Generation Yer Claire is taking a break from work to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She has quit her job in “creative communications” and started applying for a variety of jobs hoping something will stand out as her potential vocation. Told vignette style, the book details her relationship with her very understanding boyfriend Luke, a trainee brain surgeon no less; her fallout with her mother after a family dispute; and her father facing his own job insecurity. It has plenty of wry and insightful observations about all the mundane and ordinary parts of life that Claire now notices because she’s got time on her hands. The writing is clever, and the storyline will appeal to those who are feeling lost about their own future (being Gen X, I found it all a bit overindulgent!) The book is set in London but the narrator and her sense of humour didn’t convey a sense of Britishness to me. In fact, I checked up on the author halfway through as I thought she must have been an American living in England (she’s not by the way). Suspect this one will have a divided response – it may work for you … or it may not.
Not Working, the debut novel by Lisa Owens, is about a woman whose life is unravelling. The summary says: "Claire Flannery has just quit her office job, hoping to take some time to discover her real passion. The problem is, she's not exactly sure how to go about finding it. Without the distractions of a regular routine, Claire confronts the best and worst parts of herself: the generous, attentive part that visits her grandmother for tea and cooks special meals for her boyfriend Luke, and the part that she feels will never measure up and makes regrettable comments after too many glasses of wine. What emerges is a candid, moving portrait of a clear-eyed heroine trying to forge her own way, a wholly relatable character whose imperfections and uncanny observations highlight what makes us all different and yet inescapably linked." Not Working is out In April 2016.