Published in the UK by Accent Press in January 2017.
How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the author
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy meets The Lovely Bones in this surrealist, sci-fi comedy.
On the way home from a dinner party she didn't want to attend, Lorna Love steps into the path of an oncoming car. When she wakes up she is in what appears to be a hospital – but a hospital in which her nurse looks like a young Sean Connery, she is served wine for supper, and everyone avoids her questions.
It soon transpires that she is in Heaven, or on HVN. Because HVN is a lost, dysfunctional spaceship, and God the aging hippy captain. She seems to be there by accident. Or does God have a higher purpose after all?
At first Lorna can remember nothing. As her memories return – some good, some bad – she realises that she has decisions to make and that she needs to find a way home…
There is a serious side to this story. Lorna explores how her younger self's idealism became diluted and how other people's expectations affected the life path she chose. I liked the contrast between the realism of these 'on Earth' settings compared to the 'in Space' scenes. Laidlaw has a great eye for scenic detail enabling me to envisage Crete, which I have never seen, just as well as Edinburgh, which I have visited. Ideas such a the bird-themed boyfriends and a brace of George Clooneys are fun - and you'll have to read the book yourselves to understand these!
The Things We Learn is an engaging novel which kept me engrossed throughout its pages. I guessed quite early on how it would end in principle, but not the varied themes and ideas that would lead there. I think this book can be read and appreciated on different levels and will appeal to a wide readership. It is an entertaining story that can be simply enjoyed at face value or it could be a trigger to consider our own life choices - how far we might have strayed from the lives we imagined we would lead.
Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by Charlie Laidlaw / Contemporary fiction / Books from Scotland
up the plot doesn't sound very unique but... wow I want to read this book just because of the title! and then "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy meets The Lovely Bones in this surrealist, sci-fi comedy."??? wow! and a 5-star review!
ReplyDeleteIt's a great story! I think you'll enjoy it :-)
DeleteGreat review, Stephanie :) I feel like I will probably like this book too. I read a short excerpt before accepting the review copy and I liked the style :)
ReplyDeleteI do hope you enjoy it!
DeleteThe Things We Learn When We're Dead is Free on Kindle until the 27th June 2018: https://amzn.to/2LWC7Wr
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