Book Review: "Weirdo" by Sara Pascoe

I know what you're thinking: this is comedy and I've been reading her reviews for a while now, she isn't someone who usually finds comedy funny. And I regret to inform you that you are absolutely right. Despite being in two minds about this book, calling it 'laugh out loud funny' was not really on my radar though it popped up sporadically in various reviews. A book that I only really bought because I was trying to be adventurous with my reading choices turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Don't get me wrong though, I'm going to try again, experimenting with different genres. But I really don't think this book was for me.

I would definitely call this book a failed attempt at stream-of-consciousness because none of it really comes together. Sophie is in a bar serving drinks when the man she went halfway across the world to see is sitting across it. They are in the middle of Essex and no longer in Australia where Sophie maxed out her credit card travelling to see a man she thought she was in love with. He doesn't remember who the hell she is and is very clearly seeing another woman. A bit shallow? Yes. Funny? No. Sophie spends time dwelling on this and it interjects the book in places where it kind of gets annoying after a while.

As this is going on, we have to keep in mind that she completely maxed out her credit card and after every few chapters, we get these weird letters from debt collectors asking Sophie to respond to getting a payment plan, or updating her on how much she needs to pay or even looking at taking her to court over her debts. I know she states that she wants to keep these things for her future biographer because she is a narcissist, but I cannot help but think that these debt letters do nothing for the overall story. She tells us she is in debt many, many times, we do not require actual physical proof of that. I wouldn't call this an epistolary technique because epistolary novels have documentation with a purpose.

On top of this we have the wedding of Sophie's sister and her boyfriend - Dana and James. I do not know much about the character of James but Dana is perfectly horrid - bordering on the 'bridezilla' trope. In the invitations for the wedding, Dana states that there is no dress code but then puts in a dress code as far as stating her guests can't wear anything from Debenhams because she works there and she doesn't want to be reminded of work. I am more than certain that: a) she doesn't know all of the clothes in the shop and b) she has probably invited people from work and so it makes no sense.

I don't blame her for not inviting any of the children to the wedding, but to have separate parts that some people are invited to and others are not means that I won't blame the guests for not turning up at all. On top of this, yes she is asking for the guests to cover the cost of the wedding and the honeymoon. Her chapters are written in letters and wedding invites and are basically the most insufferable reading experience I have had in a long time.

Then we have a side story about all the people Sophie has dated. I'm sorry but this was probably the worst. I genuinely don't care about her dating life because her professional life is so badly put together I cannot fathom how anyone can stand her even as a friend, let alone a romantic partner. She is not really representative of any woman because no woman would let herself sink that low in terms of self-respect and to add on to this, I am not entirely sure why she has the vocabulary of a five year old, but she does. The writer likes to pretend that this is also the kind of girl who would read philosophy when the reality is that she is a character who seems like she is basically functionally illiterate.

All in all, I found the characters of this book simply too insufferable to read. It wasn't funny but it was faux-quirky and got tired very quickly. I would recommend this writer probably sticks to calling her books 'the most annoying characters you will ever read, all in one book' rather than comedy. Though the actual story-writing was good, the book simply went nowhere.