I knew nothing about this before starting it, hadn’t heard of the book/author and I had already bought The Lost Thumb (her first book) before finishing on the strength of my reaction.
PAH is a story that explores relationships, and though our main character is not likeable I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her.
Susan Brown is a nurse, desperate to escape her life. She alludes to a past that caused discomfort and the details we get (slowly) help us to understand some of her behaviours. Certainly guilty of some dubious conduct, there was a steeliness to Susan’s attempts to get a husband that surprised me.
Watching the interactions between Susan and Jeffrey was difficult. Both very needy and struggling with their own issues, it was hard to see a way out of things for them. The casual violence and disregard for others was alarming, and there were so many examples of this.
The third character, Calton, to feature in the novel always felt slightly off-kilter. Orphaned as a teen, he was placed in a difficult situation and it took a while to work out how the paths of these characters would cross. When they did, I feared what might happen.
Owen has created a character that is so clearly suffering the effects of trauma, seemingly destined to continue such behaviours, but one you can’t help but feel sympathy for and understanding of. Dark, at times incredibly uncomfortable but also fascinating. I have to thank the online book club for putting me on to this.