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Perfect
In 1972, two seconds were added to time. It was in order to balance clock time with the movement of the earth. Byron Hemming knew this because James Lowe had told him and James was the cleverest boy at school. But how could time change? The steady movement of hands around a clock was as certain as their golden futures.
Then Byron's mother, late for the school run, makes a devastating mistake. Byron's perfect world is shattered. Were those two extra seconds to blame? Can what follows ever be set right?
Then Byron's mother, late for the school run, makes a devastating mistake. Byron's perfect world is shattered. Were those two extra seconds to blame? Can what follows ever be set right?
365 pages, Hardcover
First published July 4, 2013
1575 people are currently reading
17244 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Joyce
32 books3,417 followersRachel Joyce has written over 20 original afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, and major adaptations for both the Classic Series, Woman's Hour and also a TV drama adaptation for BBC 2. In 2007 she won the Tinniswood Award for best radio play. She moved to writing after a twenty-year career in theatre and television, performing leading roles for the RSC, the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Court, and Cheek by Jowl, winning a Time Out Best Actress award and the Sony Silver.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,568 reviews
June 25, 2019
Being a fan of Rachel Joyce's other work (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry & The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy), I had high hopes for this one.
Unfortunately I was left feeling underwhelmed, which is a shame as the premise is a fascinating one: how life can turn on a sixpence within the blink of an eye; in this case within the space of two leap seconds, which were added to time in the year 1972.
Perfect is incredibly sad, but it's also ponderous. The story lacks pizzazz and needs some va-va-voom.
Nnnnggg, and the 'twist' was easy to predict, which is always maddening.
So, nope, not for me.
But please don't let this put you off those other two books; both are simply glorious!
Unfortunately I was left feeling underwhelmed, which is a shame as the premise is a fascinating one: how life can turn on a sixpence within the blink of an eye; in this case within the space of two leap seconds, which were added to time in the year 1972.
Perfect is incredibly sad, but it's also ponderous. The story lacks pizzazz and needs some va-va-voom.
Nnnnggg, and the 'twist' was easy to predict, which is always maddening.
So, nope, not for me.
But please don't let this put you off those other two books; both are simply glorious!
April 22, 2015
2.5 stars
Byron Hemming's friend James informs him that two seconds are being added to the year. James knows all kinds of facts so Bryon becomes obsessed with the fact. It will mess everything up. You just can't mess with time.
Two seconds are huge. It's the difference between something happening and something not happening. You could take one step too many and fall over the edge of a cliff. It's very dangerous.
On the way to school that morning that Bryan thinks the time is being added his mom is running late taking his sister and Bryan to school. So she takes a shortcut through Digby Road, that bad part of town that his father has forbidden her to go.
Bryan's father has set ways that he wants his wife to act while he works away from home. He calls to make sure that no one is there with her every day. He comes home on weekends so she can wash his clothes. He buys her a new Jaguar so they can impress the other families in the snooty area they live in. I don't like Bryan's father.
"Although your father is a very clever man, of course. Much more clever than me. I've never read a book from start to finish."
"You've read magazines. You read cookery books."
"Yes, but they have pictures. Clever books only have words."
During that car ride Bryan sees his watch go back in time those two seconds. Then an accident happens and it changes that whole summer and the rest of all their lives.
There is an alternating viewpoint from current time of a man learning to live outside the mental hospital on his own. It ends up all tying into the story but it's a bumpy ride.
Usually I like darker reads, but dang this book read slow. I kept picking it up and making myself read.
Then the ending comes around and I ended up liking the book. It's dark and twisty and bleak.
I've had this book from Netgalley for awhile and like theslacker boss that I am I'm just now getting to it. Sorry, Netgalley gods.
Byron Hemming's friend James informs him that two seconds are being added to the year. James knows all kinds of facts so Bryon becomes obsessed with the fact. It will mess everything up. You just can't mess with time.
Two seconds are huge. It's the difference between something happening and something not happening. You could take one step too many and fall over the edge of a cliff. It's very dangerous.
On the way to school that morning that Bryan thinks the time is being added his mom is running late taking his sister and Bryan to school. So she takes a shortcut through Digby Road, that bad part of town that his father has forbidden her to go.
Bryan's father has set ways that he wants his wife to act while he works away from home. He calls to make sure that no one is there with her every day. He comes home on weekends so she can wash his clothes. He buys her a new Jaguar so they can impress the other families in the snooty area they live in. I don't like Bryan's father.
"Although your father is a very clever man, of course. Much more clever than me. I've never read a book from start to finish."
"You've read magazines. You read cookery books."
"Yes, but they have pictures. Clever books only have words."
During that car ride Bryan sees his watch go back in time those two seconds. Then an accident happens and it changes that whole summer and the rest of all their lives.
There is an alternating viewpoint from current time of a man learning to live outside the mental hospital on his own. It ends up all tying into the story but it's a bumpy ride.
Usually I like darker reads, but dang this book read slow. I kept picking it up and making myself read.
Then the ending comes around and I ended up liking the book. It's dark and twisty and bleak.
I've had this book from Netgalley for awhile and like the
September 14, 2020
A sad and poignant story .. The perfect yet cold world of a family of three is gradually destroyed by an event which happened in 1972 and for which two seconds added to the year are blamed. The other storyline takes place around 2010 and its main character, Jim, a middle-aged man who, having spent most of his life in an asylum, is trying to find his way in the world.
I decided to read more of Ms Joyce's novels after her latest one which I absolutely loved, however, this book, despite its poignancy, did not effect me as much as I had wanted to.
I decided to read more of Ms Joyce's novels after her latest one which I absolutely loved, however, this book, despite its poignancy, did not effect me as much as I had wanted to.
February 15, 2014
I was charmed and emotionally wrenched many times with this coming of age tale combined with that of a middle-aged man trying to evolve past his mental illness. So many passages shone with the special aura of truth. In other ways the plot elements felt a bit too “precious.”
The story slowly connects the story of a ten-year old boy, Byron, trying to correct the unhappiness in his mother’s life in 1972 with that of Jim, a lonely middle-aged man beset with obsessive compulsive disorder in the current time. Byron is a sensitive kid in an upper-middle class family with a loving stay-at-home mom, Diana, his sister Lucy, and a cold, controlling father who comes home only on weekends from his banking job. He has become worried about an adjustment to take place in time, an addition of two seconds to the official clock to make up a bit of variation in planetary spin. When his mother has a minor accident on the way to school she is unaware of, these threats link up in his mind and threaten the perfection of the world he tries so hard to hold on to. His mother is so precious to him:
When Byron pictured the inside of his mother, he imagined a series of inlaid drawer with jeweled handles so delicate that his fingers would struggle to get a grip.
Her tenderness grounds his world:
“What is it love?” He told her he was frightened and she rushed to shut the window. She rearranged the curtains into neat blue folds.
“ You’re such a worrier,” she smiled. “Things are never so bad as we think.” Sitting on the edge of his bed, she stroked her fingers over his forehead. She sang a quiet song he didn’t know and he closed his eyes.
He engages his friend James to help him figure things out:
He needed to find James. He needed to find him urgently. James understood things in ways that Byron couldn’t. James was the logical piece of Byron that was missing. The first time Mr. Roper had explained about relativity, for instance, James had nodded enthusiastically as if magnetic forces were a truth he expected all along, whereas for Byron the new idea was like tangles in his head.
He is a quite bamboozled by the mental leaps James is capable of:
James Lowe had once said that a dog was not necessarily a dog. …Maybe, he had said, a dog was really a hat. …I am only saying that hat and dog are words that someone has chosen. And if they are only words someone has chosen, it stands to reason they may have got the wrong ones.
Together they come up with a series of interventions to change his mother’s life, ways to help her get back to perfection and to be her true self through alleviation of her isolation and the controlling boundaries laid down by his father. In the process, he feels himself acquire agency in the world, taking steps toward becoming a man. But his mother surprises him with the changes she makes, leading to more risks to stability of Byron’s world. Many of the attitudes among her coffee-clatch friends she ends up defying (having a friend outside her class; believing a woman’s highest role is not having babies) seem more out of the 50’s than the 70’s, but I let that imperfection in Joyce’s plot slide. It was Byron’s desperate sense of responsibility for his mother that won me over:
He didn’t know how he was going to keep his mother safe. The job seemed too big for one boy alone. There was something about her, something pure and fluid that would not be contained.
In the segments about Jim in the other story thread we learn he has spent years in and out of a mental hospital and now lives in a camper while working at cleaning tasks at a restaurant in a shopping center. The mystery of his connection to the other narrative lurks, but I was content just to dwell in his story. It is one of the most sensitive and empathetic portrayals of mental illness I have encountered. For example, in one scene, a co-worker, Eileen, defends him from a verbal attack by a diner whose coat he has knocked to the floor, and the way the emotional violence undermines his mind rang true for me:
“Pick up that coat.” …“Why don’t you do it yourself?” …The woman will be hurt. Eileen will be hurt. The supermarket customers and Mr. Meade and the girls in the kitchen will be hurt and it is all Jim’s fault. …He can feel the woman watching, both Eileen and the customer with her metallic voice. It is like being peeled. He is more them than himself. Then the rude woman sits.
How his OCD rituals work to make him feel safe is elucidated well by Joyce. In remembering how a psychiatric nurse once exhorted Jim that “You will see that the rituals make no difference”, he clings to his convictions:
But here she was wrong. There were so many people, there was so much chaos—there were fast trains, and busy platforms, there were pigeons missing feet, broken windows and cavernous air vents—that what he learned that morning was that life was even more hazardous than he had previously realized.
He suffers from a stammer and has big memory gaps. We can only wonder what role shock therapy has contributed to such problems:
ECT would not cause a stammer, the doctor’s agreed. Jim knew they must be right; they were professionals. It was just that a short while after his last session his mouth stopped remembering how to make words.
Despite the alien world of Jim’s mind, his confusion over his budding relationship comes off as universal:
He doesn’t know suddenly what words mean. He can’t see the sense in them; they seem to slice things in half even as he thinks of them. Is he, when he says, “More crisps?”, actually saying something else, something like “I love you, Eileen?” And is she, when she says, “Thanks you,” saying something else, something like “Yes, Jim, I love you.”
Many times his outlook leads to epiphanies that make me think he has a better handle on the mysteries of reality than I do:
Seeing the lilies, Jim’s heart bangs inside his chest. The petaled hoods are so white, so waxy, that they shine. He can smell them. He doesn’t know if he is terribly happy or terribly sad. Maybe he is both. Sometimes things happen like that; they appear like a sign from another part of life, from another context, as if stray moments from the past and present can join up and gain extra significance.
As Jim’s world seems to open up and Byron’s gets more precarious, we look for revelation in the mysterious connection between these two figures in the story. I was content to let Joyce solve it for me at her own pace. The resolution was a surprise, and it felt a little contrived with a bit of the feeling of a fable. It wasn’t quite as “perfect” as in “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry”, but for both the life of the story lies in the journey, not in the arrival at the destination.
This book was provided by the publisher as an e-book loan through the Netgalley program.
The story slowly connects the story of a ten-year old boy, Byron, trying to correct the unhappiness in his mother’s life in 1972 with that of Jim, a lonely middle-aged man beset with obsessive compulsive disorder in the current time. Byron is a sensitive kid in an upper-middle class family with a loving stay-at-home mom, Diana, his sister Lucy, and a cold, controlling father who comes home only on weekends from his banking job. He has become worried about an adjustment to take place in time, an addition of two seconds to the official clock to make up a bit of variation in planetary spin. When his mother has a minor accident on the way to school she is unaware of, these threats link up in his mind and threaten the perfection of the world he tries so hard to hold on to. His mother is so precious to him:
When Byron pictured the inside of his mother, he imagined a series of inlaid drawer with jeweled handles so delicate that his fingers would struggle to get a grip.
Her tenderness grounds his world:
“What is it love?” He told her he was frightened and she rushed to shut the window. She rearranged the curtains into neat blue folds.
“ You’re such a worrier,” she smiled. “Things are never so bad as we think.” Sitting on the edge of his bed, she stroked her fingers over his forehead. She sang a quiet song he didn’t know and he closed his eyes.
He engages his friend James to help him figure things out:
He needed to find James. He needed to find him urgently. James understood things in ways that Byron couldn’t. James was the logical piece of Byron that was missing. The first time Mr. Roper had explained about relativity, for instance, James had nodded enthusiastically as if magnetic forces were a truth he expected all along, whereas for Byron the new idea was like tangles in his head.
He is a quite bamboozled by the mental leaps James is capable of:
James Lowe had once said that a dog was not necessarily a dog. …Maybe, he had said, a dog was really a hat. …I am only saying that hat and dog are words that someone has chosen. And if they are only words someone has chosen, it stands to reason they may have got the wrong ones.
Together they come up with a series of interventions to change his mother’s life, ways to help her get back to perfection and to be her true self through alleviation of her isolation and the controlling boundaries laid down by his father. In the process, he feels himself acquire agency in the world, taking steps toward becoming a man. But his mother surprises him with the changes she makes, leading to more risks to stability of Byron’s world. Many of the attitudes among her coffee-clatch friends she ends up defying (having a friend outside her class; believing a woman’s highest role is not having babies) seem more out of the 50’s than the 70’s, but I let that imperfection in Joyce’s plot slide. It was Byron’s desperate sense of responsibility for his mother that won me over:
He didn’t know how he was going to keep his mother safe. The job seemed too big for one boy alone. There was something about her, something pure and fluid that would not be contained.
In the segments about Jim in the other story thread we learn he has spent years in and out of a mental hospital and now lives in a camper while working at cleaning tasks at a restaurant in a shopping center. The mystery of his connection to the other narrative lurks, but I was content just to dwell in his story. It is one of the most sensitive and empathetic portrayals of mental illness I have encountered. For example, in one scene, a co-worker, Eileen, defends him from a verbal attack by a diner whose coat he has knocked to the floor, and the way the emotional violence undermines his mind rang true for me:
“Pick up that coat.” …“Why don’t you do it yourself?” …The woman will be hurt. Eileen will be hurt. The supermarket customers and Mr. Meade and the girls in the kitchen will be hurt and it is all Jim’s fault. …He can feel the woman watching, both Eileen and the customer with her metallic voice. It is like being peeled. He is more them than himself. Then the rude woman sits.
How his OCD rituals work to make him feel safe is elucidated well by Joyce. In remembering how a psychiatric nurse once exhorted Jim that “You will see that the rituals make no difference”, he clings to his convictions:
But here she was wrong. There were so many people, there was so much chaos—there were fast trains, and busy platforms, there were pigeons missing feet, broken windows and cavernous air vents—that what he learned that morning was that life was even more hazardous than he had previously realized.
He suffers from a stammer and has big memory gaps. We can only wonder what role shock therapy has contributed to such problems:
ECT would not cause a stammer, the doctor’s agreed. Jim knew they must be right; they were professionals. It was just that a short while after his last session his mouth stopped remembering how to make words.
Despite the alien world of Jim’s mind, his confusion over his budding relationship comes off as universal:
He doesn’t know suddenly what words mean. He can’t see the sense in them; they seem to slice things in half even as he thinks of them. Is he, when he says, “More crisps?”, actually saying something else, something like “I love you, Eileen?” And is she, when she says, “Thanks you,” saying something else, something like “Yes, Jim, I love you.”
Many times his outlook leads to epiphanies that make me think he has a better handle on the mysteries of reality than I do:
Seeing the lilies, Jim’s heart bangs inside his chest. The petaled hoods are so white, so waxy, that they shine. He can smell them. He doesn’t know if he is terribly happy or terribly sad. Maybe he is both. Sometimes things happen like that; they appear like a sign from another part of life, from another context, as if stray moments from the past and present can join up and gain extra significance.
As Jim’s world seems to open up and Byron’s gets more precarious, we look for revelation in the mysterious connection between these two figures in the story. I was content to let Joyce solve it for me at her own pace. The resolution was a surprise, and it felt a little contrived with a bit of the feeling of a fable. It wasn’t quite as “perfect” as in “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry”, but for both the life of the story lies in the journey, not in the arrival at the destination.
This book was provided by the publisher as an e-book loan through the Netgalley program.
January 25, 2021
Eleven-year-old Byron Hemmings becomes anxious when his friend James tells him that two seconds are going to be added to the clock to compensate for the 1972 leap year.
Fretting about this when his mother Diana is driving him to upscale Winston House school one morning, Byron is sure his watch has moved backward. He insists on showing Diana the watch, which causes her to swerve her Jaguar and hit a young girl on Digby Street - a neighborhood of working class people. Unaware of what's happened Diana continues on her way.
Byron, obsessed with the accident, hounds Diana until he convinces her of the incident and she goes back to Digby Street to "confess."
This starts a series of events that have dire consequences. Diana develops a friendship with Beverley, mother of the injured child Jeanie. Jeanie sustained very minor injuries but - as Beverley becomes more and more envious of Diana's lovely home and lifestyle - Jeanie's "disability" suspiciously become worse and worse. This, in turn, makes Diana more and more frantic to make amends.
Byron, wanting to help Diana and encouraged by his friend James, studies what's going on and keeps a journal where he writes and sketches everything - starting with the accident and continuing with Beverley's visits to his home, Jeanie's escalating problems, and so on.
He shares this observations with James, who seems to be over-interested in the entire affair.
All this exacerbates the tension in the Hemmings home, which is already high. Byron's father Seymour, who works in the city and comes home only on weekends, is wildly jealous, suspicious of Diana, obsessed with appearances, and distant toward Byron and his sister Lucy.
Thus Diana - who seems to have an "unrespectable" history and takes some kind of medication - is determined to keep the accident and new friendship a secret from her husband.
This story alternates with anecdotes about a man named Jim that take place forty years in the future. Jim - who has spent most of his life in mental institutions - is now out. He has a bad stammer and is severely handicapped by obsessive compulsive disorder. However, Jim is able to live in his camper and maintain a job cleaning tables at a supermarket cafe. Jim is almost incapable of interacting with other people but seems to want to befriend his co-worker Eileen.
The author does a good job conveying the ambiance of the Hemmings home as well as the mental/emotional states of the main characters. I don't want to give away spoilers so I won't say more except that the story provides an interesting treatise about obvious and not-so-obvious mental breakdowns.
You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/
December 4, 2013
Great literary dramas strive on understatement. From the first few pages of Rachel Joyce's nearly perfect Perfect, we know there will be tragedy. We know it will affect two children in traumatic ways. But the author leads us on oh so slowly, giving us bits and pieces as we need them. We are given a tantalizing premise at the first page. In 1972, James Lowe tells his best friend Byron Hemmings, that 2 seconds were added onto time to keep it in sync with the earth's movement. What James accepts as an exciting bit of trivia, Bryon reacts with fear. Then an unfortunate event occurs that cements Bryon's fear that reality has been thrown out of whack. Everything that follows comes from these occurrences.
But the novel is about much more than tragedy. It is told in alternating stories. One taking place in the 70s and another happening about 40 years later.They intersect well with all the details being filled as we read the novel. As important to the story as Jim and Bryon is Bryon's mother, Diana. She is in a position of privilege but is uncomfortable to it and as delicate to reality as her son Bryon. The British author is taking on the issue of class with some devastating frankness. I was also impressed by Joyce's depiction of the Hemmings family. The father is often absent and while Diana tries to be a good mother, her relation to Bryon is more like equals than mother and son. We find the son often taking the role of dispensing advice to his mother which only heighten the sense of doom as we watch both of them unraveling.
It a delicate and beautiful balancing act. James seems to be on the outskirt of the action but often the instigator. He is seen by others as the troublemaker and maybe a bit unhinged but one of the delights in this novel is in discovering the true connection with the characters and especially the connection to the two individuals depicts in the two alternating stories.
The novel grabbed me from the first page yet some may find it a little plodding and frustrating. I can only say stick with it and you will be rewarded and maybe a little stunned with the end like I was.
But the novel is about much more than tragedy. It is told in alternating stories. One taking place in the 70s and another happening about 40 years later.They intersect well with all the details being filled as we read the novel. As important to the story as Jim and Bryon is Bryon's mother, Diana. She is in a position of privilege but is uncomfortable to it and as delicate to reality as her son Bryon. The British author is taking on the issue of class with some devastating frankness. I was also impressed by Joyce's depiction of the Hemmings family. The father is often absent and while Diana tries to be a good mother, her relation to Bryon is more like equals than mother and son. We find the son often taking the role of dispensing advice to his mother which only heighten the sense of doom as we watch both of them unraveling.
It a delicate and beautiful balancing act. James seems to be on the outskirt of the action but often the instigator. He is seen by others as the troublemaker and maybe a bit unhinged but one of the delights in this novel is in discovering the true connection with the characters and especially the connection to the two individuals depicts in the two alternating stories.
The novel grabbed me from the first page yet some may find it a little plodding and frustrating. I can only say stick with it and you will be rewarded and maybe a little stunned with the end like I was.
April 14, 2025
I’ve just read again this stunning novel. I first read it in 2014, in March. So - wow! 11 years ago and I recall how much I loved it then too.
Astonishing book, I'm in tears after literally just finishing it, this book punched me in the stomach and took emotions to another place. I have rarely cried reading a book, interestingly Rachel Joyce's first novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry did too.
I won't repeat the book synopsis here but the book is magical, the writing is sublime. It is a book to please persist with, it can seem slow going in places but when all the pieces of the story interweave together it will be worth it, I promise.
I loved Diana, Byron's mother in the book, because she could be any of a million women in the world, living a similar existence, she was so normal yet so tragic too.
There is humour if you look for it in this book but overall it's a sad melancholy story but wow does it pack a powerful punch at the end. I was similarly moved by her other novel, you just simply have to read this book.
I just want to hug Byron, the young boy whom much of the book focuses on, he made me want to invite him home for a hot chocolate and popcorn. Beautiful and heartbreaking portrayal of a young boys life and inner world.
It made me cry! I got choked up, that never happens to me, ever....highly recommended reading, and hold on to the very end, don't skip a single word, you'll be so glad you did, but have the tissues ready.
Rachel Joyce is one of my favourite authors. Beautifully written books that capture the light and shade of life.
::~~~~~~:::::~~~~~:::::~~~~~:::::~~~~~~::
Thanks so much for reading my review!
I hope you enjoyed it, if you did I’d be delighted if you leave me a “like” and I love to read your comments. If you’d like to connect you can follow me or please send me a friend request.
You can also find me on Amazon U.K. where I am a Top 500 Reviewer.
If you are an Author or Publisher and you’d like me to consider reading and reviewing your book(s) please just message me.
Astonishing book, I'm in tears after literally just finishing it, this book punched me in the stomach and took emotions to another place. I have rarely cried reading a book, interestingly Rachel Joyce's first novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry did too.
I won't repeat the book synopsis here but the book is magical, the writing is sublime. It is a book to please persist with, it can seem slow going in places but when all the pieces of the story interweave together it will be worth it, I promise.
I loved Diana, Byron's mother in the book, because she could be any of a million women in the world, living a similar existence, she was so normal yet so tragic too.
There is humour if you look for it in this book but overall it's a sad melancholy story but wow does it pack a powerful punch at the end. I was similarly moved by her other novel, you just simply have to read this book.
I just want to hug Byron, the young boy whom much of the book focuses on, he made me want to invite him home for a hot chocolate and popcorn. Beautiful and heartbreaking portrayal of a young boys life and inner world.
It made me cry! I got choked up, that never happens to me, ever....highly recommended reading, and hold on to the very end, don't skip a single word, you'll be so glad you did, but have the tissues ready.
Rachel Joyce is one of my favourite authors. Beautifully written books that capture the light and shade of life.
::~~~~~~:::::~~~~~:::::~~~~~:::::~~~~~~::
Thanks so much for reading my review!
I hope you enjoyed it, if you did I’d be delighted if you leave me a “like” and I love to read your comments. If you’d like to connect you can follow me or please send me a friend request.
You can also find me on Amazon U.K. where I am a Top 500 Reviewer.
If you are an Author or Publisher and you’d like me to consider reading and reviewing your book(s) please just message me.
August 4, 2015
I received an advance copy of this book through a GoodReads contest. My thanks to the author.
I opened the book… read a few pages… closed the book. Opened the book… read a few pages… closed the book. You get the idea? I just couldn’t get into the story. It seemed to go and on, and I could see where the main part of the story was headed, and it seemed to be CRAWLING to get there. It was an awfully long way to go to get to the payoff at the end (for the other part of the dual story).
I started this book on Nov 18th and didn’t finish it until Nov 26th. 9 days is a VERY long time for me to take to read a book. It started to feel like homework, I really wanted to read something else, I started to resent having to read it, and it went downhill from there.
As of today, there are 183 reviews and 597 ratings for this book here on GoodReads. So I don’t feel too bad about not writing a more detailed review. Suffice it to say that it wasn’t for me.
I opened the book… read a few pages… closed the book. Opened the book… read a few pages… closed the book. You get the idea? I just couldn’t get into the story. It seemed to go and on, and I could see where the main part of the story was headed, and it seemed to be CRAWLING to get there. It was an awfully long way to go to get to the payoff at the end (for the other part of the dual story).
I started this book on Nov 18th and didn’t finish it until Nov 26th. 9 days is a VERY long time for me to take to read a book. It started to feel like homework, I really wanted to read something else, I started to resent having to read it, and it went downhill from there.
As of today, there are 183 reviews and 597 ratings for this book here on GoodReads. So I don’t feel too bad about not writing a more detailed review. Suffice it to say that it wasn’t for me.
December 10, 2017
Byron and James were school friends in 1972 England who connected with their shared intelligence and sensitivity. Byron always looked up to James, and their peers hung on every word he'd say. James seemed a bit fragile and eccentric, as if he bore a weight with his added knowledge. When James told Byron that he'd read in a newspaper that two seconds would be added that year, Byron fretted about it. A lot can happen in two seconds. In Byron's mind it was responsible for a crucial event that changed his family's life unalterably.
Byron's mother Diana is a very interesting character; beautiful and trying hard to adapt to an upper class environment that is not commensurate with her past. Her dour and severe banker husband Seymour is only home on weekends. Tension reigns while he's in residence as his standards are so high. Their country home sounds idyllic with a pond, flower beds and geese. They seem to have the best of everything, including the new silver Jaguar parked in the garage. This last possession is at the center of the story's turmoil.
A fateful event occurs one hectic morning as the family is running late on the way to school. The event in itself was not catastrophic, but Byron's perception of it sets things on a course of disaster. How he handles it with his best friend James and his Mother Diana is at the crux of this tragic and poignant story.
The story weaves back and forth from 1972 to the present and Jim, a former mental patient of Besley Hill. Besley Hill closed down, and now Jim lives in a van and works at a local store. He performs countless daily rituals like stepping in and out of his van, saying “Hello” to all its contents, and finally, duct taping all its windows and doors. He doesn't feel safe or that things will be right unless he follows this routine. He has difficulty communicating verbally what he's thinking inside. He feels that he may have been damaged by the electric shock treatments he was given at Besley Hill. Jim's job is cleaning the tables in the restaurant area of the store. Despite his awkward nature, he has received friendship and compassion from both co-workers and his boss. He finds a particular connection with Eileen, a co-worker in the restaurant area of the store.
As the chapters volley these time periods and characters back and forth, a very rich story evolves and ultimately unites to a surprising and satisfying conclusion. This is a rare gem of a book that I highly recommend.
Byron's mother Diana is a very interesting character; beautiful and trying hard to adapt to an upper class environment that is not commensurate with her past. Her dour and severe banker husband Seymour is only home on weekends. Tension reigns while he's in residence as his standards are so high. Their country home sounds idyllic with a pond, flower beds and geese. They seem to have the best of everything, including the new silver Jaguar parked in the garage. This last possession is at the center of the story's turmoil.
A fateful event occurs one hectic morning as the family is running late on the way to school. The event in itself was not catastrophic, but Byron's perception of it sets things on a course of disaster. How he handles it with his best friend James and his Mother Diana is at the crux of this tragic and poignant story.
The story weaves back and forth from 1972 to the present and Jim, a former mental patient of Besley Hill. Besley Hill closed down, and now Jim lives in a van and works at a local store. He performs countless daily rituals like stepping in and out of his van, saying “Hello” to all its contents, and finally, duct taping all its windows and doors. He doesn't feel safe or that things will be right unless he follows this routine. He has difficulty communicating verbally what he's thinking inside. He feels that he may have been damaged by the electric shock treatments he was given at Besley Hill. Jim's job is cleaning the tables in the restaurant area of the store. Despite his awkward nature, he has received friendship and compassion from both co-workers and his boss. He finds a particular connection with Eileen, a co-worker in the restaurant area of the store.
As the chapters volley these time periods and characters back and forth, a very rich story evolves and ultimately unites to a surprising and satisfying conclusion. This is a rare gem of a book that I highly recommend.
March 21, 2025
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
Byron and James are schoolmates and friends in the late 60’s/early 70’s. They are from “proper English families”. When they hear about 2 seconds being added to each year to compensate for Leap Years they are intrigued and a bit frightened.
One day Byron’s mom is driving him to school and an event occurs that changes their lives. There is also a pretty cool twist toward the end.
This book is told in alternating time lines of past and present/ childhood and adulthood but the main theme in my mind is mental health care (more so the LACK of good mental healthcare) in our world.
When will we ever get it right?
Byron and James are schoolmates and friends in the late 60’s/early 70’s. They are from “proper English families”. When they hear about 2 seconds being added to each year to compensate for Leap Years they are intrigued and a bit frightened.
One day Byron’s mom is driving him to school and an event occurs that changes their lives. There is also a pretty cool twist toward the end.
This book is told in alternating time lines of past and present/ childhood and adulthood but the main theme in my mind is mental health care (more so the LACK of good mental healthcare) in our world.
When will we ever get it right?
February 22, 2021
A really poignant and what should have been.....an emotional read.
Reading the blurb I was expecting so very much more.
Lovely writing.
Great story.
But no heartstrings pulled.
Reading the blurb I was expecting so very much more.
Lovely writing.
Great story.
But no heartstrings pulled.
January 2, 2014
How many times have we convinced ourselves that we'd only missed a change so profound to our lives by a few second? Or that if only we'd been somewhere at a certain time could our luck have gone differently? This is the idea that cripples Byron Hemmings when he's sure that the 2 seconds added on to time have caused a chain reaction of events that forever change his life. Rachel Joyce's Perfect explores time and how it affects us all. Good or bad.
In June of 1972, Byron's overactive imagination convinces him that the alter in time will only end with horrible consequences. He asks his best friend James Lowe, who's also the person who told him the news of 2 additional seconds, how can they add 2 seconds that don't exist. It wasn't safe. If only he hadn't been told about the 2 seconds, his life could quite possibly have gone in a different direction.
While rushing from the home one morning, Byron's mother, Diane, decides to take a shortcut through a part of the town that's considered to be seedy. Digby Road is one to be avoided at all costs says his father and their other upper-crust friends. While trying to recoup the loss of time, Diane's new Jaguar seemingly collides with something. Byron is sure that his mother has either ignored that she hit something/someone or is just oblivious to what has happened. They continue on this forbidden road but Byron is unable to forget that something tragic has happened.
Perfect alternates with an equally interesting story of a man named Jim. Jim has been in and out of psyche institutes and bases his life on rituals. These rituals he must perform is in order to avoid mistakes or misfortune. Ironic since he lives out of a van and seems like a shell of a man. His story is heartbreaking yet I still had hope for this man. He seemed to be so damaged and in need of a friend. Anyone who would care about what time has done to him or cost him.
A few short months after the time change life changes drastically for both boys Byron and James. Because Perfect primarily focuses on Byron, we readers are able to take the journey with him. It's almost like a coming of age story at times when Joyce describes the inner struggles that Byron goes through. We also see how protective of his mother he is. Lovely Diane...
Perfect seems to focus heavily on Diane. She's the forgotten housewife who's husband only comes home on the weekends. Sure she gets to live in a magnificent home in the English countryside and has two wonderful children. But why does she seem so neglected? Byron seemingly wants to protect her from everything. He almost takes on the role of being man of the house especially where her new friend Beverly is concerned. The two, Diane and Byron, are definitely close. It is because of Byron's intentions of her well-being that things fall apart.
Overall, Perfect was the perfect book to start off 2014. Although it is heavy and dark there are moments where hope prevails. The best way to welcome the new year is to realize that time waits for no one. What's done is done. What will be will be. Sometimes it's better to just live out the mistakes instead of working to repair them.
Copy provided by Random House via Netgalley
In June of 1972, Byron's overactive imagination convinces him that the alter in time will only end with horrible consequences. He asks his best friend James Lowe, who's also the person who told him the news of 2 additional seconds, how can they add 2 seconds that don't exist. It wasn't safe. If only he hadn't been told about the 2 seconds, his life could quite possibly have gone in a different direction.
While rushing from the home one morning, Byron's mother, Diane, decides to take a shortcut through a part of the town that's considered to be seedy. Digby Road is one to be avoided at all costs says his father and their other upper-crust friends. While trying to recoup the loss of time, Diane's new Jaguar seemingly collides with something. Byron is sure that his mother has either ignored that she hit something/someone or is just oblivious to what has happened. They continue on this forbidden road but Byron is unable to forget that something tragic has happened.
Perfect alternates with an equally interesting story of a man named Jim. Jim has been in and out of psyche institutes and bases his life on rituals. These rituals he must perform is in order to avoid mistakes or misfortune. Ironic since he lives out of a van and seems like a shell of a man. His story is heartbreaking yet I still had hope for this man. He seemed to be so damaged and in need of a friend. Anyone who would care about what time has done to him or cost him.
A few short months after the time change life changes drastically for both boys Byron and James. Because Perfect primarily focuses on Byron, we readers are able to take the journey with him. It's almost like a coming of age story at times when Joyce describes the inner struggles that Byron goes through. We also see how protective of his mother he is. Lovely Diane...
Perfect seems to focus heavily on Diane. She's the forgotten housewife who's husband only comes home on the weekends. Sure she gets to live in a magnificent home in the English countryside and has two wonderful children. But why does she seem so neglected? Byron seemingly wants to protect her from everything. He almost takes on the role of being man of the house especially where her new friend Beverly is concerned. The two, Diane and Byron, are definitely close. It is because of Byron's intentions of her well-being that things fall apart.
Overall, Perfect was the perfect book to start off 2014. Although it is heavy and dark there are moments where hope prevails. The best way to welcome the new year is to realize that time waits for no one. What's done is done. What will be will be. Sometimes it's better to just live out the mistakes instead of working to repair them.
Copy provided by Random House via Netgalley
January 2, 2014
I absolutely loved Rachel Joyce’s debut novel ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’, so I was excited to start her latest one. And as it often goes with books you’re really excited about: some of my hopes were satisfied, some a bit less. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a really nice book that many people will enjoy reading.
Two alternating stories are being told in this novel. The most interesting one takes place in 1972, the year that two seconds were going to be added to the clock because time was out of joint with the movement of the Earth. The thought terrifies Byron Hemmings, an 11-year-old upper class boy: Time is not something to be tampered with.
One morning everything goes wrong: shattered glass at the breakfast table, traffic jams and to avoid being late they drive through Digby Road, a place the upper class doesn’t go. And just then, Byron notices his watch go one second back and then one second forward again. Time was being added right there, and in two seconds a lot can happen.
I loved the way this part of the story was written: Byron’s unease about the two seconds, his stunted attempts to right the wrongs, the daily visits of people who don’t seem to belong there and the stubborn refusal of his sister to accept them.
There is a second story being told in current time, and though this additional storyline brings some depth to the novel, it still failed to grab me and all I wanted was to go back to 1972. The second story’s ending also didn’t really work for me: the sunshine breaks through the skies a bit too bright and sudden. I would have been happier for it to end with just the suggestion of rainbows and sunshine ahead.
In many ways, I think this book has more mature plot and theme than her previous novel did. The opposition of upper class versus lower class works out really well for instance, but I thought it was less strong on the characters. There are some really intriguing ones especially in the back story with Byron, Lucy and their mother, but none of them grabbed me like Harold Fry did.
The biggest grievance I have is about the title though: ‘Perfect’ is such a weird title for a book like this. First of that word has been overused by chick-lit and romance novels and many people who would enjoy this novel might not even consider it because of that title; but above all – I don’t think it covers the book really well.
I’ve noticed that nearly all translations have changed the title, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence, because all of these titles (which I clumsily translated – except for the Icelandic, that’s all google translate’s work) would work so much better for this book.
Dutch: ‘The day time stood still’
French: ‘Two seconds too much’
German: ‘The year that needed two seconds more’
Italian: ‘The bizarre incident of stolen time’
Icelandic: ‘When two seconds were added to time’
But in the end, a title is just that: a title. It doesn’t change the story itself, and I think that anyone who loved reading about Harold Fry, will enjoy reading Byron’s story as well.
Disclaimer: This book has been provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This review reflects my own experience and opinion with this book. All quotes are taken from the pre-published copy and may be altered or omitted from the final copy.
Two alternating stories are being told in this novel. The most interesting one takes place in 1972, the year that two seconds were going to be added to the clock because time was out of joint with the movement of the Earth. The thought terrifies Byron Hemmings, an 11-year-old upper class boy: Time is not something to be tampered with.
“The addition of two seconds was extremely exciting, said James. First, man had put a man on the moon. Now they were going to alter time. But how could two seconds exist where two seconds had not existed before?”
One morning everything goes wrong: shattered glass at the breakfast table, traffic jams and to avoid being late they drive through Digby Road, a place the upper class doesn’t go. And just then, Byron notices his watch go one second back and then one second forward again. Time was being added right there, and in two seconds a lot can happen.
“Nothing happened by itself. And even though it was not his mother’s fault, even though no one knew about the accident, there must be repercussions. He listened to the clocks all over the house, ticking and tocking and chiming their passage through time.
One day – if not now, then in the future – someone would have to pay.”
I loved the way this part of the story was written: Byron’s unease about the two seconds, his stunted attempts to right the wrongs, the daily visits of people who don’t seem to belong there and the stubborn refusal of his sister to accept them.
There is a second story being told in current time, and though this additional storyline brings some depth to the novel, it still failed to grab me and all I wanted was to go back to 1972. The second story’s ending also didn’t really work for me: the sunshine breaks through the skies a bit too bright and sudden. I would have been happier for it to end with just the suggestion of rainbows and sunshine ahead.
In many ways, I think this book has more mature plot and theme than her previous novel did. The opposition of upper class versus lower class works out really well for instance, but I thought it was less strong on the characters. There are some really intriguing ones especially in the back story with Byron, Lucy and their mother, but none of them grabbed me like Harold Fry did.
The biggest grievance I have is about the title though: ‘Perfect’ is such a weird title for a book like this. First of that word has been overused by chick-lit and romance novels and many people who would enjoy this novel might not even consider it because of that title; but above all – I don’t think it covers the book really well.
I’ve noticed that nearly all translations have changed the title, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence, because all of these titles (which I clumsily translated – except for the Icelandic, that’s all google translate’s work) would work so much better for this book.
Dutch: ‘The day time stood still’
French: ‘Two seconds too much’
German: ‘The year that needed two seconds more’
Italian: ‘The bizarre incident of stolen time’
Icelandic: ‘When two seconds were added to time’
But in the end, a title is just that: a title. It doesn’t change the story itself, and I think that anyone who loved reading about Harold Fry, will enjoy reading Byron’s story as well.
Disclaimer: This book has been provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This review reflects my own experience and opinion with this book. All quotes are taken from the pre-published copy and may be altered or omitted from the final copy.
October 12, 2018
Das Buch, das zwei Sterne brachte...
...aber auch nur mit großem Wohlwollen. Für diesen Roman sprach das zur Geschichte passende ruhige Erzähltempo und die Tatsache, dass ich es zum Ende durchgehalten habe. Aber ansonsten bleibt nicht viel Positives übrig.
Frau Joyce hatte wohl die Idee, eine Geschichte zu schreiben, in der es darum geht, wie Begebenheiten und Entscheidungen zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt des Lebens Auswirkungen auf alles Folgende haben. Das ist nun wirklich keine Weisheit. Hätte ich damals x, dann wärest du nicht y und z wäre dann auch nicht so gelaufen. Die Geschichte ist oft ruhig, teilweise aber sehr konstruiert und stellenweise schlichtweg langweilig für mich erzählt. Außerdem dienen die krankenhaften Verhaltenweisen der Protagonisten in der Familie (Zwangsstörungen beim Sohn, Selbstwertdefizite und pathologische Unterwürfigkeit bei der Mutter, Aggression und Dominanz beim Vater) nur zu Unterhaltungszwecken. Gefühle werden benannt, Dialoge wie in einem Bühnenstück breit getreten. Das ist sehr simple Unterhaltung nach meinem Empfinden, die in keiner Weise die Fanatsie des Lesers anspricht.
Um den Spannungsbogen aufrecht zu erhalten, erzählt Joyce zwei parallel laufenden Handlungsstränge. Neben der Vergangenheit in den 70er Jahren auch eine Geschichte über einen Mann, der sein Leben nicht im Griff hat, in der Neuzeit. Fast bis zum Ende ist nicht klar, wie die Stränge zusammenhängen. Die Auflösung ist dann vorhersehbar und hat den Hang zur Kitschigkeit. Das Buch war gemächlich, relativ unterhaltsam, aber wird mir nicht lange in Erinnerung bleiben.
...aber auch nur mit großem Wohlwollen. Für diesen Roman sprach das zur Geschichte passende ruhige Erzähltempo und die Tatsache, dass ich es zum Ende durchgehalten habe. Aber ansonsten bleibt nicht viel Positives übrig.
Frau Joyce hatte wohl die Idee, eine Geschichte zu schreiben, in der es darum geht, wie Begebenheiten und Entscheidungen zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt des Lebens Auswirkungen auf alles Folgende haben. Das ist nun wirklich keine Weisheit. Hätte ich damals x, dann wärest du nicht y und z wäre dann auch nicht so gelaufen. Die Geschichte ist oft ruhig, teilweise aber sehr konstruiert und stellenweise schlichtweg langweilig für mich erzählt. Außerdem dienen die krankenhaften Verhaltenweisen der Protagonisten in der Familie (Zwangsstörungen beim Sohn, Selbstwertdefizite und pathologische Unterwürfigkeit bei der Mutter, Aggression und Dominanz beim Vater) nur zu Unterhaltungszwecken. Gefühle werden benannt, Dialoge wie in einem Bühnenstück breit getreten. Das ist sehr simple Unterhaltung nach meinem Empfinden, die in keiner Weise die Fanatsie des Lesers anspricht.
Um den Spannungsbogen aufrecht zu erhalten, erzählt Joyce zwei parallel laufenden Handlungsstränge. Neben der Vergangenheit in den 70er Jahren auch eine Geschichte über einen Mann, der sein Leben nicht im Griff hat, in der Neuzeit. Fast bis zum Ende ist nicht klar, wie die Stränge zusammenhängen. Die Auflösung ist dann vorhersehbar und hat den Hang zur Kitschigkeit. Das Buch war gemächlich, relativ unterhaltsam, aber wird mir nicht lange in Erinnerung bleiben.
September 27, 2015
This is the story of two young boys, a dysfunctional family and how a small event rippled out to affect lives over the next few decades.
The two boys, Byron and James are intrigued by the announcement that time is going to be advanced by two seconds to account for the slight difference the Earth's rotation and the length of a year. Byron becomes obsessed with how this will affect his life and when his mother Diana has an accident at the time he believes the seconds are added, events in his life start to spiral out of control.
The book alternates chapters between the story of that summer in 1972 when Byron and James plot to help Diana atone for her accident and forty years later where a man called Jim, destitute and suffering from OCD is trying to make a life for himself. It took me a little while to get into the book and to work out how the two threads of the story are connected, however it was worthwhile persevering. To me Diana was a tragic figure, married to the wrong man, a cold overbearing mysoginist who drained all the colour and life out of her. Jim's story is also a sad one and you wish you could wind time back and let him start again on a happier route. Despite that there was also humour and love in this well crafted novel.
The two boys, Byron and James are intrigued by the announcement that time is going to be advanced by two seconds to account for the slight difference the Earth's rotation and the length of a year. Byron becomes obsessed with how this will affect his life and when his mother Diana has an accident at the time he believes the seconds are added, events in his life start to spiral out of control.
The book alternates chapters between the story of that summer in 1972 when Byron and James plot to help Diana atone for her accident and forty years later where a man called Jim, destitute and suffering from OCD is trying to make a life for himself. It took me a little while to get into the book and to work out how the two threads of the story are connected, however it was worthwhile persevering. To me Diana was a tragic figure, married to the wrong man, a cold overbearing mysoginist who drained all the colour and life out of her. Jim's story is also a sad one and you wish you could wind time back and let him start again on a happier route. Despite that there was also humour and love in this well crafted novel.
January 12, 2014
1.5 out of 5.
There are two alternating parallel narratives in this novel that eventually intersect. Pacing is an issue. ¾ of the novel moves at a snail’s pace while the last ¼ is rushed. The conclusion, although satisfactory (in that it wraps up the storyline), is too tidy to be realistic.
Character development is stiff – As a result, the unfolding of events don’t quite fit together. The literary devices used to move the story forward are gimmicky, forced and deliberately misleading. All in all, for an author who’s been nominated for awards previously, this novel’s writing lacked sophistication although it flirted with pretention. Quite boring.
There are two alternating parallel narratives in this novel that eventually intersect. Pacing is an issue. ¾ of the novel moves at a snail’s pace while the last ¼ is rushed. The conclusion, although satisfactory (in that it wraps up the storyline), is too tidy to be realistic.
Character development is stiff – As a result, the unfolding of events don’t quite fit together. The literary devices used to move the story forward are gimmicky, forced and deliberately misleading. All in all, for an author who’s been nominated for awards previously, this novel’s writing lacked sophistication although it flirted with pretention. Quite boring.
June 18, 2017
My third Rachel Joyce novel, all of which are 5 star gorgeous reads ❤❤❤❤❤
October 5, 2013
First, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a big thank you to Goodreads FirstReads and Random House for providing an advance copy of PERFECT in exchange for an honest review. I was thrilled to win this book since I loved Ms. Joyce's debut book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye.
Rachel Joyce deserves applause for not going back to the well. PERFECT is an entirely different book, revealing the versatility of this author. And indeed, I expect it WILL be Perfect for some readers. My personal reading experience was a bit more conflicted.
The book focuses on two boys: Byron and James, two privileged 11-year-olds who attend Winston House School because it is private. James is the cleverer of the two, and shares some trivia with Byron: two seconds will be added to time to balance time with the earth’s movement. Those two seconds will eventually make a world of difference when his focus on the time anomaly coincides with a terrible miscalculation on the part of his mother, Diana.
Alternating chapters center on an older man named Jim, a gentle but damaged character whose obsessive-compulsive disorder and memory loss place him out of step with those around him. These two seemingly unrelated stories eventually provide the whole of a puzzle.
The author knows how to tell a compelling story; she has proved that before and she proves it again. Yet the story, this time, may be a little too pat. Acquiescent Diana – who tries mightily to be the perfect wife-- and her controlling husband, Seymour, are a little too clichéd, even for the early 1970s (which is when this book takes place). Her would-be friend, Beverley, who is of a whole different social class, is too evident in her manipulation; I couldn’t quite understand why Diana couldn’t see through her. And Jim’s therapeutic guidance can seem rote (“Yes, we have done some very good work,” says the counselor. Jim is ready to let go. He can get on with his life now.”)
Additionally, the theme is hammered home once too often “You said we shouldn’t play with time. It isn’t up to us, you said, “You were right. It’s playing with fire when we tamper with the gods.” And later “All those years of trying to get it right –they meant nothing. You can run and run, but in the end you won’t get away from the gods.”
While not perfect, this is far from an imperfect read. I can imagine this book being a favorite of book clubs for the questions it evokes about social strata and rigid gender expectations, fractured lives and false self-perceptions, the stigma of mental illness, and perfection is often not the standard we should strive for. I encourage other readers to see for themselves whether the book speaks to them.
Rachel Joyce deserves applause for not going back to the well. PERFECT is an entirely different book, revealing the versatility of this author. And indeed, I expect it WILL be Perfect for some readers. My personal reading experience was a bit more conflicted.
The book focuses on two boys: Byron and James, two privileged 11-year-olds who attend Winston House School because it is private. James is the cleverer of the two, and shares some trivia with Byron: two seconds will be added to time to balance time with the earth’s movement. Those two seconds will eventually make a world of difference when his focus on the time anomaly coincides with a terrible miscalculation on the part of his mother, Diana.
Alternating chapters center on an older man named Jim, a gentle but damaged character whose obsessive-compulsive disorder and memory loss place him out of step with those around him. These two seemingly unrelated stories eventually provide the whole of a puzzle.
The author knows how to tell a compelling story; she has proved that before and she proves it again. Yet the story, this time, may be a little too pat. Acquiescent Diana – who tries mightily to be the perfect wife-- and her controlling husband, Seymour, are a little too clichéd, even for the early 1970s (which is when this book takes place). Her would-be friend, Beverley, who is of a whole different social class, is too evident in her manipulation; I couldn’t quite understand why Diana couldn’t see through her. And Jim’s therapeutic guidance can seem rote (“Yes, we have done some very good work,” says the counselor. Jim is ready to let go. He can get on with his life now.”)
Additionally, the theme is hammered home once too often “You said we shouldn’t play with time. It isn’t up to us, you said, “You were right. It’s playing with fire when we tamper with the gods.” And later “All those years of trying to get it right –they meant nothing. You can run and run, but in the end you won’t get away from the gods.”
While not perfect, this is far from an imperfect read. I can imagine this book being a favorite of book clubs for the questions it evokes about social strata and rigid gender expectations, fractured lives and false self-perceptions, the stigma of mental illness, and perfection is often not the standard we should strive for. I encourage other readers to see for themselves whether the book speaks to them.
September 27, 2014
If I was a really shitty critic I’d begin this review by saying something pithy like:It’s the brave author who decides to call their book Perfect. Instead I’d rather show you why I loved this book so much:
"‘I know what I’m doing Byron, I don’t need help’. Every word of Lucy’s sounded like a neat little attack on the air."
There’s something just a little bit perfect about that turn of phrase. … a neat little attack on the air… Those seven words not only say something about the core theme of the novel – class – it also gives us insight into Lucy’s upbringing (she’s Byron’s younger sister). A neat little attack – no gnashing of teeth, or screeching and shouting. Good boys and girls who go to the best private schools don’t resort to tantrums and meltdowns.
And class, or as Susanna Rustin describes it in her review for the Guardian, the perils of ‘social mobility’, is key to the novel. Byron’s mother Diana is trapped by her upper class lifestyle, a world she wasn’t born into. While her ‘friend’ Beverley wants desperately to break away from her blue collar existence. Much of the books narrative drive comes from that friction of class and status between Diana and Beverley.
Anxiety and mental illness also play a significant role in the way the characters develop especially, and sadly, Byron and his best friend James. For those who’ve read the book I’d be curious to know whether Joyce has appropriately captured the uneasiness and fear that can result from a severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. As someone who doesn’t know any better, the portrayal of Jim who has OCD felt genuine.
It’s interesting comparing this novel with Neil Gaiman’s Ocean At The End Of The Lane. Both are about memory and recalling a dark moment from one’s past. Both have children as the central characters. And yet the Joyce has the heart that the Gaiman lacks. My opinion of course, but there is an astonishing, heartbreaking scene late in the novel – one that I refuse to spoil – that Joyce has earned simply because of her brilliant character work.
There is a character revelation toward the end of the novel that I found a bit obvious. It doesn’t derail the book – I was completely sold by that stage – but I’m not completely sure why Joyce felt the thematic and narrative need to hide this particular plot point.
But apart from that minor quibble I recommend / endorse / suggest you purchase right this moment Perfect by Rachel Joyce. And while you’re doing that I’m going to add her critically acclaimed first novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, to the queue.
"‘I know what I’m doing Byron, I don’t need help’. Every word of Lucy’s sounded like a neat little attack on the air."
There’s something just a little bit perfect about that turn of phrase. … a neat little attack on the air… Those seven words not only say something about the core theme of the novel – class – it also gives us insight into Lucy’s upbringing (she’s Byron’s younger sister). A neat little attack – no gnashing of teeth, or screeching and shouting. Good boys and girls who go to the best private schools don’t resort to tantrums and meltdowns.
And class, or as Susanna Rustin describes it in her review for the Guardian, the perils of ‘social mobility’, is key to the novel. Byron’s mother Diana is trapped by her upper class lifestyle, a world she wasn’t born into. While her ‘friend’ Beverley wants desperately to break away from her blue collar existence. Much of the books narrative drive comes from that friction of class and status between Diana and Beverley.
Anxiety and mental illness also play a significant role in the way the characters develop especially, and sadly, Byron and his best friend James. For those who’ve read the book I’d be curious to know whether Joyce has appropriately captured the uneasiness and fear that can result from a severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. As someone who doesn’t know any better, the portrayal of Jim who has OCD felt genuine.
It’s interesting comparing this novel with Neil Gaiman’s Ocean At The End Of The Lane. Both are about memory and recalling a dark moment from one’s past. Both have children as the central characters. And yet the Joyce has the heart that the Gaiman lacks. My opinion of course, but there is an astonishing, heartbreaking scene late in the novel – one that I refuse to spoil – that Joyce has earned simply because of her brilliant character work.
There is a character revelation toward the end of the novel that I found a bit obvious. It doesn’t derail the book – I was completely sold by that stage – but I’m not completely sure why Joyce felt the thematic and narrative need to hide this particular plot point.
But apart from that minor quibble I recommend / endorse / suggest you purchase right this moment Perfect by Rachel Joyce. And while you’re doing that I’m going to add her critically acclaimed first novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, to the queue.
July 2, 2013
In 1972 two seconds were added to time, to bring the clock back into line with the movement of the earth. Now two seconds might not seem like very much at all, but they could be very important. Byron was eleven years old, and he knew that.
“Two seconds are huge. It’s the difference between something happening and something not happening. It’s very dangerous.”
He was right, of course. Two seconds can make all the difference; for better or for worse.
Byron and his best friend James talked it over. James was sure that everything would be alright but, though Byron had great faith in his friend, he continued to worry. And what happened one morning, when his mother was driving Byron and sister his sister Lucy to school, proved him right. He saw the second hand of his watch go backwards and then it happened ….
Diana, Byron’s mother didn’t even notice, and so once again Byron consulted James. They launched ‘Operation Perfect’ to analyse what happened, to manage the repercussions, and to make things right, as they had been before. But they find that things that happen, things that they do, can have unforeseen and unmanageable consequences.
‘Operation Perfect’ changed everything. For ever.
I loved watching Byron and James. I cared about them, and I worried about them. I wanted to reach into the book and guide them, but of course I couldn’t.
But this is really Diana’s story; she was its emotional centre. She was plucked from life as a performer to become the trophy wife of a successful man. A man who seemed to give her everything but his time. She didn’t care for the society of competitive, middle-class mothers, the things that her husband thought important didn’t interest her at all, and at times she struggled to hold on. But she loved her children, she came into her own as a mother, and that was so lovely to see.
‘Operation Perfect’ could make her or it could break her, and my heart rose and fell as events unfolded.
The story was both profound and moving: one for the heart and the head.
And there’s another story. When I realised my heart sank, because the device is over-used, and because I didn’t think the book needed it. But I was wrong, and I was quickly engrossed in both strands of the story. It’s not often you get a twin narrative when either story could have sustained a book on its own …
The second strand was set in the present day, and Jim was trying to get back on his feet, but it wasn’t easy. He had mental health issues, he’d been in and out of institutions, but he had a job and he was living independently. Could he stay on his feet? I really hoped so, and it was lovely to see him find friendship and support can come from the most unlikely of places. He saw new possibilities. But could he take them?
Jim’s story is beautifully observed, and told with such understanding.
I knew that the two stories must be linked, but I didn’t think too much about how. I was too caught up with the characters and the story, and I had every confidence in the author.
This book is a step forward from ‘The Strange Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.’ It’s more sophisticated, more profound, and it speaks so very, very well of what it is that makes us human. The characters and their relationships are beautifully drawn, their stories are cleverly and elegantly constructed, but most of all this is a wonderfully readable book.
Their are so many wonderful details, but I’m not going to spoil them. Because this is a story that can touch your head, your heart and your soul.
And now I am really eager to find out what Rachel Joyce will do with her third book …
“Two seconds are huge. It’s the difference between something happening and something not happening. It’s very dangerous.”
He was right, of course. Two seconds can make all the difference; for better or for worse.
Byron and his best friend James talked it over. James was sure that everything would be alright but, though Byron had great faith in his friend, he continued to worry. And what happened one morning, when his mother was driving Byron and sister his sister Lucy to school, proved him right. He saw the second hand of his watch go backwards and then it happened ….
Diana, Byron’s mother didn’t even notice, and so once again Byron consulted James. They launched ‘Operation Perfect’ to analyse what happened, to manage the repercussions, and to make things right, as they had been before. But they find that things that happen, things that they do, can have unforeseen and unmanageable consequences.
‘Operation Perfect’ changed everything. For ever.
I loved watching Byron and James. I cared about them, and I worried about them. I wanted to reach into the book and guide them, but of course I couldn’t.
But this is really Diana’s story; she was its emotional centre. She was plucked from life as a performer to become the trophy wife of a successful man. A man who seemed to give her everything but his time. She didn’t care for the society of competitive, middle-class mothers, the things that her husband thought important didn’t interest her at all, and at times she struggled to hold on. But she loved her children, she came into her own as a mother, and that was so lovely to see.
‘Operation Perfect’ could make her or it could break her, and my heart rose and fell as events unfolded.
The story was both profound and moving: one for the heart and the head.
And there’s another story. When I realised my heart sank, because the device is over-used, and because I didn’t think the book needed it. But I was wrong, and I was quickly engrossed in both strands of the story. It’s not often you get a twin narrative when either story could have sustained a book on its own …
The second strand was set in the present day, and Jim was trying to get back on his feet, but it wasn’t easy. He had mental health issues, he’d been in and out of institutions, but he had a job and he was living independently. Could he stay on his feet? I really hoped so, and it was lovely to see him find friendship and support can come from the most unlikely of places. He saw new possibilities. But could he take them?
Jim’s story is beautifully observed, and told with such understanding.
I knew that the two stories must be linked, but I didn’t think too much about how. I was too caught up with the characters and the story, and I had every confidence in the author.
This book is a step forward from ‘The Strange Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.’ It’s more sophisticated, more profound, and it speaks so very, very well of what it is that makes us human. The characters and their relationships are beautifully drawn, their stories are cleverly and elegantly constructed, but most of all this is a wonderfully readable book.
Their are so many wonderful details, but I’m not going to spoil them. Because this is a story that can touch your head, your heart and your soul.
And now I am really eager to find out what Rachel Joyce will do with her third book …
September 1, 2016
Phew! That was difficult. 361 pages, a confusing mess of a story and boring characters. Need I say more?
The start was unremarkable and I was tempted several times to set it aside and read something more to my liking. But I persevered hoping that my first impression wouldn't last. The middle bit did arouse my interest and raise my hopes. But in the last third, it just trundled downhill. By the end of it, I couldn't care less about what happens to Byron or James or Diana or anyone else in it. I just couldn't get the point of the story.
'Perfect' didn't work for me.
The start was unremarkable and I was tempted several times to set it aside and read something more to my liking. But I persevered hoping that my first impression wouldn't last. The middle bit did arouse my interest and raise my hopes. But in the last third, it just trundled downhill. By the end of it, I couldn't care less about what happens to Byron or James or Diana or anyone else in it. I just couldn't get the point of the story.
'Perfect' didn't work for me.
February 6, 2020
2,5: um bocadinho mais do que OK, mas não chegou propriamente a "liked it".
São mais de 350 páginas que provavelmente ganhariam se tivessem sido reduzidas a 300.
Também me pareceu que a história, que tinha bastante potencial, acabou por ser mal explorada. Houve partes excessivamente desenvolvidas (toda a parte desde que Berverly entra na história), tornando-se quase repetitivas, outras insuficientemente trabalhadas, que teriam merecido maior desenvolvimento (o passado de Seymor, a relação entre Byron e James), e ainda partes pouco convincentes (tudo o que veio a acontecer a Byron, o afastamento da irmã e do amigo).
Do que mais gostei, foi da capacidade da autora de criar ambientes e momentos de tensão, algo que me pareceu fazer bastante bem.
São mais de 350 páginas que provavelmente ganhariam se tivessem sido reduzidas a 300.
Também me pareceu que a história, que tinha bastante potencial, acabou por ser mal explorada. Houve partes excessivamente desenvolvidas (toda a parte desde que Berverly entra na história), tornando-se quase repetitivas, outras insuficientemente trabalhadas, que teriam merecido maior desenvolvimento (o passado de Seymor, a relação entre Byron e James), e ainda partes pouco convincentes (tudo o que veio a acontecer a Byron, o afastamento da irmã e do amigo).
Do que mais gostei, foi da capacidade da autora de criar ambientes e momentos de tensão, algo que me pareceu fazer bastante bem.
December 30, 2013
This book was not what I expected at all. I requested a copy of this title from Net Galley, based on the literary praise the author received for her prior novel. I often enjoy British authors, as their tone and writing style is different that that of American writers. Overall, I found the book to be confusing, disjointed and overall depressing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a variety of fiction and depressing doesn't automatically tank a book for me, but in this case, it was depressing without redemption.
The story starts with the intriguing premise of two seconds being added to the Atomic Clock in 1972 and how two young boys find this to be extremely unsettling and unnatural. The story hints that this will lead to a tragic event, but it isn't clear how. The story oscillates between the summer of 1972 and 40 years later, with the story of Jim. Jim is a man in his fifties, who has spent his life in and out of a mental asylum, and your heart breaks over and over each time the story is told from his perspective.
Back in 1972, we meet Byron and his friend, James, and Byron's mother, Diana. Diana is your stereotypical emotionally-abused, housewife. Under the strain of being the perfect mother and the perfect wife, a bit naive and sheltered, she becomes the patsy of a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. The story truly enraged me...I just wanted to reach into the book and shake some of the characters. Though this book promised a twist at the end, I was underwhelmed. The book moved slowly and was just a tad too artistic for me.
I agree that this author does have a gift for writing, it's just that her style is not for me. I'm sure there are many readers who will enjoy this book, I'm just not one of them. I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this title and I appreciate receiving the title to review.
I received a copy of this title from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review
The story starts with the intriguing premise of two seconds being added to the Atomic Clock in 1972 and how two young boys find this to be extremely unsettling and unnatural. The story hints that this will lead to a tragic event, but it isn't clear how. The story oscillates between the summer of 1972 and 40 years later, with the story of Jim. Jim is a man in his fifties, who has spent his life in and out of a mental asylum, and your heart breaks over and over each time the story is told from his perspective.
Back in 1972, we meet Byron and his friend, James, and Byron's mother, Diana. Diana is your stereotypical emotionally-abused, housewife. Under the strain of being the perfect mother and the perfect wife, a bit naive and sheltered, she becomes the patsy of a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. The story truly enraged me...I just wanted to reach into the book and shake some of the characters. Though this book promised a twist at the end, I was underwhelmed. The book moved slowly and was just a tad too artistic for me.
I agree that this author does have a gift for writing, it's just that her style is not for me. I'm sure there are many readers who will enjoy this book, I'm just not one of them. I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this title and I appreciate receiving the title to review.
I received a copy of this title from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review
August 7, 2014
I was one of many fans of RJ's previous work The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. If you where not a fan of this book please do not be put off reading this book as it is totally different in many ways. For me I read this in 3 days, and each time I picked the book up I was transported straight away into this world I was reading on paper.
The story follows two protagonists, Byron who is a 11 year old boy telling us of the events of one fateful summer in 1972 which revolves around him being told from his best friend that two seconds would be added to time and how this impacted his and everyone's lives.
The second story follows Jim in present day surroundings he is in his 50's and coping with life with OCD and has spent most of his adult life in psychiatric care.
Both stories are compelling in there own right and you know these stories are interlinked in some way. I thought I knew from start then I doubted myself, and once some of the links start to fall in place, you come to another but gentle reveal that left me crying. It is a beautiful and heart warming story which is good for the soul. I do not want to give any spoilers away, just pick up the book and see for yourself.
The story follows two protagonists, Byron who is a 11 year old boy telling us of the events of one fateful summer in 1972 which revolves around him being told from his best friend that two seconds would be added to time and how this impacted his and everyone's lives.
The second story follows Jim in present day surroundings he is in his 50's and coping with life with OCD and has spent most of his adult life in psychiatric care.
Both stories are compelling in there own right and you know these stories are interlinked in some way. I thought I knew from start then I doubted myself, and once some of the links start to fall in place, you come to another but gentle reveal that left me crying. It is a beautiful and heart warming story which is good for the soul. I do not want to give any spoilers away, just pick up the book and see for yourself.
January 20, 2015
4.5 STARS.
A day like any other till there is a divergence from the usual routine and something bad happens. From that moment, nothing will be the same. This is a book about the road taken and words spoken that change the course of one's life. The reader watches it unfold, wanting to shout "No, can't you see what's happening, can't you see the truth?" But , of course, we are bystanders and are at a loss to do anything. I actually had to close the book and catch my breath, the tension was so high. Such strong powerful writing by the author. This book is so different than her first book "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry". This book is definitely deeper and darker. So many themes in this book, so much to take away. This book will definitely stay with me- even now hours after I have finished it, I am still thinking about it. I highly recommend this book!
A day like any other till there is a divergence from the usual routine and something bad happens. From that moment, nothing will be the same. This is a book about the road taken and words spoken that change the course of one's life. The reader watches it unfold, wanting to shout "No, can't you see what's happening, can't you see the truth?" But , of course, we are bystanders and are at a loss to do anything. I actually had to close the book and catch my breath, the tension was so high. Such strong powerful writing by the author. This book is so different than her first book "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry". This book is definitely deeper and darker. So many themes in this book, so much to take away. This book will definitely stay with me- even now hours after I have finished it, I am still thinking about it. I highly recommend this book!
September 24, 2021
The last section of this book made me feel incredibly sad, and I couldn't put it down. However, it pains me to say that getting to that point was quite dull and trudgy.
Rachel Joyce seems to have an obsession with describing lots of different trees and flowers and things that mean nothing to me, which makes for boring reading. The story was interesting but also felt a little all over the place, and I wasn't quite sure what the story was actually about.
The relationships had good dynamics but they all felt half-done, like there was too much involved in keeping all of them afloat when the story should have just picked one to make the main focus.
I wanted this to hold my attention so much more than it did. An okay read with a strong finish, but generally a little mediocre.
Rachel Joyce seems to have an obsession with describing lots of different trees and flowers and things that mean nothing to me, which makes for boring reading. The story was interesting but also felt a little all over the place, and I wasn't quite sure what the story was actually about.
The relationships had good dynamics but they all felt half-done, like there was too much involved in keeping all of them afloat when the story should have just picked one to make the main focus.
I wanted this to hold my attention so much more than it did. An okay read with a strong finish, but generally a little mediocre.
November 16, 2014
“Sometimes it is easier, he thinks, to live out the mistakes we have made than to summon the energy and imagination to repair them”
Perfect is the second novel by bestselling British author, Rachel Joyce. In the heat of the 1972 English summer, Byron Hemmings, an intense and thoughtful eleven-year-old boy, is worried. His best friend (and the smartest boy in school), James Lowe has told him two seconds are to be added to time. He understands it is necessary, but can’t shake a feeling of terror. When those two seconds appear to result in a car accident involving Diana Hemmings’ perfect Jaguar, Byron worries incessantly about the consequences and, despite his best efforts to follow the meticulous plans James makes, his known universe begins to unravel.
Joyce uses two narrators to tell her story: young Byron relates the events of that 1972 summer; Jim, a man in his fifties whose life is governed by rituals, intersperses his narration of his present day life (currently being disrupted by a red-headed cook uttering profanities) with memories of earlier times and how he came to live most of his life in a mental institution. These narratives approach a common point, gradually revealing the summer’s tragic conclusion.
Joyce renders the feel of the seventies summer and the present day winter with great skill. Her descriptive prose is often breathtaking: “The sun was not yet fully risen and, caught in the low weak shaft of light, the dew shone silver over the meadow although the crust of earth beneath was hard and cracked. The ox-eye daisies made white pools on the lower hills while every tree sprang a black leak away from the sun’s light. The air smelt new and green like mint” and “A flock of gulls flew east, rising and falling, as if they might clean the sky with their wings” and “With a clutter of wings a flock of starlings lifts into the air, unravelling and lengthening like black ribbon” are just a few samples.
Her characters are appealing and the reader cannot help having sympathy for their situation: Diana’s feelings of inadequacy, Byron’s need to protect his beloved mother (“Like a splinter in his head, the truth was always there, and even though he tried to avoid it by being careful, sometimes he forgot to be careful and there it was”), Jim’s attempts to be normal (“No one knows how to be normal, Jim. We’re all just trying our best. Sometimes we don’t have to think about it and other times it’s like running after a bus that’s already halfway down the street.”) Byron’s anxiety is palpable and Joyce portrays mental conditions like depression and OCD with both insight and humour.
She gives her characters words of wisdom: “They’re playing with us, aren’t they?.....The gods. We think we understand, we’ve invented science, but we haven’t a clue. Maybe the clever people are not the ones who think they’re clever. Maybe the clever people are the ones who accept they know nothing” and “Sometimes caring for something already growing is more perilous than planting something new”. On more than one occasion, the reader may well be moved to tears. Fans of Joyce’s work will not be disappointed and newcomers will want to seek out her other books. A moving and uplifting read.
Perfect is the second novel by bestselling British author, Rachel Joyce. In the heat of the 1972 English summer, Byron Hemmings, an intense and thoughtful eleven-year-old boy, is worried. His best friend (and the smartest boy in school), James Lowe has told him two seconds are to be added to time. He understands it is necessary, but can’t shake a feeling of terror. When those two seconds appear to result in a car accident involving Diana Hemmings’ perfect Jaguar, Byron worries incessantly about the consequences and, despite his best efforts to follow the meticulous plans James makes, his known universe begins to unravel.
Joyce uses two narrators to tell her story: young Byron relates the events of that 1972 summer; Jim, a man in his fifties whose life is governed by rituals, intersperses his narration of his present day life (currently being disrupted by a red-headed cook uttering profanities) with memories of earlier times and how he came to live most of his life in a mental institution. These narratives approach a common point, gradually revealing the summer’s tragic conclusion.
Joyce renders the feel of the seventies summer and the present day winter with great skill. Her descriptive prose is often breathtaking: “The sun was not yet fully risen and, caught in the low weak shaft of light, the dew shone silver over the meadow although the crust of earth beneath was hard and cracked. The ox-eye daisies made white pools on the lower hills while every tree sprang a black leak away from the sun’s light. The air smelt new and green like mint” and “A flock of gulls flew east, rising and falling, as if they might clean the sky with their wings” and “With a clutter of wings a flock of starlings lifts into the air, unravelling and lengthening like black ribbon” are just a few samples.
Her characters are appealing and the reader cannot help having sympathy for their situation: Diana’s feelings of inadequacy, Byron’s need to protect his beloved mother (“Like a splinter in his head, the truth was always there, and even though he tried to avoid it by being careful, sometimes he forgot to be careful and there it was”), Jim’s attempts to be normal (“No one knows how to be normal, Jim. We’re all just trying our best. Sometimes we don’t have to think about it and other times it’s like running after a bus that’s already halfway down the street.”) Byron’s anxiety is palpable and Joyce portrays mental conditions like depression and OCD with both insight and humour.
She gives her characters words of wisdom: “They’re playing with us, aren’t they?.....The gods. We think we understand, we’ve invented science, but we haven’t a clue. Maybe the clever people are not the ones who think they’re clever. Maybe the clever people are the ones who accept they know nothing” and “Sometimes caring for something already growing is more perilous than planting something new”. On more than one occasion, the reader may well be moved to tears. Fans of Joyce’s work will not be disappointed and newcomers will want to seek out her other books. A moving and uplifting read.
December 29, 2013
It took me a really long time to finish this book. I kept putting it aside in favor of more interesting fare. I was especially disappointed because I enjoyed Rachel Joyce's first book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, so much that I ordered this book from the UK when it was first published. I didn't want to wait for the US publication date. But, woe is me. The story seemed promising at first, but quickly became disturbing. The characters are exceptionally flawed with a panoply of psychological issues. I didn't like the characters. I was in disbelief to the point of frustration over some of the stupid mistakes they made. Could they really be that naive? The writing is not all bad and some lines are well crafted, but that does not make up for the odd storyline. I have to give this one a decided "Thank you, No!"
October 14, 2016
Τζέιμς, Μπάιρον, Τζιμ... συν 2 δευτερόλεπτα... Τι κοινό μπορούν να έχουν?
2 άνθρωποι του χτες, 1 άνθρωπος του παρόν και 2 δευτερόλεπτα να πλανιούνται στον αέρα.
Ντάιαν, Μπέβερλι και Τζίνι 3 άνθρωποι του χτες κρίκοι της ιστορίας.
Δεν ενθουσιάστηκα τόσο πολύ με την ιστορία του βιβλίου. Τελειώνοντας το ένιωσα ότι όλα κατέληξαν έτσι, για ανώφελο λόγο. Αλλά το βιβλίο περισσότερο μας μιλάει για τις σχέσεις, τα αισθήματα, τα συναισθήματα, τις επιλογές και το αντίκτυπο τους. Το τέλος ήταν λίγο εξωπραγματικό να το κατανοήσω μεν αλλά τόσο τρυφερό δε.
Δεν ενθουσιάστηκα... αλλά και πάλι δεν μετανιώνω που το διάβασα.
2,5 με 3 αστέρια...
2 άνθρωποι του χτες, 1 άνθρωπος του παρόν και 2 δευτερόλεπτα να πλανιούνται στον αέρα.
Ντάιαν, Μπέβερλι και Τζίνι 3 άνθρωποι του χτες κρίκοι της ιστορίας.
Δεν ενθουσιάστηκα τόσο πολύ με την ιστορία του βιβλίου. Τελειώνοντας το ένιωσα ότι όλα κατέληξαν έτσι, για ανώφελο λόγο. Αλλά το βιβλίο περισσότερο μας μιλάει για τις σχέσεις, τα αισθήματα, τα συναισθήματα, τις επιλογές και το αντίκτυπο τους. Το τέλος ήταν λίγο εξωπραγματικό να το κατανοήσω μεν αλλά τόσο τρυφερό δε.
Δεν ενθουσιάστηκα... αλλά και πάλι δεν μετανιώνω που το διάβασα.
2,5 με 3 αστέρια...
July 4, 2013
I won’t be at all surprised if ‘Perfect’ isn’t the book that gets people talking this summer. Rachel Joyce’s first novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was hugely successful and popular last year – deservedly so, I loved it too. I was delighted therefore to receive this review copy of Rachel Joyce’s new novel and have been looking forward to it.
This is certainly a novel to read with a lump in the throat – and a tear in the eye. There were moments I smiled too – rather wryly perhaps – but Perfect is quite an emotional reading experience.
Perfect is a hard novel to review without giving too much away. So, I promise to tread carefully. I feel like I want to really wax lyrical about this book – and at the same time I’m not sure where to start.
In 1972 two seconds are added to time. Eleven year old Byron Hemmings is terrified of what this may mean. It seems only Byron and his friend James take seriously the issue of the added time. However when Byron’s beautiful mother Diana drives the Jaguar down Digby road where Byron’s father has said they must never go, she makes a big mistake –and no one’s life is ever the same again. Were those two seconds to blame?
“The addition of time terrified Byron Hemmings. At eleven years old he was an imaginative boy. He lay awake picturing it happen, and his heart flapped like a bird. He watched the clocks, trying to catch them at it.
‘When will they do it?’ he asked his mother.”
It is Byron’s mother Diana who is at the heart of this novel; it is around Diana that the narrative revolves. Diana is an unhappy middle class wife – her controlling husband is only home at the weekends, and Byron notices she has a different voice that she uses when his father is around. Poor Diana knows she doesn’t really fit into the spiteful little clique of school mothers that meet for coffee. She is nervous of driving the Jaguar her husband is so proud of, shy of mentioning her past employment as a performer and shocks the other mothers when she announces she may want another job one day. Diana makes a mistake, and the consequences which seem to follow that one mistake are heart-breaking and long lasting. Following the incident in Digby Road that summer morning on the way to school – Byron and James launch Operation Perfect to investigate what really happened.
Forty years later Jim, who has spent most of his adult life in and out of Beslely Hill psychiatric hospital which has recently closed, lives in his van. Wearing a small orange hat as he cleans the tables in the supermarket café, Jim is ruled by the rituals he must perform in order to keep himself safe. He loves the moor, likes to plant and finds the world a difficult place. There are times when Jim misses the safety in the routines of Beslely Hill, is haunted by the past, but Jim finds some unlikely friends in his colleagues at the supermarket café, who accept him for who he is. When Jim meets Eileen – who is loud and unpredictable – and has flaming orange hair and a holly-green coat, he is surprised by the beginning of some new feelings.
“He will not share a lift with Eileen. They will not go for a drink. He thinks briefly of how she fell still when she talked about losing things, how she watched and said nothing while Paula shouted. It was like meeting Eileen in completely different, light summer clothes.
Jim wonders if she had mislaid something on the pavement after all. And then it occurs to him that if she did, he would like to spend forever finding it”
Rachel Joyce has a subtle straightforward style of writing that suits this story perfectly; the voices of her characters resonate strongly. The story that unfolds is at times heart-breaking, as the consequences of Byron’s obsession resonate down the years. Although the story is often a sad one, there are moments to smile too, and I came to love these characters, as a reader you see the errors as they make them, and want to pull them back. Unputdownable and captivating, Perfect is certain to be another big success. Rachel Joyce has crafted a wonderfully poignant story with unforgettable characters. There is a gentle redemptive quality to this novel ultimately – which maybe saves it from being unremittingly bleak. I was able to finish the novel with both a lump in my throat and a smile on my face
This is certainly a novel to read with a lump in the throat – and a tear in the eye. There were moments I smiled too – rather wryly perhaps – but Perfect is quite an emotional reading experience.
Perfect is a hard novel to review without giving too much away. So, I promise to tread carefully. I feel like I want to really wax lyrical about this book – and at the same time I’m not sure where to start.
In 1972 two seconds are added to time. Eleven year old Byron Hemmings is terrified of what this may mean. It seems only Byron and his friend James take seriously the issue of the added time. However when Byron’s beautiful mother Diana drives the Jaguar down Digby road where Byron’s father has said they must never go, she makes a big mistake –and no one’s life is ever the same again. Were those two seconds to blame?
“The addition of time terrified Byron Hemmings. At eleven years old he was an imaginative boy. He lay awake picturing it happen, and his heart flapped like a bird. He watched the clocks, trying to catch them at it.
‘When will they do it?’ he asked his mother.”
It is Byron’s mother Diana who is at the heart of this novel; it is around Diana that the narrative revolves. Diana is an unhappy middle class wife – her controlling husband is only home at the weekends, and Byron notices she has a different voice that she uses when his father is around. Poor Diana knows she doesn’t really fit into the spiteful little clique of school mothers that meet for coffee. She is nervous of driving the Jaguar her husband is so proud of, shy of mentioning her past employment as a performer and shocks the other mothers when she announces she may want another job one day. Diana makes a mistake, and the consequences which seem to follow that one mistake are heart-breaking and long lasting. Following the incident in Digby Road that summer morning on the way to school – Byron and James launch Operation Perfect to investigate what really happened.
Forty years later Jim, who has spent most of his adult life in and out of Beslely Hill psychiatric hospital which has recently closed, lives in his van. Wearing a small orange hat as he cleans the tables in the supermarket café, Jim is ruled by the rituals he must perform in order to keep himself safe. He loves the moor, likes to plant and finds the world a difficult place. There are times when Jim misses the safety in the routines of Beslely Hill, is haunted by the past, but Jim finds some unlikely friends in his colleagues at the supermarket café, who accept him for who he is. When Jim meets Eileen – who is loud and unpredictable – and has flaming orange hair and a holly-green coat, he is surprised by the beginning of some new feelings.
“He will not share a lift with Eileen. They will not go for a drink. He thinks briefly of how she fell still when she talked about losing things, how she watched and said nothing while Paula shouted. It was like meeting Eileen in completely different, light summer clothes.
Jim wonders if she had mislaid something on the pavement after all. And then it occurs to him that if she did, he would like to spend forever finding it”
Rachel Joyce has a subtle straightforward style of writing that suits this story perfectly; the voices of her characters resonate strongly. The story that unfolds is at times heart-breaking, as the consequences of Byron’s obsession resonate down the years. Although the story is often a sad one, there are moments to smile too, and I came to love these characters, as a reader you see the errors as they make them, and want to pull them back. Unputdownable and captivating, Perfect is certain to be another big success. Rachel Joyce has crafted a wonderfully poignant story with unforgettable characters. There is a gentle redemptive quality to this novel ultimately – which maybe saves it from being unremittingly bleak. I was able to finish the novel with both a lump in my throat and a smile on my face
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