Jane is Trying (W&N Essentials)

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Many of the characters blend together and names were often used without context which made parts of the narrative hard to follow. Seemingly every other line was the setup to a witticism or joke, and I didn't share the author's sense of humour at all. This is clearly a provincial, parochial world she knows well, and can tease it affectionately even as her heroine progresses ever further on the road paved with good intentions. Jane is a strong character who puts up with less and less bullshit as the story progresses and was admirable and likeable as a protagonist.

The first chapter was a set piece about a poetry reading which was a bit lazy as a satire, and in the first 50 pages I was still waiting to understand what the point of this novel was, seemingly a slow reveal about an affair but with wry observations tacked onto most sentences and nothing that made me want to read on despite a lack of plot. I bought this book because the reviews were amazing, comedians such as Aisling Bea and Sarah Pascoe loved it!Having been spoiled by the joyous radio series 'Isy Suttie's Love Letters', reading her writing without the addition of her wonderful narration meant that it took a little while for me to get into this book. Health anxiety and OCD come from the same place, I think, which is a need for control and certainty. I also felt the characters were written as stereotypes of either rich middle-class families (Sadie, Andrew, Jonathan etc) or low income working-class families (Kelly, Becca etc) and this made them lack realism.

But, after a while, I was properly drawn in, wanting the best for Jane and sympathising with her situation. Beyond the battering her confidence took from the split, it’s clear Jane has other issues: she’s OCD and suffers anxious, intrusive thoughts.I felt cheated by the ending, and by the reveal of what caused Jane's anxiety about hospitals and "room 3".

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. I would recommend this book to All - very Entertaining and made especially so by Isy herself narrating - Isy has such an insight into All of us…. She also regularly performs her own shows to live audiences, on radio and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As for OCD, I’ve never had it to the same incapacitating extent as Jane but yes, that’s another indicator that my head is too full.Jane is Trying is charming, funny and down-to-earth story about starting over when the past just won't leave you alone.

she discovers her fiance cheating on her and moves back in with her parents in a small village, leaving her independence and life in London behind. But there’s a dry, tragi-comic farce to some of the situations Jane lands herself in and a dry wit in the way many of the larger-than-life characters that populate this small town are depicted, some decidedly quirkier than others. With fertility problems, OCD that she refuses to acknowledge, a smidge of trauma and a cheating boyfriend, Jane has found herself in a life she doesn’t understand. The mystery behind room 3 was not satisfying and there were quite a few contradictions in her behaviour that didn’t seem realistic.I can’t imagine it being in anyone’s voice other than hers and I would recommend this as highly as any audio.