“The chasm that exists between not being at a social gathering and at a social gathering has always seemed vast to Alice, and yet must somehow be traversed in a few seconds.”
Thus Alice, the shy, plain but considerate character from whose point of view most of this novel, I’m Sorry You Feel That Way, is told. Alice has a twin, Hanna, her polar opposite — a blond beauty, extrovert and popular, successful in career and love — until she’s not. They are the daughters of Celia, also uglier twin to stunning Katy, to whom the fates are cruel. We are introduced to these two generations at Katy’s funeral, a long set-piece in which the comic effects don’t always succeed — not the best chapter of the novel. After that it improves enormously, however. The exploration of the contrasting lives of Alice and Hanna as they grow up, trying to escape from their possessive needy mother, is gripping.
Light-hearted in tone, often very amusing, the novel deals with serious issues: bullying, rivalry and estrangement between siblings, divorce, mental illness. Its insights into family dynamics are utterly convincing and the characters well-drawn. The section describing the tribal politics among schoolgirls is as alarming as anything in Lord of the Flies, the more so for being in a much less exotic setting.
Focused mainly on its female cast, who, apart from Alice and a few minor characters, are eccentric or mad, the men in the novel are almost uniformly bad guys: unfaithful, priggish, judgemental, or silly. Is this a novel to which the deservedly despised label “chick lit” could be thoughtlessly applied? No, but I can’t think of many men I know who would enjoy it, while I’m sure that most of my women friends — including the most literary and erudite — would. I read it during a five-hour airport wait, and the subsequent three-hour flight. It was just what the doctor ordered — undemanding, amusing, engaging and thought provoking. Perfect for the holidays!
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Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s latest books are Little Red and Other Stories (Blackstaff 2020) and Look! It’s a Woman Writer (Arlen House)
