This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Kate Appleton
Jesse is a single, financially struggling mum of two children who is holding down two jobs. Each day is a constant juggling act between fending off final payment demands and keeping the peace in an increasingly chaotic family – all with a smile plastered on her face. Jesse's maths whizz of daughter, Tanzie, has been invited to attend a private school on a semi-scholarship and her outsider stepson, Nicky, is trying to find his place in high school away from the bullies. Sinking steadily into hysteria, encouraged by the ineptness of her ex, Marty, Jess meets Ed Nicholls, an eccentric and technologically brilliant man in his own right, but whose life has descended into chaos. He has time on his hands and wants a distraction. These unlikely circumstances lead to one life-changing road trip and an unconventional romance.
This story is written in a multi-narrative, which suits the chaos of the road trip beautifully and each character gets to stick their ore in and share their point of view with the reader. The dominant voice is Jesse, our resident heroine and single mother. I really warmed to her, especially in an early scene concerning a limousine and the police. She has a breaking point bringing to light poignant observations on how ‘richness’ is defined. Her humanity is wonderfully reflected in hysterical outbursts and a penchant for a (cheap) bottle of wine – a woman after my own heart. Ed is an interesting one. I liked him, but the reason for the professional situation he finds himself in is slightly outlandish. He isn’t portrayed as a stupid man, naive perhaps, but not to such an extreme, so the background to his meeting Jess is a slight plot flaw in my opinion. However, once you hurdle over this minor blot he becomes a likeable fellow, especially in comparison to Jesse’s ex, Marty, who deserves a lot more than his car to be kicked.
Our supporting characters come in the guise of the two children, Tanzie and Nicky. Tanzie is the offspring of Jesse and Marty and is a maths genius and the wonder kid responsible for the road trip. She needs to compete in a math Olympiad to win £5,000 to afford the last 10% of her scholarship to a fancy school – no pressure. Then we have Nick, who is Marty’s son with a previous fling, who has been abandoned by his dad to live with Jesse. Both children reflect an interesting and very much prevalent idea of growing up different in a society that demands social normalcy, especially during the growing pains of high school. Most readers will have been through it and recognise aspects of their stories forcing to the surface that bullying is still a depressingly widespread feature of adolescence. Finally, to raise the spirits and end on a humorous note, the dysfunctional group is completed by the oversized and flatulent pet dog Norman, I think that’s enough said on him.
I really enjoyed this latest outing by Jojo Moyes. The story is written with both emotion and humour with our chick lit heroine having hidden depths and poignant lessons to be told and a part of me wished I was a fellow passenger on their dysfunctional yet humorous journey.
8/10