Very Nearly Normal by Hannah Sunderland

          3.5 Stars

I could go in to great details about the plot of this book but, in an effort to keep it spoiler free I am just going to try and paint with broad brushstrokes.  Not an easy task as, despite the rather mediocre rating, I did find a lot of note in the book and did enjoy the story overall.  There were just little things that grated and made me put it down for 3 or 4 days to read something else before returning to it and that's never a good sign.

First off, we need to talk about Matilda Effie Heaton.  Our main narrator and the heroine, if she can be called such, of the novel.  Her initials may be "MEH" and she definitely thinks they describe her accurately but she is far from "MEH".  From the get go the reader understands that all is nowhere near rose tinted in her world, in fact she is perhaps the ultimate pessimist and I loved her nihilistic take on the world.  Nothing is ever right, except for that bottle of wine at night and even that regularly disappoints.  From the resentful keeping up with her former friend, her disastrous Tinder date and her glorious job (who doesn't want to work in a book store?) I was with her all the way.

Yes, she is unable to see anybodies else point of view.  Yes, she blames everyone around her for her loneliness and general dissatisfaction with her life.  No, she isn't unlikeable.  Even her alcoholism is kind of touching as her narration makes it clear how she slid slowly in to it and now doesn't know how to get back out from under the bottles toppling over her in a relentless waterfall.  Watching her grow throughout the book is enjoyable, if a little voyeuristic.

My real problems started with the introduction of Theo.  Whilst he is undoubtedly good for her in the short term you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and when it does it is in so dramatic a fashion that I genuinely lost all respect for the book.  There is enough drama in Effie's life without having to really pile the misery on and I just couldn't get behind it once Theo's secret is revealed.  The major 180 that Effie does with her life also felt overdone, nobody changes that much no matter how hard they try.

As an aside the background love story with Arthur and Toby was warm and touching.  At first I wondered why all these little references kept creeping in but they turn out to be intrinsic to the plot.  Nicely woven in against the disaster zone that is Effie in the early portion of the book and give a nice bit of light relief when it all gets dark, gloomy and tearstained.

On the whole a solid enough book but one that took a great starting point and turned it needlessly melodramatic.

THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED FROM READERS FIRST.