katiewilkins186

When Lucy receives the following letter “Dear Lucy Silchester, You have an appointment for Monday 27th July 2011. Yours sincerely Life.” it is neither a metaphor nor a joke. In this wonderful alternate reality, every person has another person who is their life. Their life reflects how things are going for their paired person in their health, appearance, and happiness levels. Needless to say, Lucy’s life is not happy. Having let her relationships and herself go while focusing on a dead-end job she doesn’t like, it’s time for Lucy to make time for her life.

First of all, the premise of this book is one of the best I’ve ever read. It was fun and interesting to learn how things work in this world when you meet your life. My favorite thing about it was the way the author used the idea to describe a young woman experiencing the same difficulties real young women experience – and then overcoming them. Although I didn’t always agree with Lucy’s decisions, I could always empathize with the emotions leading up to them. At the beginning I don’t know that I’d have wanted to be friends with her, but she was relatable through out and watching her grow was inspiring.

The author’s writing was as spectacular as the plot. I recognized a lot of the things I liked from The Book of Tomorrow including the author’s ability to write real (ie flawed but likable) protagonists and to convey human emotion through moving or hilarious metaphors. I also appreciated the differences between the books. Some authors write different stories and the main characters, although different, all sound the same. Ahern doesn’t have that problem. Lucy is just as real as Tamara, but the tone of voice in which she tells her story is unique. I don’t feel this review adequately describes how much I loved this book, so let me close by saying that it’s put Ahern on my must-read list and I’m highly recommending that this book go on yours.

This review first published on Doing Dewey.