whispers through a megaphone by rachel elliott

In Miriam, Elliott has created a very original and singular character.

Living in a shack in the nearby woods he later meets Miriam who has decided the time has come to leave the house. One day, at his own birthday party Ralph opens a cupboard door to discover something that opens his eyes for the first time and he reacts by running away from home. Sadie is too busy tweeting and blogging about her life to live it and realise that she and her husband really don't have much in common apart from their sons. This intriguing story centres on two dysfunctional families, Miriam who has had a difficult childhood with her mentally ill single mother and hasn't left the house in the three years since she died and Ralph, father of 16 year old twin boys and husband of Sadie, a woman he doesn't really know. I would advise giving this a chance, it may surprise you :) The POV changes were a bit abrupt, but sometimes it felt like she did that on purpose. Only nitpick I have is that it was sometimes hard to see who was narrating, had to go back a couple times to make sure who was who. his patients following his wife, haha oh boy but still amusing in a weird way. It's a bit of bizarre novel at times and a couple thing had me raising my eyebrows Sadie tweeting about their marriage and secret blogging. Ralph was a sweet but sometimes naive guy, took me a bit to warm up to him.Ī mini subplot with one of their sons I would have loved to see more about, kind of sweet in its own way. Sadie I wanted to shake many times and had no sympathy for her. I wanted to give Miriam a hug many times and give her mother a nice verbal tirade. Sometimes not all-together likeable but I grew to care about them and hoping things would work out for them somehow (though it isn't easy to see how anything could).

It's not one of those 'Oh my god, I have to know what happens next' but it's compelling in its own way. there's not a whole lot of plot/story but it draws you into the lives of these dysfunctional, ordinary people.

One of those quiet, slowly unravelling novels that is more of a character study of sorts. And being with another person is so complicated and difficult and maybe it's not worth the effort. We're all something in particular, but how is it possible to know what that something is? That's the question.' Please reply with a comment, whoever you are. 'You have to be bionic, supersonic, virtually histrionic, in ten places at once and forever full of comment: I am here, are you listening? I am sharing the minutia of my everyday life. They know the rules, the way it's supposed to go. They know what a life should contain, all the simple and complicated things like shopping and Zumba and being physically intimate with another body.

Whispers through a megaphone by rachel elliott