The People Next Door by Roisin Meaney

Roisin Meaney has done it again, taken the trivialities and mundanity of life and made them in to an interesting read.  Miller's Avenue may only have 3 houses on it now but there is a rich seam to be mined in these resident's lives.  It did feel almost voyeuristic at times as we pop in to Numbers 7, 8 and 9 to see just what they are up to.  Really, nothing out of the ordinary happens to any of the protagonists in the book.  When you stop and think about it these are kitchen sink dramas that are likely happening just next door to us every day without us realising.  What makes this so enticing to read I don't know.

As I have come to expect from Ms Meaney's books there is no overt characterisation of anyone in the book and we are left to make up our own minds about who these people are.  We learn about them from their conversations with friends, colleagues and neighbours; from their internal dialogues and from their little snippets of backstory that are eked on to the page rather frugally.  This means that it is like getting to know someone at work or the new neighbour that has just moved in.

The plot is very gentle and really meanders on to the page rather than being overt.  There is a very definite story arc about reaching for your happiness and overcoming the obstacles that life thrusts in to your path but it is a slow build and doesn't slap you around the face.  In some ways it was like reading a diary written by each of the characters but one which draws you in and makes you eager to find out what happens in 3 weeks time and if what they did 2 days ago will affect them now.

This book is a celebration of everyday life and shows how no matter how work-a-day and pedestrian life feels it is full of drama if only we know how to acknowledge the small events that really mean so much.