around in her mind, leaving her with the painful task of picking them up and hiding them agai...more
There is Livy whose “carefully tucked away feelings were now scattered around in her mind, leaving her with the painful task of picking them up and hiding them agai...more
This novel weaves the narratives of three central characters, Seth, Livy and Aidan. It begins in the 80's and spans nearly thirty years. It has a whimsical feel rather than being fast-paced. The characters are well-portrayed and I was quickly drawn into their lives and cared about each one. I like how the novel is divided into years and focuses on snippets of their lives at certain points. It made me feel nostalgic, and contained a deeper message about the value of friendship and how it can be,...more
I loved this book. I'm a huge fan of 'coming of age' tales and this was a belter. The story is told from different perspectives following a group of friends who go their separate ways in adult life. The story is told with such heart aching truth that, at times, I forgot these characters were fictional. Michela O'Brien does a great job of detailing one of her characters descent into depression and the journey to claw themselves out of it, with tremendous subtlety and dignity. Another character, A...more
A friend of mine recommended the book to me and I'm so glad she did because I really enjoyed it. I've got a list of things to do as long as my arm at the moment, but I forsook them all on Sunday to read this novel from cover to cover, stopping only for essential things and then returning to my kindle to pick the tale up again from where I'd left off. Trust me that hadn't been the plan. So why was I so engrossed?
The book demanded it, because my heart got utterly caught up in the trials and tribul...more
The book demanded it, because my heart got utterly caught up in the trials and tribul...more
I read this book in less than 48 hours, which I think says it all! It has all you need to enjoy a good story; humour, romance, sadness. The writing style is brilliant, keeping you interested in the lives of the three central characters; Aiden, Seth and Livy, following their lives from their teen years in the 80's through heartache, love, loss, travel, despair, children and more to their forties in the present day. It's intelligent, poignant and deals with issues such as social class, depression...more
Where to start? This is a story of a group of people, their lives, loves and downfalls. It starts on a bridge which divides the rich and poor but it grows into so much more. Each character shows their soul through out the story, sharing their passion in a way that hits you hard. There is friendship born and lost, yet found again.
Couldn't get enough of this book, bloody brilliant!!
Couldn't get enough of this book, bloody brilliant!!
I really hope this book doesn't get classified as "chick-lit" because it is so much more than that. I was astonished by how the author managed to write from so many different points of view. Each character was endearing in their own way (apart from a couple who I'd have cheerfully strangled but they were not meant to be sympathetic)
The clincher for me is if I care about what happens to the characters in a novel and with this one I did - I found myself mentally shouting at them to pull themselves...more
The clincher for me is if I care about what happens to the characters in a novel and with this one I did - I found myself mentally shouting at them to pull themselves...more
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I love a forway into the 80's - makes me feel young again and this book certainly does capture the youth and innocence of that partiular period of time in its well rounded characters. Nicely written with some poignant moments along the way and a last chapter that is one of the best I've read in ages. Whether you're a child of the 80's, 90's or noughties, you'll enjoy this.
I normally go for fast-paced reads but it was a joy to savour this book, to walk beside these wonderfully real, flawed characters. As in life, they made mistakes they weren't able to put right and heroic acts came in unexpected packages. A thought-provoking read that makes me want to mend fences and contact neglected friends.
I loved reading this coming of age novel as it follows the lives of Aidan, Seth and Livy from their teens to maturity. At times heart-breaking, at others tinged with humour, I simply couldn’t put it down and read late into the night, desperate to see how the relationships played out.
The characters are all recognisable: people we could have known and loved ourselves as we grew up. In fact, I felt as if I did know them and wanted the best for them. Events towards the end moved me to tears.
Lovely,...more
The characters are all recognisable: people we could have known and loved ourselves as we grew up. In fact, I felt as if I did know them and wanted the best for them. Events towards the end moved me to tears.
Lovely,...more
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Michela O'Brien was born in Milan, Italy, in... well, let's say some time in the last third of the 20th century. In Milan she grew up, studied, worked as a teacher, made friends and wrote, commending thoughts to page, imagining plots and characters, recording events in her life, noting observations about the world: stories, diaries, letters... In an era before personal computers, internet, blogs a...more
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