‘Flat-Out Love’ is a curious read, but one to persevere with.
We first meet Julie when she’s heading to college in Boston. Her accommodation doesn’t work out, so an old college friend of her mother steps in and saves the day. Julie joins this eccentric and highly dysfunctional family, and we get to see her learn more about them as she goes through her studies.
This eighteen year old is quick to take thirteen year old Celeste under her wing, but it is her relationship with Finn – the eldest son – that initially draws us in. Though we’re told Finn is travelling, Julie friends him on Facebook and finds herself drawn to this boy she’s never met.
There are some wonderful moments during this story. It’s witty but also upsetting. Julie seemed a little too keen to ‘fix’ everything, which I wasn’t totally convinced by, but I found myself drawn to her as she learns more about the relationships between those around her.
It is only fairly late on that we start to get clues about the, quite frankly, astonishing revelation this warm but broken family unit have to make. Julie’s initial response had me gulping (and, yes, feeling more than a little teary) but by the end I was quite won over.