January 17, 2009

Addition - Toni Jordan


In pursuit of one of my personal reading goals for this year, to read all of the books on this Best Australian Fiction 2008 list, I have just finished Addition by Toni Jordan.

This was a book I had seen and heard a lot about last year but for some reason it just never made it to my reading pile. I'm glad it has now.

The central character in Jordan's first novel is Grace Lisa Vandenburg - a woman obsessively connected to counting everything in her life. The mental health professional in me was seeing "disorder" written all over this character but I was glad I was able to get past my judgemental labelling and see this character for what she was - a funny, smart, engaging woman who probably had a better handle on her life than many people she came across (scenes in the later part of the book when Grace attends "group therapy" are hilarious!).

I guess this novel is essentially a self-discovery/love story - Grace meets a man (adorable and accepting Seamus) and they of course have to go through the stages all relationships must - the meeting, the greeting, the getting to know etc... But all of this is done through the filter of Grace's need to count, and count, and count...

The writing is sharp - as is the character of Grace. I finished it feeling satisfied in the story but still wanting to hear more about Grace and her world - a sign of a great book for me.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I made a similar resolution to read more Australian books in '09 (as let's face it, if we don't who will?)

I have Addition in my TBR pile, so must get to it soon.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed this one :)

Karen said...

Hi adevoted reader - that's exactly what I think! There are so many great Australian novels and writers out there that need our support - not out of pity, but because they are great!

Hi Zoe - I really enjoyed it too, a great, quick read.

megan said...

Based on your recommendation, I think it will definitely be one of the next books I pick up.

Ahhh, the never-ending list of books to read!

I love your blog by the way - have been following it for a little while now :-)

Karen said...

Hi Megan - thanks so much for reading. I have just been over to your blog too - gorgeous!