Starter
Picture Perfect - Jodi Picoult
Serving Suggestion: A steady stream of snacks and catchy background music, as you will probably want occasional distactions from a less than captivating novel.
Picture Perfect is not one of Jodie Picoult’s
strongest novels, lacking the emotional intensity of The Pact and the strength
of plot of My Sister’s Keeper (no, this praise doesn’t extend to the film
version!). Picture Perfect strays dangerously towards being a trashy chic-lit
read; the protagonist has a film-star husband, innumerable assets and has had a
classic rags-to-riches life. However, true to Picoult’s novels, all is not
quite so straightforward and the novel retains much of her signature
soul-searching plot lines that shake up the potentially vacuous narrative.
The novel delves interestingly and effectively into
the often-overlooked scenario of domestic abuse and its causes and
ramifications. The writing allows a fairly open, unbiased account which
challenges the reader to contemplate the matter and draw one’s own conclusion.
However, none of the characters are developed enough to ensure that the reader
fully understands their motivations and identifies with them, which leaves
purportedly tense and emotional scenes rather flat.
Furthermore, the Native American aspect is incredibly
token and comes across as a convenient supplement, included only to serve one
small aspect of the plot, and otherwise irrelevant, a great shame as literature
concerning Native Americans is already rather limited. All in all, an
interesting, easy-to-read novel but not one that will stay with you for any
longer than it takes to donate it to a charity bookshop.
2/5
Main Course
Still Alice - Lisa Genova
Serving Suggestion: Everything you love. Indulge and appreciate.
Still Alice by Lisa Genova is an incredibly
emotive novel about a fifty year old woman who has to cope with the fact that
she has developed early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. It is simply and beautifully
written: Genova writes saliently and without pity or flamboyance from the mind
of her protagonist. The narrative voice ties in relatable everyday occurrences
that ground the novel in reality and therefore allow the emotional impact of
Alzheimer's kicking in to be fully felt. Implanting a well-known but infrequently
discussed disease in the mind of the reader allows real empathy for sufferers
and concerns that they may have, such as the fear of passing the disease on to
their children, the terror of becoming a burden to the family they love and
losing the simple functions, akin to basic human rights that we continually
take for granted.
I read this novel whilst waiting to hear my
degree result and it was a harrowing and humbling reminder that no matter how
much seemingly monumental events may concern or distress us, we are incomprehensibly
fortunate because we are in control of our own bodies and in possession of our
own minds.
5/5
Dessert
Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quick
Serving Suggestion: Something sweet to soothe the occasional sniffle brought on by this deep yet easy read.
Silver Linings Playbook is a beautiful little
book that’s a quick read yet deceptively deep. Following the life and thoughts of
Pat, the reader soon realises that he has some sort of disorder that manifests
itself in his obsession with exercise, an even deeper obsession with his estranged
wife Nicki and endearing belief that every story, including his own, must have
a happy ending. Pat’s tale unobtrusively demonstrates the emotional impact a
trauma can impart on the life of not just the immediate sufferer, but on their
entire family. His integration back into normal life, having left a psychiatric
unit, involves a difficult, slow bonding with his father, an emotional
development with regards to his mother, whom he begins to appreciate, and a
surprising and touching friendship with Tiffany, a similarly distressed soul.
Most beguiling though is his childlike,
insightful view on life. There is a lesson to be learnt from Pat who is
practising ‘being kind, instead of right’. Although idealised, his innocence
draws attention to the slightly darker aspects of mass culture, such as his
horror and anguish at losing control and punching an opposing football team’s
supporter in front of the man’s son, only to be congratulated by his brother
and friends.
Similarly, the sadness and confusion he feels
at the insensitivity shown to a celebrity who had been so unhappy as to attempt
to commit suicide is a subtle reminder at the often cold manner with which
humans can treat each other for insignificant reasons. As well as a sweet and
emotional story, this novel pulls slightly deeper to consider relationships
between many people and aspects of society as a whole, in a tale that warms the
heart and wets the eye.
4/5
-Christy
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