Addition by Toni Jordan, is a debut novel with a lot of heart.
It tells the story of Grace Vandenburg and her somewhat different way of looking at, and being in, the world.
Ever since she was eight, Grace has been obsessed by numbers, they are everywhere she looks and they provide her with a framework for her life.
And she counts everything, from how many steps it takes to get to the shop, to how many sprouts she puts on her sandwich, and even, at one point, the number of bristles in her toothbrush! Living this way isn't easy but Grace feels like she has things under control, that is until she meets the handsome Seamus O'Reilly at the local supermarket.
An unconventional romance ensues, but when Grace is forced to choose between her beloved numbers and her new love Seamus, things get a little complicated.
On the surface, Addition is the story of a square peg in a round hole, and also an engaging urban romance story.
But this novel is also about the ongoing consequences of trauma and about challenging accepted notions of mental illness and the way it is treated by the medical establishment and the rest of society.
Where do we draw the line between someone who is sick, and someone who sees the world just a little differently? Despite her razor sharp wit, I warmed to Grace almost immediately.
She might have a tough exterior but not far underneath lies a sarcastic sense of humour and a wicked flirtatious streak that show her to be an intelligent and sensitive woman.
And I loved the parts of the novel that have the story of nineteenth century inventor and fellow number obsessive Nikola Tesla woven into them, as this adds another dimension to both Grace's character and the story as a whole.
As someone who has spent much of her life being a square peg in a round hole, I could identify with Grace (and Tesla!) in a number of ways, and I think this helped me greatly to engage with this novel.
I read it all in two sittings, and felt that it was well paced and very readable.
This is not an in depth exploration of living with a mental illness but it does offer some insight into some of the challenges of being out of the ordinary, and it does so in a highly compassionate way.
It tells the story of Grace Vandenburg and her somewhat different way of looking at, and being in, the world.
Ever since she was eight, Grace has been obsessed by numbers, they are everywhere she looks and they provide her with a framework for her life.
And she counts everything, from how many steps it takes to get to the shop, to how many sprouts she puts on her sandwich, and even, at one point, the number of bristles in her toothbrush! Living this way isn't easy but Grace feels like she has things under control, that is until she meets the handsome Seamus O'Reilly at the local supermarket.
An unconventional romance ensues, but when Grace is forced to choose between her beloved numbers and her new love Seamus, things get a little complicated.
On the surface, Addition is the story of a square peg in a round hole, and also an engaging urban romance story.
But this novel is also about the ongoing consequences of trauma and about challenging accepted notions of mental illness and the way it is treated by the medical establishment and the rest of society.
Where do we draw the line between someone who is sick, and someone who sees the world just a little differently? Despite her razor sharp wit, I warmed to Grace almost immediately.
She might have a tough exterior but not far underneath lies a sarcastic sense of humour and a wicked flirtatious streak that show her to be an intelligent and sensitive woman.
And I loved the parts of the novel that have the story of nineteenth century inventor and fellow number obsessive Nikola Tesla woven into them, as this adds another dimension to both Grace's character and the story as a whole.
As someone who has spent much of her life being a square peg in a round hole, I could identify with Grace (and Tesla!) in a number of ways, and I think this helped me greatly to engage with this novel.
I read it all in two sittings, and felt that it was well paced and very readable.
This is not an in depth exploration of living with a mental illness but it does offer some insight into some of the challenges of being out of the ordinary, and it does so in a highly compassionate way.
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