There’s famous talk by Kurt Vonnegut where he details the shapes of stories. Most ‘boy meets girl’ tales have a predictable shape - there’s a high in the beginning, when the titular characters meet; a brief period of joy. It is followed by a dip, a change in the story arc where there are bad / unfavourable events. The characters are put into adverse conditions and they are moulded by it. In the final leg, they come out better on the other side, their relationship stronger than before, revitalised even, with a couple of steamy scenes thrown in for good measure. We, as readers, are aware of the story arc and we almost expect it. We choose these books for the familiar comfort that it provides through its crests and troughs. It’s a story arc that’s close to our heart.
While the shape is familiar, what makes a story stick and stand out are the conditions that face the protagonists, the tension, the conflict. A great many writers have used this to examine human relationships, and how they change in the face of adversity. The effectiveness of the final climb depends on how relatable the trials were and how different the characters were because of it.
Sadly for me, this author has completely bombed on all fronts.
This book should be titled “The Ramblings Of A Delusional Maniac,” because that’s what it is. While the “unreliable narrator” trope is effective in depicting the inherent flaws in human memory and perception (like with Nick in The Great Gatsby), it’s completely useless and altogether a tools for utter and complete nonsense when used improperly. The protagonist, Naomi, is the epitome of unreliability when it comes to narration. From the very first page we’re treated with an emotionally charged and biased view of her fiancé, Nicholas. While it is novel and funny for a brief while, it gets boring and utterly infuriating when stretched over the ENTIRE book!
It got so bad that I had to stop and calm down to keep myself from throwing my Kindle against the wall. Naomi gets upset over the completely nonsensical and utterly NON-EXISTENT things. Nonexistent. That’s right.
Real Nicholas hasn’t said any of this. But Imaginary Nicholas is an amalgamation of realistic predictions based on callous things he’s said to me in the past, so I easily hear his voice shape those words. It’s not fair to be hurt or angry over something he didn’t even say, especially since the words I put into my own head are all true, but knowing he potentially could say it—and probably will—is enough to make me sink into a dark silence that I don’t rise from for the rest of the ride home.
The quote highlights why I utterly detest the plot. I can understand the popular trope where misunderstood words lead to very real conflict and tension. But the plot amplifies the effects of misunderstanding to such a preposterous degree that the illusion of tension is lost, and the whole enterprise feels artificially inflated just to get the juicy resolution. Is it so hard to just TALK about stuff once in a while? The book would be a whole lot shorter if Naomi actually talked about the stuff she had going on in her head.
The Juicy Resolution. Even though I absolutely hated the plot and the characters with every fibre of my being, I’m still amazed by how the author has tied the threads together to reach a satisfying ending that salvages the story to some small degree. Hence, the two stars.
Few books have elicited an emotional response from me. The ones that did hold a special place in my heart, because of the change it brought in me. But this is a book which brought about an emotional response for all the wrong reasons. A book that will fill me with spite each time I’m reminded of its psychotic narrator.
If you happen to find this book in your hands, don’t hesitate to burn it.