It must be good then...
There are some spoilers contained in this review.
It is very well written. There isn't really much of a story, but it more than holds the interest regardless. If you're writing a story with very little of note happening, you'd better make sure your prose sings off the page. And it does. The prose is easy to read, never boring and frequently funny. But... There are a few bum notes happening.
The story follows our first person narrator, Martha Friel as she tells us her life story from age 17ish to her breakup with her current husband Patrick, who's been in love with her since they were both teenagers.
Martha has been struggling since her late teens with mental illness and the book documents her experiences with this.
The reviews make it sound like this is a great exploration of life with mental health issues, but in my humble opinion (and most of my book group as it surprisingly transpired) on that level, this book is a big cop out.
The specific mental illness she suffers from is never named. When it's mentioned in the text it's referred to as ---- ----.
I thought I was being cynical when I suggested that the reason it's never named is because her symptoms don't actually match the patterns of any particular mental health issue. But during the meeting, it was brought to my attention that, at the back of the book, sandwiched between the list of quotes from other writers used in the text and the acknowledgements, there's a "Note on the Text" that states "The medical symptoms described in the novel are not consistent with a genuine mental illness. The portrayal of treatment, medication and doctors' advice is wholly fictional". In other words I was right.
As one of the book group said, that should be in big bold letters at the front of the book. That should be stated from the beginning. If you're going to pretend that suddenly being prescribed a pink pill when you're 40 is going to cure you of all the problems you've had for the last twenty years, let the reader know up front that this is fiction and that ain't gonna happen if you're experiencing any of the same sorts of symptoms as she is. It's possibly dangerous and the medical fraternity do not come out of this book very well in the slightest.
Then there's the alcoholic mother, who is immediately cured by being asked to stop drinking by her daughter. Is it realistic or responsible to suggest that a 30plus year drinking habit can end overnight in a book that purports to be a grand statement on the trials and tribulations of living with decreased mental health?
Some more general complaints about the book... She's described as being the life and soul of every party, the person people want to be around in a crowded room. However, we see little to no evidence of this in the book, and indeed, her behaviour in public is more than likely to chase everyone away.
More importantly, we're supposed to feel sorry for her. The way she treats people, in particular her husband Patrick, is supposed to be beyond her control. She is constantly horrible to Patrick. She's violent towards him, frequently throwing heavy objects at him. She emotionally abuses him. She gaslights him. She lies to him and manipulates him. However, it's not her fault and we should feel sorry for her because she's mentally unwell.
The biggest BUT of the book comes in at this point.
Firstly, imagine a book where the sexes are reversed. Would we be expected to feel sorry for the husband who attacks his wife, gaslights her, emotionally abuses her, manipulates her and lies continuously towards her? No. it would be a case of feel sorry for her, the victim, and the successful outcome to the book would be that she leaves him. He can't control himself, she's not safe with him.
Secondly, her behaviour towards him continues for several months after she's found her miracle cure and is apparently in control of herself. This suggests that she's actually just a horrible and shitty person. I so wanted the last meeting they had after the break up to go in completely the opposite direction to the one it took.
My sympathies were entirely with Patrick and not with her.
There's also the conceit that the book is the memoir she starts writing late on in the story. When a character read a line from the memoir and it was the opening line of the book, I'm surprised my groan wasn't heard in Antarctica. Such a trite and cliched cliché.
So, despite being a page-turner in the absence of a real plot, with some great use of humour and well portrayed minor characters, this isn't a book I would recommend. The cons are significant enough that I found myself annoyed when it all finished. I don't want to finish a book feeling pissed off at most of the characters in it. It's supposed to be moving, not irritating.
That'll teach me for reading a book whose title is just two emotions.
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