Scan barcode
A review by kizzia
This Could Be Us by Claire McGowan
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I picked up this book because I’d seen some rave reviews of this and have loved some of Claire McGowan’s other work (namely the Paula Maguire series which I highly recommend). I’d read the blurb, thought I knew what I was getting into and yet I didn’t enjoy it at all.
Which is not to say that it isn’t a good book. It is; well written, with complex and believable characters, and tackling a very difficult subject in a very real and human way.
However it made me furious, repeatedly, with every single character (bar one, Kirsty, who doesn’t get to be more than present in the story for obvious reasons) and when I reached the last page I was left feeling discontented and wondering whether I’d have been better DNFing it when I first thought “I’m not sure if I want to be reading this” rather than pushing through because there was nothing technically wrong with the writing.
Writing this review made me realise what a used me to feel like that. This is book about a situation Claire has experienced personally that she fictionalised in order to allow her to write about it with more freedom than non-fiction would, yet the fact that it was fiction gave the illusion that the story and ending might be less open and “real” and unsatisfying than it was. Or at least it did to me.
I can’t rave about it the way other people have but I can say it left me with a lot to think about both in terms of the subject matter and the choices we make when writing about personal experiences. And, on reflection, I am glad I finished it.
Which is not to say that it isn’t a good book. It is; well written, with complex and believable characters, and tackling a very difficult subject in a very real and human way.
However it made me furious, repeatedly, with every single character (bar one, Kirsty, who doesn’t get to be more than present in the story for obvious reasons) and when I reached the last page I was left feeling discontented and wondering whether I’d have been better DNFing it when I first thought “I’m not sure if I want to be reading this” rather than pushing through because there was nothing technically wrong with the writing.
Writing this review made me realise what a used me to feel like that. This is book about a situation Claire has experienced personally that she fictionalised in order to allow her to write about it with more freedom than non-fiction would, yet the fact that it was fiction gave the illusion that the story and ending might be less open and “real” and unsatisfying than it was. Or at least it did to me.
I can’t rave about it the way other people have but I can say it left me with a lot to think about both in terms of the subject matter and the choices we make when writing about personal experiences. And, on reflection, I am glad I finished it.