Jane is Trying (W&N Essentials)

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I was expecting to really enjoy this book - I like Issy Suttie as a comedian and found her previous book very funny. The character depiction is very similar to Love Letters, which I liked, but I just couldn’t root for the main character. As for the circuit, my worry is that up-and-coming comics from a less-privileged background have been forced to give up and they might not start again. It's an easy read, with the first half definitely stronger than the second, but it lacks substance and a clear sense of self.

I also enjoyed the ending, and how it didn't exactly follow the predictable ending I was expecting, but instead felt like Jane making some 'happy compromises', which felt like quite a wholesome ending. It's clear from the very detailed acknowledgements at the back that the author has worked hard to make it as authentic as possible by consulting people with more knowledge about specific elements.

Jane is Trying is about a woman in her late thirties, desperately trying to have a baby with her husband but struggling to conceive. Now, she’s trying to make a new start back home with her overprotective, charades-obsessed parents - having left her career and cheating fiance behind in London. Her mental health issues make her more resilient, not more fragile and she’s charming and funny as well as troubled, easy to root for as each event takes her further and further off course. I’d get a 27-minute window, run up to bed because it was the quietest place in the house and get down as many words as I could. I would still perhaps proceed with caution if you’re planning to read this and feeling overly sensitive to fertility chat.

I can’t say much but Michelle de Swarte is the lead, the script is fantastic and I’m really enjoying it. Although she's desperate to prove that she doesn't need her parents' or her nearly in-laws' help, she doesn't actually do much to prove them wrong.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. I know Jane has her issues but it just became too frustrating to read and her reactions to everything, particularly her parents were too extreme. It was easy to pick back up after long breaks from reading and I found myself thinking and Jane a lot; it was gripping to begin with. The second series of her Sony award-winning radio series ISY SUTTIE'S LOVE LETTERS was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014, and in 2014 she made her musical theatre debut as the starring role in THE A-Z OF MRS P at the Southwark Playhouse. There’s a very vulnerable humour in this, which I think is bolstered by the author being a public figure, and the book is all the better for it.

I literally wanted to slap the title character around the face on numerous occasions; not because of her OCD, but because at 38 she's still relying on the bank of mum and dad! To me she was just a bit too self absorbed and passive, relying on others rather than making assertive choices, though she did evolve towards the end. Here, Jane can no longer be the commander of her own destiny, with interference from every quarter: meddling friends, suffocating family, terrible therapists and more. Loved the depiction of OCD, always in the background like a thread running through the story, but not a total defining personality trait.Really enjoyed this book, it was refreshing not to follow a guessable narrative and feature so many flawed and in depth but likeable characters.