Book Review: The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year

Read it in the bath with a nice candle!

After spending one of my many 'lets see what I can't have' evenings roaming through kindle books, I came across this lovely one. Its £4.99, not the sort of price I find reasonable at all. (Then again, when your used to picking up 3 books for €2 in the charity shop like I am, not a lot looks like a bargain.) But Stephens lovely mammy lent it to me after us chatting about books we wanted or had read. So heres a little review for you all.

Sue Townsend is no stranger to most of us thanks to her best selling book The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 3/4. Since then she has written many a wonderful story, including The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year in 2012. In the funny and weird romance novel we follow the life of Eva, a wife and mother who has had enough of the world. In the middle of the day she gets into bed and doesn't budge again for well, a year. Her husband Brain is a man of science and hasn't the patiences or time to indulge his wife in her odd behaviour when he is hungry and can't find a clean shirt. Brian calls his mother and Eva's, convinced shes having a break down. But nothing will help to get the woman from her bed. 

Meanwhile the twins are off to college for the first time and not only are they lacking social abilities but they are the stereotypical maths geniuses. Things naturally get crazy in college and its just as bad back home with Alexander the handyman dismantling Eva's bedroom for her. Everyone has a few skeletons in the closet that are all about to be found at once. My god this book is a bit of a whirl wind but I just couldn't put it down. Throughout the book we are introduced to a range of characters that we get to know as part of this very dysfunctional but none the less loveable family. Its really family life to the max, bursting from cover to cover. Neighbours talk, strangers seek Eva's advice and the burning question remains; why has Eva gone to bed?

This is not a book to read on the bus if you don't fancy getting looked at for laughing hysterically like I did. There are some real gems inside these pages and its a book that make you sit back and think. And of course who hasn't had a day, week or month in their lives where they would rather stay in bed then face the difficulties of the world. In the middle of this modern world that Eva looks at, there are some pointed questions we take away. If I was to pick apart this book I would say my issues with it are the very unbelievable parts at the ending with the twins and the lack of closure with Eva. But overall its worth a read, even better if you can find it in the charity shop!

What are you reading at the moment?