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.