Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Weirdo by Sara Pascoe

2 reviews

sophie______a's review

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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ccrowley18's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

First 5 star fiction book for 2024.

I just listened to all of Sara Pascoe’s Weirdo in one day. I thought it was absolutely gorgeous and bizarre and so so relatable. If you enjoy the quirkiness and cringe of real life, then this is the book for you. If you can’t handle reading Eleanor Oliphant or the Rosie Project, then it may not be for you.

Sara has created very flawed characters surrounding her main character, Sophie, who is in herself, quite flawed. But we definitely root for Sophie as she changes and winds herself around an obsessive crush. We’ve all been there. Perhaps not to the extent of maxing out two credit cards and flying halfway across the world to perhaps run into him and thus building up a scary amount of debt, but as Sophie says: when you move overseas and live there for 18 years they forget about your debt, just like your student loans! But then kissing him once and having to move back two weeks later. But there you have it, he’s in her bar! It’s fate! Isn’t it? This book delves into the deep inner conscious and thoughts of Sophie, and tells us every little thought she had - which I think is very rare in novels because we often don’t want to admit that we are having these thoughts.

Like I said: bizarre. But this is such a wholesome story about some very deeply flawed characters. Sophie is in an incredible amount of debt (some to her sister, others to credit card companies), is ignoring the debt collectors’ and the banks’ calls and letters, and can’t quite put her finger on what ‘love’ actually feels like. Sophie’s sister is getting married to Sophie’s ex boyfriend. Sophie’s mum has issues around alcohol, her boyfriend is married and has a family (and isn’t leaving them).

I love Sara Pascoe’s comedy, because of the weirdness and how she never holds back. I picked this up with zero expectations, but it was divine and I loved every cringey second of it. It had me absolutely cackling at times, as Sara’s comedy usually does.

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