This is How You Get Better

by Amal Awad

Life is like an etch-a-sketch. It's only ever clear when it's brand new. After that, no matter how much you wipe over the previous stuff, you can always see the scratch lines, and it never looks the same again.
In survival mode following a messy separation, Lara Abdel-Aziz is estranged from her family and out of touch with her best friend Samira. Making ends meet by working a dead-end job at a fast-food shop, she also sings at a local bar, where she enjoys the freedom to be whoever she likes. Bar owner Leo is good company, but her only other interactions are with her mostly absent flatmate Icky, and her neighbour Angela, who owns a New Age store and desperately wants Lara to get in touch with her higher self.
After a break-in at work forces Lara into counselling, and an encounter with an old friend leads to an unexpected connection, she must start to unpack the events of her life and make peace with the past. But are some things too broken to ever be fixed?
A moving story of healing, connection and fate.

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2015

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

Follow up to Courting Samira but much less of a romance. It's several years on; Lara the wild child friend from book 1 has got married, got divorced, and is doing a series of dead-end jobs. She's drifting, but an attack from her unstable ex tips her over the edge into a not-good mental place, and most of the book is about her taking a hard look at her life and a too-hard look at herself. (She has more self loathing than seems warranted by her actions--which is of course how depression feels.)

She also has two interested men, not counting the ex. The romance element is a constant thread but not the main story, which is very much Lara's struggle to face the fact she has problems and needs to make changes. It nevertheless plays out intriguingly and resolves nicely.

Slightly odd structure--two big time jumps where we miss out on a lot of recovery time--but that's more realistic than showing someone just get better from a deep bout of self loathing over a weekend. An interesting read, heavier than the first but they make a good pair with mdern Muslim heroines.

[Amanda Scott]

I enjoyed this novel. It's setting is Sydney, 2015 and centres on Lara a 30 something Muslim woman. Lara is dealing with lots of issues...divorce from a man who continues to stalk her. She has many unresolved problems. I liked her and I liked seeing life from a new perspective. A good read.

[Nour · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. The familiarity with the character struck me the most.