The Accident Season

Every year Cara and her family go through a period of bruising and breaking and battering as one mishap after another, large and small, plague them and mark them and sometimes inflict tragedy on them. This is a very odd thing, but this year there are more odd things to come. Why does Elsie, a girl Cara used to be friends with it, appear in all her photographs? Why isn't she turning up at school and why do none of he teachers and classmates seem to know who she is? Searching for Elsie, organising a Halloween party in a haunted house, and enduring accident after accident, Cara and her sister, step-brother and best friend begin to uncover the terrible, life-changing secrets behind the Accident Season.

The Accident Season has a terrific show more premise, wonderfully drawn characters, a spooky and eerie atmosphere, but what elevates it is the quality of the writing, beautiful and polished, full of strange and arresting imagery and insights into life and love and friendship. The whole book feels strange and supernatural long before any supernatural element is hinted at. But at the same time it remains grounded both physically and emotionally. A great achievement. show less

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Emily Reads Everything

I had high hopes for this book. The synopsis really drew me in. I love everything about it and I couldn't wait to find out why this family was more accident prone during a certain month of year. Just the concept is intriguing and interesting and makes me want to know more.

The book on the other hand fell a little flat for me. I didn't feel like it lived up to the awesome description. Yes, it was about accident season but not in the way I wanted it to be. I can't tell you what I was hoping for, I guess more overt magic or mystery. This book is Magical Realism and the mystical elements are very subtle. This genre can be overt like that or it can be beautiful and subtle like this book was. show more Unfortunately, I like my paranormal more in your face. I want people to be doing spells or ghost hunting or something. This isn't the book for that at all. That doesn't mean that it's a bad book. It just wasn't what I expected or what I was hoping for.

As much as the story just wasn't what I was hoping for, the writing almost made up for it. Moïra Fowley-Doyle prose is beautiful and haunting. Her word choices were absolutely perfect in this book every time. Her turn of phrase kept me turning pages. You can see an example in the first sentence of the synopsis. "It's the accident season, the same time every year. Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom." Bruises bloom. I just love that.

I'm just not a subtle person. If you are, this is a perfect book for you. show less

Superb idea, so-so execution...

(Trigger warning for child abuse, domestic violence, and rape. This review contains clearly marked spoilers.)

"It’s the accident season, the same time every year. Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom. Years ago my mother tried to lock us all up, pad the hard edges of things with foam and gauze, cover us in layers of sweaters and gloves, ban sharp objects and open flames. We camped out together in the living room for eight days, until the carefully ordered takeout food—delivered on the doorstep and furtively retrieved by my mother, who hadn’t thought how she would cook meals without the help of our gas oven—gave us all food poisoning and we spent the next twenty-four hours in the hospital. Now show more every autumn we stock up on bandages and painkillers; we buckle up, we batten down. We never leave the house without at least three protective layers. We’re afraid of the accident season. We’re afraid of how easily accidents turn into tragedies. We have had too many of those already."

So let’s raise our glasses to the accident season,
To the river beneath us where we sink our souls,
To the bruises and secrets, to the ghosts in the ceiling,
One more drink for the watery road.

-- 3.5 stars --

I can't remember the last time I had such mixed feelings about a novel.

On the one hand, the story's premise - every October the Morris-Fagan family is beset by a series of seemingly random accidents, from cuts and bruises to more serious calamities, like car accidents and drownings - is fabulous. The invention of a so-called "accident season" is creative and compelling and provides so many potential avenues of exploration. Are the accidents merely coincidence? Bad luck given meaning by a family who sees what it wants to see? (We humans have a way of forming patterns out of randomness.) A self-fulfilling prophecy? (The worst.) Or perhaps the accidents are the work of a sinister force, either supernatural or more worldly? (Not all monsters are nonhuman, you know.)

The plot gets even weirder than the synopsis hints at with the introduction of Elsie, a plain Jane, mousey girl who mysteriously appears in all of Cara's photographs - even those taken on a family vacation on the Mediterranean. As the accident season of her junior year draws to a close, the narrator Cara; her older sister Alice; their ex-step-brother Sam; and Cara's best friend Bea scramble to find Elsie, who's suddenly gone missing from school and whose presence/absence seems somehow connected to the family's ill fortunes.

So while The Accident Season has the bones of a killer story, the writing doesn't always do it proud. I found my attention wandering throughout most of the book - up until the last quarter or so, when shit started to GET REAL - and considered DNF'ing several times. (Alas, the mystery of the accident season wouldn't let me!) This feels very much like a debut novel, and not in a good way. Fowley-Doyle seems to have some grand ideas, but can't quite pull them off without a hitch.

I can't really point to a single thing that bothered me; overall, the writing just failed to hold my interest. Although the lack of resolution re: the Tin Man (was it Christopher, stalking them? a street performer who just resembled him? a ghost or changeling? a denizen of the disappearing magic/costume shop, whose thread was also so rudely left unresolved?) does stand out.

But dammit, I love so many of the details! The blend of supernatural and contemporary "issues" YA is great; it keeps you on your toes and guessing, if not until the very end, then pretty darn close.

There's some pretty stellar symbolism here, and it goes well beyond the titular accident season. I especially enjoyed the secrets booth; not only does the imagery work well within the story, but I could see how it'd make for a pretty rad real-world art project, too. The theme of secrets is one that runs throughout the book, and the secrets booth is an ingenious way of driving this home: secrets typed up anonymously and later hung from the ceiling for all to see (and guess at, marvel over, etc.). An injured Cara running home from the ghost house, struggling under the weight of the secrets box. The typewriter and box, cracking the Morris-Fagan's kitchen (the heart of every house; hence, their world) in half. The supernatural (or not) force behind it all. The girl no one can seem to remember. The secret everyone wants to forget.

** warning: spoilers ahead! **

The witchy Bea is awesome, and her unexpected romance with Alice lends an extra layer of diversity to the story. I also love how Fowley-Doyle just lets the relationship unfold, organically, without a whole lot of fanfare or soul-searching. They're allowed to just be, like any other (read: heterosexual) couple. Not that it's wrong for a coming-out story to be filled with angst; it's just refreshing to find one that isn't.

As much as incest stories make me cringe (Wincest, I'm looking at you!), the relationship between Cara and her not-quite-a-brother Sam was actually kind of sweet. They met when they were nine or ten, and have been best friends ever since; they're not even legally related since Sam's dad left, let alone biologically related, so...yeah. In Alice's words, it's a little weird, but wrong? Not necessarily.

Relationships are a big part of The Accident Season: taboo relationships, unhealthy relationships, criminal relationships. It seems like Fowley-Doyle juxtaposes nontraditional but otherwise healthy relationships with more traditional but abusive/nonconsensual ones in order to underscore just how messed up societal conventions can be. Alice and Bea go together much better than Alice and Nick, and yet which pairing is likely to be met with condemnation and discrimination?

** end: spoiler alert **

My expectations were really high with this one, and I'm a little bummed that they didn't pan out. Still, the ending is almost worth it: trenchant and real and a sure-fire conversation starter, for parents and teachers and other adults who work with kids and teens.

(On that note, what's with all the teenage smoking? I thought we as a society had agreed that Smoking Was Bad, and Making Smoking Look Cool Was Downright Evil? Or maybe things are different in Ireland? idk, but the nonchalance certainly took me aback.)

http://www.easyvegan.info/2016/04/29/the-accident-season-by-moira-fowley-doyle/ show less

Sometimes, it’s better to believe in an insane notion than facing the horrible truth. It’s a coping mechanism many people employ to help them navigate through life. Other times, though, those beliefs can be more harmful than one might expect. Because physical scars may fade, but you can’t run away from the secrets you’ve kept – even from yourself – since childhood. This is the message I ultimately received from reading The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle, and I think it’s an incredibly important message.

The Accident Season begins with a conspiratorial feel, lathered with mystery and the paranormal, which kept me turning the pages. The story builds up for the first 80% of the book, showing how unlucky these show more characters are. I mean, you have to have been either cursed by a gypsy or be the world’s unluckiest family to have a whole month dedicated to accidents. However, the truth for the existence of this so-called “season” is soon revealed with the assistance of an unlikely – and forgotten – member of the family. Intense moments, powerful revelations, and tricky relationships combine to make an addictive read with an incredible balance between truth and fantasy.

Honestly, I loved this book. I loved the way the characters were crafted, the way the story ended, as well as the message the author wanted to send. Bad things do happen, adults do lie to their children, families aren’t always wonderful, but it’s never too late to set things right.

Young adult readers will enjoy this book, especially those who love their contemporary novels with a bit of a twist. Readers who enjoyed Lies Like Love by Louisa Reid or All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven will also find pleasure in reading The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle.

Review originally posted on:
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In some ways, a book about the lies that we tell in order to cope with our realities, in others, a book of secrets. Pleasingly mysterious and dances beautifully in the liminal space, where reality may or may not be hanging out. Good suspense, and a well told tale.

"So let's raise our glasses to the accident season
To the river beneath us where we sink our souls
To the bruises and secrets
To the ghosts in the ceiling
One more drink for the watery road."

This was an odd one. So, I don't typically like Magic Realism. It's probably one of my least favorite types of books to read. But the premise of this story - the synopsis and that odd cover just made it so I couldn't skip this one.

I'm really glad I didn't miss it. The story is a good one, so many secrets surround this family. It's hard not to get wrapped up in their accidents and their hunt for Elsie, their secrets loves and their word towards the party. It's all so haunting and mysterious. The characters were easy and fascinating. I can definitely show more see myself re-reading this one just to experience it again. show less

This was a strange, but intriguing book. There were moments when it was like reading through an altered state, as if Cara isn't always 100% in the present. In places, there was prose that reminded me a bit of Sarah McCarry's All Our Pretty Songs. The lines of between reality and that which is imagined or dreamed are blurred.

The characters were fascinating, full of the flaws and contradictions that are a part of humanity. Cara is the narrator of the story that focuses around herself, her sister Alice, their stepbrother Sam, as well as their mutual best friend Bea. They are all such different people but they love each other unconditionally. Each of them is flawed in their own way and they have almost a bit of a feral quality to them. show more Except for this one month, they run a bit wild. But when the month begins, their mother covers everything in padding and watches them all like a hawk.

And that is the center of the mystery... the month in which they all are suddenly accident-prone. Bad things happen that month and no one really knows why. And this year, there is an added bit of mystery in the form of Elsie, a mysterious girl that appears in all of Cara's photos. Yet somehow, no one seems to know much about her, or even who she is,

And yes, there is romance. Romance that is found in unexpected places, but romance that is real and founded in love.

The twists are incredible, the revelations emotionally intense, and the story is caprivatingly mind-boggling. The lyrical, magical quality to the prose keeps you guessing, wondering what is real and what isn't. And when those revelations come... MIND BLOWN.

My Recommendation: Love, love, LOVE this novel! I loved the unusual quality to the story, the twists, the turns. Such a great read! show less