Book Review
Title: Not Working by Lisa Owens
Genre: Contemporary, Comedy
Rating: DNF
The opening to Not Working was both interesting and very confusing since it is told almost in a stream of consciousness style with the visual formatting of a poetry collection which took some getting used to. We are following Claire Flannery who quit her job to find her real passion but she has no idea what that could be or how to go about finding out what that is, while she is job hunting she begins thinking about her life and looks at the best and worst parts of herself, her life and her relationships with others. Her relationship with her boyfriend, Luke, is the most confusing part since there are moments where they seem genuinely happy together but there are other like when she mentions having a child that he shuts her down completely or when they are at party and she’s openly flirty with another man which he comments on and she completely ignores. Her family relationships also aren’t the best as she regularly talks to her mother but doesn’t enjoy it and at one function after too much to drink she ends up making a comment which others interpret as Claire saying her grandfather did something inappropriate to her which isn’t received well.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we continue to follow Claire through her life which doesn’t seem to be going anywhere right now. She tries several hobbies and job applications but none of them go anywhere so we are mainly focusing on the relationships she has with others characters. However, there is no depth to the characters so we don’t care about them or Claire’s relationship with them so I was completely bored since nothing was happening and Claire wasn’t likeable as a character. While some of her mindset and thoughts were relatable it wasn’t enough for me to continue reading and I am DNFing it at 25%.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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