“From the author of The Curious Incident.”

 

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

You know how when you’re a child and you find your family incredibly embarrassing because everyone else’s family seems so normal and perfect from the outside looking in?

It’s only when you get to adolescence and you and your friends start to talk about it, that you realise your family’s dysfunctionality is the norm because every family is the same but different? This novel illustrates that concept par excellence.

I wasn’t sure what to expect after reading “Curious Incident” but this did not disappoint.

It starts off sedate enough but gradually you’re sucked into a world of slightly genteel nuttiness and problems that will have you thinking your own potty relatives are not that weird after all.

Put another way, if some aspect of this book *doesn’t* resonate with your family in some way or another, you probably do have an abnormal family!

I won’t describe the plot but suffice to say the topics covered include infidelity, hypochondria, change and, above all, relationships. The writer clearly has a great deal of affection for his characters and we end up feeling the same for them as they illustrate just how insecure and flawed they are.

A great, easy read that will have you laughing out loud.

 

Reviewed by:

Debbie McCarthy

Added 16th April 2015

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Debbie McCarthy