REVIEW: Weirdo by Sara Pascoe

Genre: Adult Fiction | Comedy

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Release Date: Expected 14th September 2023

Deep in Essex and her own thoughts, Sophie had a feeling something was going to happen and then it did. Chris has entered the pub and re-entered her life after Sophie had finally stopped thinking about him and regretting what she'd done.

Sophie has a chance at creating a new ending and paying off her emotional debts (if not her financial ones). All she has to do is act exactly like a normal, well-adjusted person and not say any of her inner monologue out loud. If she can suppress her light paranoia, pornographic visualisations and pathological lying maybe she'll even end up getting the guy she wants? Then she could dump her boyfriend Ian and try to enjoy Christmas.

"I hated being told I was grown-up. I also hated being told I was young and had all my life ahead of me. I've hated all of my ages and every unnecessary and unasked-for comment upon them."

Weirdo is tragicomic gold — a messy, marvellous masterpiece that reaches into the neurotic parts of us that we all feel but never, ever talk about or acknowledge.

Sophie was a blinding narrator — a woman sick of living in a world that is designed for men, designed for constant productivity, designed to make her conform and make her feel that something is always missing. She was sometimes superficial, naive and petty, but crude, honest and relatable in all the best ways — she was a strange paradox of someone ridiculously obsessed and neurotic but so human and loveable at the same time. Her storytelling was so personable and casual it felt like a conversation or a trip into her thoughts — it was erratic and chaotic, tangents flying and while I don’t always like that kind of storytelling as it does sometimes veer into info-dumping and made for a slightly longer than expected read, but there was something that worked here.

Every single thing she went through was both hilarious and heartbreaking, with plenty of those “I need to laugh or I’m gonna cry” moments — and it’s these moments that drive the story rather than an intricate plot. It’s more of a collection of thoughts, of key moments in Sophie’s journey at a chaotic time and it’s pushed forward by Sophie and her own reflections but with plenty of heart and absurd, deadpan humour and wit.

An over the top messy story about messy people, but it was so much fun.

"Tonight, Matthew, I am going to be grown-up and in control. I respect myself for a moment and then feel sad and sorry that some people are so lonely and there isn't enough love in the world for everyone."

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.

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