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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Answer to Everything by Luke Kennard (view source)
Revision as of 10:36, 21 April 2021
, 10:36, 21 April 2021no edit summary
If Emily's susceptible, what's in it for Elliott? They talk in person: there's little they can't or don't share. They text each other at all hours of the day and the night: in one fortnight there were 8042 texts. Elliott's relationship with Alathea is dysfunctional: passion is provoked by hurting each other or by damaging or destroying the other's precious belongings. Elliott tells Emily that he loves Alathea but that he loves Emily too. How's it going to end?
I was told that the novel was ''heartbreakingly moving and hilariously funny'' and I completely got the ''heartbreakingly moving bit'' bit to the point that I cried for Elliott and Emily. Luke Kennard is a poet - he knows how to use words to great effect - and he took me back into every dysfunctional relationship I'd encountered. At one point I wondered if I might need Alathea Broughton's professional services to sort out a few personal issues. I didn't find the book hilariously funny. 'Mildly amusing on occasions' was about as far as I got on that front. To be brutally honest, it was an uncomfortable, if addictive read about people, none of whom I could really warm to.
It's a forensic study of obsession and possession and I was just beginning to wonder where it was going when Kennard twisted the story in a way that made my jaw drop - and I simply didn't see it coming despite all the clues being there. Superb.
