SEPTEMBER READING: PERFECT by Rachel Joyce

Be warned: this is an entirely different book from the author's previous novel, 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry'. No comparison whatsoever. Not much in the way of warm fuzzies, lightness of touch, or happy endings. I say this because so many reviews I have read of 'Perfect' compare this to the wonderful, uplifting and quirky story of Harold and his long walk. And you can't  as they are so totally different. 'Perfect' is much darker and bleaker. It probes deeper into the walls and facades we build around ourselves, our families, so as to ensure the perception of living is different from the reality. In terms of a good read, a good story well told, I prefer 'Harold', but 'Perfect' has given me much more to think about, and is far more unsettling than the former.

It is 1972. Byron Hemming is an 11 year old boy, living with his mother, absent-during-the-week father, and younger sister in a town within commuting distance of London.  They live in a beautiful house on a piece of land complete with a pond. Byron and his best friend James Lowe go to an expensive school, and by all accounts lead a privileged sort of existence. One day James tells Byron that two seconds is going to be added to time in order to balance the time of the clock with the movement of the earth, making things perfect and in harmony. Byron becomes increasingly anxious about this event, reaching its peak during a non-routine drive to school with his mother driving that results in a young girl being knocked over.

Using James as his wing man, Byron, who feels that the whole incident is his fault, tries his utmost, to the capacity that an 11 year old boy can, to rectify the situation and make everything right again - back to his perception of perfect. Which of course, is never going to happen, as 11 year old boys, simply have no grasp of the intricacies of adult life and relationships, specifically marriage and friendships. A child's world view is different from an adult's world view.

Parallel to this story, and in alternate chapters, the narrative moves to the present, to the story of Jim. Jim is a loner, a drifter, with OCD, has been in and out of hospital since a youngster, was subject to ECT therapy, a very damaged man with very little grasp of how to look after himself or manage his life. He lives in a caravan on the edge of an estate, works in a shopping center cafe, has low self esteem. But fairly early on in the story we catch on that he is not stupid, he yearns to be 'normal', but just has no idea how to go about it.

Over the course of the book bad things happen to one of the main characters and good things happen to the other. Perfection, of course, is never reached, but there is a gradual resolution as the events of 1972 come full circle to the present day.  This book is about relationships, about the need to get below the surface of a person to find the true essence, and much as Harold found during his pilgrimage, the kindness of strangers. It has at its core however, the murkiness between perception and reality, and how enormously difficult it is to be able to wade through the murk to find the reality.

Now that I have read two quite different books by this author, I am intrigued to see what she will come up with next.