“Paul Iverson’s life is stable, orderly and dull – until he meets Lexy and her Rhodesian Ridgeback dog, Lorelei. From their first date, Lexy sweeps him off his feet and brings him passion, adventure and love. But one afternoon, Lexy climbs the apple tree in their backyard and falls to her death. Heartbroken, Paul cannot believe it was an accident and sets out to uncover the truth, with the help of the only creature who saw what happened, Lorelei.”
We chose this book at the end of September, for me it was a difficult choice as I liked the sound of all the books recommended and I have read one of the other choices as well, but that’s another story.
The intrigue of the dog element in this novel is what caught people’s eye, I think, and also it was a short book, normally not everyone finishes in the month.
There were only 4 characters in this book, and was told from the male perspective, which as the author is female is unusual. I personally had a lot of understanding for ‘Lexy’ her character was deeply troubled and the main plot is unwinding her story. There are some jumps forward and backward in time but I think this was done carefully and didn’t make me confused like some other books have.
After saying at the beginning of this that we don’t always finish a book, the majority of us did and although it was a dark storyline most people described it as a well written and compelling novel which is very difficult to describe to others. Everyone had trouble dealing with the animal cruelty in the story, however it was a part of the plot that made it very unique.
I’d be careful if you’re feeling emotionally fragile before reading this book, but genuine emotion is hard to come by. In this time in society where mental health is starting to be talked about openly I would say this has some great explanations surrounding troubled feelings that are difficult to convey. This is the most emotionally honest book I’ve come across recently and the more it is written and talked about the stigma of depression will recede.
I can see why people don’t like this book and it will really depend on whether you can give in to the storyline or not, as to whether you will enjoy it. If you can, I think you will find as I did, an unusual book that in the end sucks you in and touches your heart.
Again we forgot to do the ‘What would you do with this book?’ So speaking personally it is a ‘keep’ for me. I can imagine reading this each year and getting so much more out of it.
(Written by Rachel Cooke.)
Your Local Community Book Club 