Preloved by Lauren Bravo
Gwen is pressing her middle-aged bosom on a big number that starts with a four and ends with an oh-my-God-I'm-nearly-forty. Having been made unexpectedly redundant - any HR officer worth their salt would argue the toss - Gwen finds herself having a bit of a mid-life crisis.
| Preloved by Lauren Bravo | |
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| Category: Women's Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Kerry King
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| Summary: A fun and friendly debut from Lauren Bravo... the tale of a woman pressing up against the big Four Oh and finding the last two decades to be lacking. | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 448 | Date: April 2023 |
| Publisher: Simon and Schuster | |
| ISBN: {{{isbn}}} | |
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Catharsis is key and Gwen has decided now is the time to take back her life; or rather the life she might wish she had plumped for - because the last ten years in an okay-ish job somehow suddenly seems like a giant waste of time. Realising she has gifted far too many years to a job that she barely cared for, Gwen is struck by the realisation that life is actually too short to muck about. This idea is crystalised when Gwen spends her 38th birthday alone, in an albeit very nice restaurant, realising that she has no one to share her birthday or her epiphany with. Deciding that it would be preferable to Carpe Diem than to Carpe Noctem and find the Noctem has Carpe-d you, Gwen begins the task of clearing out her closet - metaphorically and actually and she removes all the items in her life that have essentially been holding her back. It's time, she thinks, to move on. Gone will be the bin liner of things belonging to her ex-boyfriend Ryan, of so long ago that Gwen can barely stand to flick through her mental filing system that far back and which have haunted her ever since. Gone will be the ties and shackles that have bound her.
In depositing her black plastic-clad bag of memories at the local charity shop Gwen spies a Help Wanted sign in the window and, on a total whim, decides to apply to volunteer. No one is more surprised than Gwen when she gets the 'job'.
Bravo takes us on a wonderful voyage of Gwen's discovery from beginning to end which is both satisfying and slightly frustrating at the same time. If you are one of those people who shout at the TV when characters are doing the very thing they shouldn't, then you will find this book delightful in its ability to draw you in and 'involve' you. Gwen is sweet and kind and so much like that neighbour you ask, for years on end at every opportunity, to feed your cat because you know they aren't going anywhere on holiday any time soon; you cannot fail to like her or find her endearing. She is so lovely that you spend the entirety of the book egging her on to discover who she is and what she is going to do with that information.
In terms of being stylistically interesting I enjoyed the alternating storylines with the abandoned items which have been loved by someone at some point as these items cross paths with Gwen's chaotic existence and life unfulfilled. Gwen is indeed a self-deprecating kind of gal, but one does find her a little too hard on herself which in turn places you pretty squarely in the For God's Sake Stop and Have Some Dignity camp... there's quirky and then there is annoying.
I wanted the promise of the start of this book to be carried throughout. That is not to say this book did not deliver; it did. It just did not deliver as satisfyingly as I wanted it to. As I wanted Gwen to. As odd as that sounds, Gwen is a character you quickly become vested in and when she fails or doesn't think things through, it's kind of personal. I know how weird that must seem, but if I were in her shoes, I would have done it differently and I think that's the key. Gwen is so relatable that it's almost personal when she isn't all she could be.
All in all I found this a delightful, if unsatisfactory read. It was very easy to pick up and put down and I admit to liking books that don't demand my attention from open to close. It's going to be a great beach read this summer for the age group mentioned - your elder millennials who have not reached their potential (or the potential their parents decided was their potential)...
In summary, DO read this book... it was fun and funny - Bravo is quite a wit - and it was a really lovely book to read. I don't imagine it will win any literary prizes but then it is not pretending to be something it isn't and I recommend it on face value completely.
If you like a chick-lit read (I'm not really allowed to call it that any more but bear with me), then perhaps you should look at some back catalogue tomes from days gone by (this century).. I've always loved Notting Hell by Rachel Johnson - except these days you have to put her family ties to one side in order to really enjoy the read. You may also wish to take a look at Walking on Sunshine by Giovanna Fletcher which is pretty difficult not to like. Also, who did NOT fall in love with Giovanna Fletcher when she did the Welsh Castle on IACGMOOH (I'm a Celeb)? Finally, you may like to take a squizz at The Shelf by Helly Acton which looks at the aforementioned reality TV within the story and which we at Bookbag loved.
Thank you so much to the wonderful people at Simon and Schuster for sharing a copy of this novel for us at Bookbag to review.
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