Perfect by Rachel Joyce sPOILER ALERT

[BaconAndAvocado]

What I said on my other post!

Thought I'd better add which book the spoiler alert is for!

Actually sobbed, not just tears, over this book last night. A first for me and I'm a bit of an emotional sort!

Did anyone else find this book quite so devastating?

Not devastating, but really very sad. Rachel Joyce has a way with twisting, hasn't she?

I realised pretty early on that Jim was actually Byron so,the twist wasn't huge for me.

It was the scene when Byron was first taken to Belsey Hall that really got me. The fact that he was such a beautifully caring boy surrounded by sadness to be plunged into an institution was just terrible for me.

I still feel upset by it 24 hours later.

I need to man up

Have you read The Shock of the Fall?

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Found it very moving for the reasons you state Bacon. Poor boy. Poor man.
The phrase 'Ruined your life' is a bit of a cliche but it breathed new life into it for me.

dame no I haven't! Is it any good?

My thoughts exactly 7days
The part where their new housekeeper says ,"All he needs is a cuddle" was so true!

You'll love it if you enjoyed Perfect.

Is it as sad as Perfect?

Finished this today. I marked my place on another thread about this but now I can't find it . Uncomfortable reading with the Besley Hill bit. So sad. I was in a psychiatric hospital as a teen although totally different circumstances. I also now have a preliminary diagnosis of OCD so it felt very "there by the grace of god go I" IYSWIM. The most heartbreaking bit for me though was when Jim/Byron and James were talking in the cafe. That's where I welled up.

Great book anyway. I guessed very near the beginning that Jim was James, and only started wondering about it actually being Byron a little towards the end, but couldn't decide either way as she really kept me guessing.

It was spectacularly poignant for me near the end. When I went into the psych unit I did exactly the same thing. I told them I went by a different name. I just couldn't bear to be me, you know? Too much horrible stuff associated with my real name. I know somebody else who did the same thing too.

That's very interesting about the name thing, fuzzpig. Makes it extra poignant now I know it's a bit of a thing sometimes in RL

The author is writing a sequel to 'Harold Fry' - did you know?

have just started Harold Fry, am enjoying it so far. Good news about a sequel.

I really like books in which decent people live in a decent world. Sad things happen, sure, but it doesn't mean life is not worth living.

Too many writers go for the latter. I suppose because the former is written off as trite or sacharine. But it seems it is easier to write misery. I know you need conflict to make a story but it doesn't have to be so fucking bleak all the bloody time

I started a thread about this very subject after reading it last year! I was really affected by Perfect, and I didn't see that Jim was Byron. I cried a lot, proper snot-ridden, choking tears! I loved it even more than Harold Fry, and that was fantastic. Wonderful book.

I rate Perfect above Harold Fry too, Avon.