I can imagine this book being made into a delightful, feel-good romcom
movie, in the genre of “Love, Actually” and “Notting Hill”. (Review by Fiona de
Goede)
“Our lives aren’t always what we make them to be.
What would happen if we told the truth instead?”
This is the
premise that forms the core of The
Authenticity Project, the debut novel by new kid on the block, Claire
Pooley.
Monica’s
Café is where the story starts and where most of it unfolds. Six strangers with
no connection to one another become intricately involved in one another’s
lives. When Julian sits down in the café and writes the truth about his life in
the notebook, he has no idea what will happen. Deliberately leaving the book in
the café, he sets the ball rolling.
Monica, the
owner of the café, finds the notebook and adds her truth. Further characters
that become involved are Hazard, Riley, Alice and Lizzie. Each one of them
feels the need to include their truth – whether it is addiction to alcohol and
drugs or being unhappily married and feeling inadequate as a new mother,
everyone hides behind a facade.
I really
looked forward to this book as I found the topic of “telling the truth” to be
quite intriguing. In this day and age where we airbrush and photo-shop our
lives, where many of us put on a show of all being perfect, the thought of
characters stripping back and revealing their innermost truths, warts and all,
excited me.
The first
half of the book delivered – albeit a tad saccharine and on the verge of
clichéd, I enjoyed the tempo and pace of the story unfolding. However, the
latter part of the book came across, in my opinion, as a bit forced and almost
as if the author was trying to tie up all the loose ends. I also felt the final
two characters introduced into the story, Alice and Lizzie, were perhaps
clumsily inserted and verged on being too stereotypical to be believable.
I can
imagine this book being made into a delightful, feel-good romcom movie, in the
genre of Love, Actually and Notting Hill. In fact, as I was reading
the book, I could almost visualise certain scenes as if it was a movie – Hazard
getting to grips with his addiction on Koh Samui in Thailand, the wedding which
Monica attends with Hazard, Monica showing Riley the sights in London and his
excitement at seeing snow for the first time…I would certainly dash out and
purchase a ticket to watch it!
Despite my
seemingly not so flattering comments, I enjoyed the book –a cute and utterly
charming story that nowadays is in short supply. - Fiona de Goede
The Authenticity Project is published by Penguin Random House. ISBN
978-1-787-63178-6
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