Emotionally Weird

I was attracted to Kate Atkinson's Emotionally Weird, mainly because I've been studying her debut novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum as my modern text for my A-Level exam. Whilst I enjoyed it the first time round, going over it again in class has made me appreciate it more and more and so I picked up this novel a couple of months ago, and I finally actually read it this week.

As with Behind the Scenes, Emotionally Weird deals with the theme of identity, although in the case it's to do with the matter of parentage; of knowing where you come from. Effie is stuck with her mother, Nora, on an island off the Scottish coast in a house that used to be the holiday home of their ancestors. Whilst there, they tell each other stories, although at first Nora refuses to reveal Effie anything she wants to know; like who her father is. Effie tells of her life at university in Dundee, where she lives in a dead-in relationship with her boyfriend, Bob who rarely leaves his bed. However, strange things seem to begin to happen and Effie's life begins to become more surreal as she interacts with all sort of eccentric characters.

I really, really enjoyed this book. Atkinson certainly has as distinctive style and gives her characters a distinctive voice; Effie certainly reminded me in some ways of the protagonist of Behind the Scenes, Ruby; but she fuses this with enough individuality to make Effie interesting. The book is almost laugh out loud funny, I certainly had to suppress giggles when I was reading it on the bus, but it is at times a deeply emotional story. It's all certainly a twisty tale, and although I guessed one of the twists before Effie, the final and most important twist was a surprise to me, and as with Behind the Scenes, hints are dropped throughout the novel at what is going on, which I'm sure I would pick up on if I went back through it. The novel jumps around in time, with different fonts dictating different time periods, and different pieces of texts; which does help differentiate between times.

I think what really makes Emotionally Weird is the numerous colourful supporting characters; from Bob, Effie's stoner boyfriend; Terri, Effie's American friend who is fascinated by death and dogs; Olivia, a girl who doesn't belong at Dundee University but 'had some sort of breakdown' during her A-Levels; Professor Cousins, an eccentric elderly English professor; Kara, a young mother (whose son is Proteus) who lives in a commune-type situation a little way from the university; Kevin, a student obsessed with Olivia and a fantasy world and Chick, a middle-aged private detective. All of the characters were colourful, and we learn quite a lot about them in only a few sentences.

I recommend Emotionally Weird for a funny, slightly postmodern read, that is undercut with real human emotion. I cannot wait to pick up Case Histories next.