Rachel Reviews: Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman

This is the first book chosen by the new book club I've joined. What is interesting about this is that this may be the first time that I've read a Booker Prize nominated book before the winner has been announced; and I'm not sure what to make of it all really.

The premise of the book is that a disgraced professor is off to the country to start anew: fresh ground, fresh outlook, away from academia, living the simple life. He has parted from his wife and we learn his perspective on their relationship in Act I, entitled 'Man'. We never learn his name. There's a little of the victim about him and he's unhappy.

Act II is the realtor's voice and we are now in the house in the country which he wants to buy. We are told that it was owned by Helen who is now in assisted living and was a good friend of the realtor. So far, so good.

And then at the end of Act II, the realtor stops trying to sell the house and talks about something else which takes the narrative in a very strange direction indeed and one which I cannot totally fathom.

Act III is centred on 'Helen', then 'Helen and Man', Act V is 'Wife' and finally Act VI is 'Man and Wife'.

It is a curious book. I don't mind being bamboozled by text because I enjoy the mental challenge of mulling it over and trying to decipher the meaning from what I've read. That is what you get with this book. It's not unreliable narrators as such. It's made up of separate pieces, all describing a perspective or an interaction and I felt, and I may be wrong in this, that it is up to you, the reader, to make sense of it according to what you have been given.

When I got to the end, I didn't feel like I'd completely cracked it and I'd be interested to know what the other members of our book club made of it so that we can knock our theories around and consider exactly what it is all about. It feels to me like satire, a narrative created to highlight the times we live in with an emphasis on men, women, love and relationships - but I am prepared to admit that I could be totally wrong.

If you like your fiction to challenge you intellectually, then this will do that. If you want a clear story which takes you from point A to point B in a linear fashion, then avoid.

Rachel Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (but closer to 3 than 4)