Hello it is Tuesday, it is Reviewsday Tuesday
And this week sees the return of the
Quiet as Mouse Book Club,
It’s back, it’s actually back.
I mean I still haven’t finished reading
How Green Was My Valley
So it’s not back with the book I was actually
meant to be reviewing
But instead I am reviewing On the Other Side
by Carrie Hope Fletcher.
I reviewed her first book, a non-fiction book,
All I Know Now last year,
And I will link to that video below.
On The Other Side is her first fiction book,
It was published last week and I read it over
the weekend.
Also, I am going to try and be as non-spoilery
as possible.
This book follows Evie Snow, who dies at 82
This isn’t a spoiler, she dies before we meet her
in “limbo” or "Heaven’s Waiting Room.”
In order to get to heaven she has to unburden
herself of 3 secrets
Which she has been carrying
since she was 27 years old,
And we follow her as she tries to pass these
secrets on to her family.
And also we get to hear the story of what
happened to her when she was 27 years old,
When she meets and falls in love
with Vincent Winters.
OK before I start, quickly,
this book is so beautiful,
The cover really suits the book
I was doing that thing that I do with
Terry Pratchett books,
Where you kind of refer back to the cover
as you are reading when you notice something
I tend to enjoy books where the author has
a very distinctive writing style
Like Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams.
I wouldn’t say that this has that as such
but I did find it pretty interesting.
It’s simply written but it also has these
flowery very specific descriptions going on,
And it is certainly very easy to read, I mean I read the whole thing in like 5 or 6 hours.
Also, I think the style works well for what
I think this book is
Which is a fairy tale
Once I started reading this book as a fairy
tale my enjoyment of it increased a lot
For a start it’s very out of time,
it’s not set in a specific time period.
It’s very much "once upon a time"
and not at all "last week."
This is an interesting choice, 
I can see why it was made
It gives it a certain amount of mystery and
magic
But it can also be a bit disorientating
There are things that seem quite modern
Like Halloween being celebrated for ages before
actual Halloween
And Evie goes to a club with her friend
who comes out to her as pansexual,
But there are also things that seem less modern,
like an arranged marriage.
This lack of a time also meant that there wasn’t really any discernible contrast
Between the world when Evie is 27
and the world when Evie is 82.
The characters have aged but the world has stayed still.
Also, going back to the fairy tale theme, this world, or possibly just Evie’s world, is full of magic.
There is a dove which has love notes written
on it
There is also a thing with a tree
Which can be distracting,
but if you are thinking Fairy Tale
Then you can concentrate on the story
and on how imaginative it is.
Because it is really imaginative
Also, when Evie first arrives in Limbo it seems like this is an unusual, weird, and strange thing
But really unusual, weird, and strange things have
always been happening to Evie
So yes, I think this works best as a fairy
tale
I think it works really well as a fairy tale
Its very imaginative, I am impressed with
Carrie’s brain
Also, I am impressed with her plotting
Because we have three stories running parallel here.
We have Evie in Heaven’s Waiting Room trying
to get through to Heaven
We have the world after she has died where
her family are trying to discover her secrets,
And we also have this story with Vincent Winters when she is 27 years old.
And we have to get to a lot of stuff in the
latter story
In order for things in the other two stories
to make sense
So I was really impressed with that,
I thought that was done well.
I also liked the characters, although I wouldn’t say that we got to know many.
Vincent and Jim, yes, and also Evie’s children,
they seemed pretty well painted.
And I also liked Evie
I mean there are a lot of ways in which I
cannot relate to her at all
I mean she is upper class
And she has this whole family situation
Which is so far removed from my reality
But then also for a lot of the book
She is a 27 year old trying to find her way
in the world
Also, side note: I very rarely stumble across female protagonists that are around my age
I mean if I want to read a book
Where the main character is female and in
her late twenties I have to search.
If anybody has any recommendations I would
love to hear them.
The ones I can think of are
The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennett
and the Lydia Bennett one,
Those two based off The Lizzie Bennett Diaries
But do they count because they are based on
a web series?
And also Persuasion by Jane Austen.
Like those are the three which come to mind.
So props for having a 27 year old main character.
And also for having an 82 year old main character
I mean I am complaining about not being able to find many main characters my age
And that’s not going to improve as I get
older.
Anyway, I’ve moved off topic a bit here,
I feel like this could be an entire other video.
I also really liked how the elderly characters
were written
I mean I have never been an elderly person
But their portrayal seems sympathetic and
realistic.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this book
I think it is best read with your mind open
to magic and the supernatural,
As a fairy tale, a modern fairy tale.
And as a modern fairy tale I will give it
4 out of 5.
So my next book review will be of
How Green Was My Valley
And that will be on December 8th, 2019
I am kidding, it will probably be in a couple
of weeks
And then after that I am reviewing
The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful day
I would love to know what you think about
On the Other Side if you have read it,
And I will see you later on in the week.
