Emotionally Weird

Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson

I mentioned in a previous review that Kate Atkinson is my “new favorite author”.  I’m still going to let her claim that title in my heart, but to be brutally honest, her third book (the fourth I’ve read by her) is the first one that I would define as less than spectacular.  Ironically, Atkinson’s gift isn’t necessarily telling a good story, but rather her ability to draw you in with her off-beat characters along with their observations and descriptions about their bizarre situations.  I say “ironic” because it is the story that lacks here, but it lacks so much, that it does bring down the whole experience a notch.

There’s actually several different stories going on here, and none of them are happening at the same time.  In other words, this book is a story about a character who is telling a story, and within that story, another character is telling another story. And so on and so on.  Kind of like that stupid movie Inception (some people liked that movie.  I have no idea why) where characters were dreaming inside of their dreams, inside of other dreams, etc.   In this book, I’m not even quite sure which is the “main” story, and which is the “invented tale”.  It can be that confusing.

What I think is the main story consists of college-aged Effie and her somewhat aloof Mom, Nora.  We don’t know much about these two, other than mother and daughter are drifters.  They basically have no home, and tend to find themselves in a different sea port town every couple of months or so.  There’s a lot of mystery around this relationship.  What is their past?  Why do they have no home?  How exactly do they survive?  Well, the author doesn’t tell us much at all (until the very end), yet instead, the majority of this book is a story that young Effie tells.  Effie’s tale (I think it might be a partially “true” story, but I’m not really sure) is about life at a small English college where she’s studying literature.  This takes place around 1972, and it seems like at this particular college, the only thing studied is composition, writing theories, and anything related to literature.

This is where we really see the author’s strengths shine.  Like every other Atkinson novel (at least the ones I’ve read), all of the characters seemed destitute and somewhat miserable, yet Atkinson presents the story in a rather humorous way.  None of these kids want to really learn anything.  They all sleep a lot, have a lot of physical contact with one and other, live in squalor-like conditions, have children out of wedlock, and do a lot of drugs.   There’s really too many characters to keep track of (another trait of Atkinson), and it seems like every one of these kids is always being hunted down by a teacher about a paper that’s overdue.

Well, since Effie is learning about Creative Writing or whatever, we also see many of her unfinished stories throughout the pages that, I guess serve some sort of purpose, but simply seemed too much of a distraction.  There’s also too many strange things that happen that make her life a bit silly, but since this is really the “story within the story”, I’m thinking it’s supposed to be that way for some strange reason.  Maybe the author’s intention is to make this novel some sort of work of art where readers debate back and forth what the real meanings and intentions are with some of the bizarre instances that happen within the pages?

I must say that despite all the confusion, the ending of this book was nicely done, and I thought that it tied up all of the loose ends really well, but I still felt a bit disappointed after reading some of her other books.  That leads me to conclude that if you’ve never read this author, I would highly recommend another selection in her catalog to get you started.   Her style isn’t for everyone, and I would only advise this book for those that would call themselves fans.  Others may be too put off by her odd style.