Hey lovely people,
Well, this week I’ve been thinking about my favourite books from 2015 & I made a short video about it that I’ll link at the bottom of this review. One of the books that was really up there for me was You, Me & Other People by Fionnuala Kearney.
Synopsis
From the very first page, we are launched into the midst of a very messy situation! Beth is attending a counselling session as her marriage to husband Adam has been thrown into turmoil. The reason? His infidelity.
However, as Beth begins to face the future as a single woman, she has no idea how many other secrets lie just below the surface…
Review
I can’t even begin to tell you how much this book moved me. From the very beginning, each page is packed with so much emotion!
Of course, a broken marriage brings a lot of sorrow with it but Fionnuala Kearney does not write a tragedy, instead injecting comedy & humour into the story, allowing the characters to be extremely real. We feel both characters’ pain & the nostalgia of what used to be tugs on the heartstrings.
We see the story from both Beth’s & Adam’s perspectives which, in my opinion, is a brilliant idea! The reader not only sympathises with the victim but ends up feeling some degree of affection towards the guilty party too. To be able to see Adam’s motivations turns this book into something more than the story of a wronged woman. Much more.
As the book progresses, we work our way through the many levels of the plot. There are so many more secrets that are uncovered throughout & some of them have been hidden since the beginning of Adam & Beth’s relationship. It’s extremely interesting to see how the people around them – friends & family alike – are in on so many of these secrets. Believe me – there’s a lot of :O moments!
Their daughter is so vividly portrayed too & I feel that she is such an accurate representation of a young woman in her university years. It’s so great to see her character develop & her reaction to some of the situations within the book are both brave & moving.
I was worried that the ending of this book would be extremely cheesy or heartbreaking but Kearney managed it very well. I put the book down feeling content although I was a little sad to be leaving behind some wonderful characters who I had grown to love!
Final Word
A wonderful debut novel that intricately weaves tragedy & comedy exceptionally well! 4/5 stars 🙂
Love,
Allie x
Allie Morgan - Writer & Cancer Survivor 