Review: "Eleven"

I really can't remember how "Eleven" by Mark Watson ended up on my TBR list. Don't misunderstand me, I am glad it did, it is a good read but it is just not the kind of book that I would normally pick up. I must have read a review of it somewhere and decided that it deserved a try. Anyway I took it with me when I went to London on a two-week vacation (I know, luxury! I am staying with my boyfriend so no expensive hotel bills but lots of great homecooked meals, the perfect vacation - now back to the review).

"Eleven" is whimsical and its special trademark is that though it features one main character there are a bunch of minor characters and they are all essential to the plot. The minor characters are the story, really. However, first let me tell you about the main character with the strange name Xavier Ireland. This is not really Xavier's real name, he left that behind years ago when he moved from Australia to London to start a new life after a very traumatic event that I for spoiler-related reasons won't tell you about... So now he is Xavier, working in London as a nighttime radio host advising sleepless Londoners on everything from true love to the meaning of life (I know - quite a demanding job!). His colleague Murray is not only Xavier's producer but also his close friend who is constantly in need of help from Xavier and Xavier is there for him. Actually Xavier is quite a helpful guy, however, one day he walks past a bunch of boys bullying and beating up a boy but though he does try to stop it, he doesn't really do anything and definitely not enough. So the boy gets beaten up and from this event other events spiral that eventually lead back to Xavier.
And then there is the speed date that Murray persuades Xavier to join him for and where Xavier doesn't find a date but instead finds a cleaning lady, Pippa. Pippa turns out to be a real power girl who takes over his life while cleaning his messy (...read: disgusting) flat and asking him questions about what actually happened in Australia so that the reader finally understands what has led Xavier to where he is in his life.

"Eleven" is basically a book about domino effects - about how things that seem hardly noticeable in the end lead to big, life-changing events. It is slightly whimsical in the approach to fate and apparently (or so I've been told) it is reminiscent of "One Day" by David Nicholls. I quite liked this book though I have to say that I found it a bit on the light side. I would have liked to explore the characters of Xavier and Pippa more - especially Pippa because I really really liked her. She has this approach to life that if all she can be is a cleaning lady, then she is going to be the best cleaning lady that she can and I really like that about her and for me, it was Pippa who made the book.

Read it if: You like philosophizing about why things happen or if you listen to a lot of night-time radio.

"A Vicious Circle" - What Comes Around Goes Around

I picked "A Vicious Circle" a bit randomly thinking that it sounded interesting and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Now, I am a bit of an anglophile and I really love London so that face that the novel takes place in London in the 1990's is a definite plus in my book.

"A Vicious Circle" is the story of a group of Oxbridge graduates in their 20's and 30's who all have ambitions to do with the media world. Mostly they just want to make it, whatever "it" is. However, it is not all smooth sailing.
Mary Quinn (who is really the key figure) is an Irish waitress in a relationship with the ambitious journalist Mark Crawley, wants nothing more of life than to be married happily. At least that is until Mark leaves her for the heiress Amelia de Monde - then Mary wants revenge. Mark wants to climb the social ladder and his colleague and friend Ivo Sponge (famous for making a "Sponge lunge" on the ladies whenever he catches a chance at it) wants Mark's job by whatever means he can get it. And then there is Grace, a singly mum of 20 years living in a run down council estate with her little boy Billy and whose biggest ambition is to survive. Into this mix comes a young doctor who really just wants the best for his fellow human beings and a struggling author.

All these characters are interlinked and their paths collide again and again. Fortunes are made and lost, love blosoms and dries out again and ambitions are ruthlessly hunted.

I really liked the book - as in liked it so much that I found it hard to put it down.
While many of the characters are not really that likeable and some are actually downright annoying, they are all fascinating in their own way.

If you like "Starter For Ten" by David Nicholls, there's a good chance that you will also like "A Vicious Circle".