ASK Musings

Rating:
4 Stars

In a nutshell:
Sophie and Alex are sent to Edinburgh Fringe for a month to write reviews of shows and exhibitions. After Alex writes a scathing review on night one, then sleeps with the star without telling her, things transpire.

Best for:
I think this is meant to be a sort of quick read (and it was) but it also deals with some pretty serious issues. And I’m not sure the blurb on the back is as accurate as it could be… so I guess it is best for those willing to spend some time sitting with a few different ethical questions.

Quote that made me think:
“How enormous a thing it must be to face the sum total of your flaws, and find that they are worse than you imagined, and obvious to everyone in the world except you.”

Why I chose it:
Book club. (This is a by mail book club, and for many months I’ve not been reading the options sent to me, but this past week I’ve torn through a couple of them).

Review:
This book is told from the first person perspective of someone who isn’t even mentioned on the description of the book. Sophie is a critic, just a couple of months back from maternity leave after the birth of her son Arlo, with her partner Josh. Sophie and Alex share a rental in Edinburgh for the month of August, with Alex set to review theatre and Sophie reviewing exhibitions and art. Alex is the son of a famous actress, and is known for writing scathing reviews. Basically, he doesn’t believe in giving anything between one or five stars – it’s all or nothing.

The premise of the book is that Alex writes a brutal — and likely overly unkind – review of a one-woman show. After sending it to his editor to print, he meets the woman Hayley in a bar. He doesn’t tell her who he is, or that he just slammed her show, and they end up sleeping together. Hayley is pissed when she finds out, and decides to completely re-work the show into a take-down of Alex, including inviting people who have been wronged by him to share their stories on stage or via email each night.

Sophie herself becomes Alex’s sole confidant, and by association people are assuming she has ‘chosen his side.’ And it turns out Alex has done some shitty things to loads of women. Nothing criminal, but the kind of stuff that so many men do and get away with. The show becomes nationally and internationally popular, and Alex is forced to figure out if he’s the person Hayley and all these others say he is, or if he’s worse? Or better?

The book deals with loads of different issues. First off – does the punishment fit the crime? Does a guy hurting a woman emotionally mean he should have his career ended? Should we care about the feelings of a poor little rich kid who hasn’t had to work much in his life anyway? Even if we understand why Alex is the way he is, what should we do with that information? Does it matter if he tries to change?

Throughout all of this, Sophie is struggling with her feelings for her partner, and for her job. She even starts to struggle with the idea of being a critic. What is the point of reviews? And are they worse now that everyone collectively shares their opinions, as opposed to us relying on trusted individuals whose opinions we value?

(It’s not lost on me that I’m contemplating this while writing my own review of an art form.)

Overall this is a clever idea for a book, and I’d argue it’s mostly well executed. Though the one thing that does sort of linger in the background is that the women in the book are all discussed in relation to this one man, and that’s … kinda icky. I get it, its for the plot, and the issues raised are worth exploring for sure. But its wild how much men feature even when it’s a story about a women, written by a woman.

Would I recommend it to its target audience:
Yes

Books CBR18