The Authenticity Project

The Authenticity Project: A Novel by Clare Pooley (Viking, 2020)

This novel has been on lots of best books lists lately so I put it on hold at the library. It’s basically another book about young adults living in present day London looking for romantic partners, but with the addition of an elderly man who is the reason the young adults meet. He leaves a notebook (labelled The Authenticity Project, although he turns out to be lying) in a bookstore which gets passed on to various people. I watched a movie with a similar (but not identical) plot on Netflix earlier this year.

There are a ton of British cultural references (and frankly ordinary nouns too) most of which I didn’t get. For example I had to Google what the “Eurostar” is – apparently a train you can take from London to Paris, presumably through the Channel Tunnel though their website didn’t say so. Overall it was a good story but I was rather disappointed in the way it ended. I would have resolved each of the characters’ stories differently. Oh well, it’s Pooley’s novel. It was nice that she thanked everyone on the book production team by name in the Acknowledgements at the end.

Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting

Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting: A Novel by Clare Pooley (Viking, 2022)

This is a very upbeat novel considering the number of bad things that happen in it. It takes place in London, England in the present day (I assume) and the commuting of the title is all by train, which is possible in England. (I visited the UK in 2019 and avoiding ever having to drive by taking a LOT of train trips). The characters are all strangers to each other who met on their daily train commute to London and through various unusual situations become close friends. They are all hiding things (and/or having things hidden from them) but they become stronger and braver through their relationships. Also they break all the “rules for commuting” clearly listed on the back cover. But that’s OK, it turns out better that way. Definitely recommended to boost your mood (unless you hate trains).

The Liar’s Dictionary

The Liar’s Dictionary: A novel by Eley Williams (Doubleday, 2020)

If you were an English major in college and love words for their own sake, if you are British or like all things British, and if you happen to be gay, this book is for you. If not, you may find as I did that this book is not especially appealing. It does have a clever premise, and some funny parts. You will also have the opportunity to expand your vocabulary, but a warning: some of the words are fake. The gist of the story is that a bored dictionary employee inserts made-up words into a dictionary, which are discovered 120 years later by equally bored employees trying to digitize it. The book switches back and forth between the time periods chapter by chapter (which have alphabetical titles, of course). Not a totally worthless book, but best for educated readers with a love for English literature.

https://bookshop.org/books/the-liar-s-dictionary/9780385546775

Asunder

Asunder by Chloe Aridjis (Vintage Books, 2014)

This is the slim paperback novel I bought at Waterstones in London to read on the train trip to Edinburgh, and it was very appropriate. The main character is a security guard at the British National Gallery, which we had just visited. She is an introverted young woman with artistic interests and a quasi-boyfriend with whom she visits Paris to house-sit for several weeks. Her grandfather was a retired guard at the gallery who often tells her the story of a suffragette who managed to slash a painting (as a protest) before he could stop her. I was surprised to learn (through Google) that this was a real historical act for which someone called Mary Richardson was arrested. It was a well-written book with great descriptions of modern life in London and Paris but not a very clear plot.