Eliza's Review

Snagging 2019’s Booker Prize, the leading literary award in the English speaking world also makes this a hot book right now – the top of every book club list and for good reason. It touches on new ways of living in a modern way. It’s really kind of amazing how the author manages to intertwine her themes; the lbgtqi community, subversion, influence, immigration and identity all feature strongly through the stories. Bad things happen but hope prevails, as we discover a suite of characters in flux; a playwright who may be selling out, a jaded teacher, a banker, a cleaner, student. It’s a cross section of womanhood.

The language is inventive, snappy and clever which makes the fast paced storytelling fun, with little regard for the constricting rules of punctuation. There are laugh-out-loud moments before these characters finally succumb to a little self-awareness, and then when painful events shadow the characters’ lives, there’s an energy shift to an abrupt, spare tone that reflects the way in which these women would have had to deal with the difficult, sometimes harrowing situations they find themselves in. You can’t make too much fuss if you have no power.

You'll Love It If

You’re a deeply curious people-watcher who delights in diving into the lives of people you haven’t met yet but feel like you have after reading these pages.