Meredith Alone by Claire Alexander

Meredith, Alone by Claire Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 368

Publisher - Michael Joseph

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

She has a full-time remote job and her rescue cat Fred. Her best friend Sadie visits with her two children. There's her online support group, her jigsaw puzzles and favorite recipes, her beloved Emily Dickinson, the internet, the grocery delivery man. Also keeping her company are treacherous memories of an unstable childhood, the estrangement from her sister, and a traumatic event that had sent her reeling.

But something's about to change. Whether Meredith likes it or not, the world is coming to her door. Does she have the courage to overcome what's been keeping her inside all this time?



My Review

Meet Meredith, she has been a prisoner in her own home for over 1214 days, she has a phobia of going outside but it hasn't always been this way. We meet Meredith on the morning it kicks off, ready to leave for work before being overcome and thereon in, effectively a prisoner of her home. However she has a full life, she has her wee companion Fred the cat, she is a dab hand at jigsaws, has online friends and support, her bestie comes round with the kids and she can make beautiful cakes. She has routine, her house is sparkling clean and now she has a "companion" coming, Tom, she doesn't expect much, he is paid to be there. However she finds herself opening up a little between Tom, her new online friend Celeste and one of the local kids who is cheekily charming. Meredith isn't speaking to her family and as the story unfolds we start to learn all about Meredith, her family and her condition and what brought her to how her life is now.

I really like this book, it brought me out of my reading slump and in some ways found myself relating to Meredith. I have withdrawn a bit from everything I love/do normally whilst trying to deal with grief/loss so finding some of Meredith's routines brought a bit of comfort. Set in Glasgow, who doesn't love a book with a location you know and or can relate to and whilst we predominantly are in Merediths life and house it is still nice.

The book has humour, hard themes, loss/grief (also of self), friendship, recovery, mental health, abuse, secrets, family, coping mechanisms as we go through life with Meredith not as a self help type. The book packs a lot in and whilst some scenes gave you a chuckle some made you just want to hug her. I think depending on your own experiences will depend on how much impact the book has on you but regardless of that I think just about everyone would enjoy it. It covers a wide range of issues through Meredith's personal accounts/experiences and gives the reader a chance for empathy rather than preaching or teaching but I think it carries an important message within. This is a great debut, 4.5/5 for me.

View all my reviews

True Story by Katie Reed Petty

True Story by Kate Reed Petty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 386

Publisher - Riverrun

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Tracing the fifteen-year fallout of a toxic high school rumor, a riveting, astonishingly original debut novel about the power of stories—and who gets to tell them

2015. A gifted and reclusive ghostwriter, Alice Lovett makes a living helping other people tell their stories. But she is haunted by the one story she can't tell: the story of, as she puts it, "the things that happened while I was asleep."

1999. Nick Brothers and his lacrosse teammates return for their senior year at their wealthy Maryland high school as the reigning state champions. They're on top of the world—until two of his friends drive a passed-out girl home from of the team's "legendary" parties, and a rumor about what happened in the backseat spreads through the town like wildfire.

The boys deny the allegations, and, eventually, the town moves on. But not everyone can. Nick descends into alcoholism, and Alice builds a life in fits and starts, underestimating herself and placing her trust in the wrong people. When she finally gets the opportunity to confront the past she can't remember—but which has nevertheless shaped her life—will she take it?

An inventive and breathtaking exploration of a woman finding her voice in the wake of trauma, True Story is part psychological thriller, part fever dream, and part timely comment on sexual assault, power, and the very nature of truth. Ingeniously constructed and full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the final pages, it marks the debut of a singular and daring new voice in fiction.




My Review

Is I had to describe this book in one word I would say trippy. The book goes over multiple timelines, character narratives - first person narration, movie scripts, essays in different drafts, emails so it is quite a mixed bag. Prologue is present day (ish) then a movie (script) then 1999 when the event happened that plays such a huge part in so many lives. A young girl passed out drunk, two young guys alone with her in a car and lots of rumours of a sexual assualt, bragging and pack/popularity mentality. We then flip forward again and follow one of the friends of the boys as an adult and how his life is going.

The book touches on a lot of triggering issues, sexual abuse and the popular kicks attitudes to it, alcoholism, animlal abuse/death, self harm, control, coercion, manipulation and the long reaches that one night, one incident can have on more than one person.

It took me ages to settle into it, the changes in time, in layout, in characters however once I could work out who was who and what was going on it made more sense. Certainly a different read and it crosses genres as some passages, the movie scripts are spooky, haunting, horror but then the story itself is an abusive event and how it affected those involved. You really need to concentrate, well I did, to keep up with it. It isn't a book you can dip in and out of as so much happens in so many directions. Different, weird, tripping, thought provoking, I think it would be a very good choice for a reading/discussion group, 3.5/5 for me this time.

View all my reviews