Leah
Written on Jun 3, 2020
The Staycation is a fascinating read, Harriet and Sophie and entirely different entities on the personality spectrum. Harriet is forthright and likes to have a plan and know how her life is going, whereas Sophie pretty much lets her husband Dan tell her what she needs/wants/should do. So when they do a The Holiday-style house swap, after an ash cloud ruins their trips to Italy, it seems like the perfect way for both families to still get a holiday of some kind, even if it is still in the UK.
I actually thought The Staycation was set in 2010, when the original ash cloud occurred, but it was merely a plot device for the families to not get to their intended destination of Italy. I quite liked the idea of the throwback, but it was actually set (presumably) in present day as they reference the original (real) ash cloud. I love the idea of doing a house swap with someone, which is I suppose what the concept or AirBNB is, but not having used it, I don’t know for sure. Like, there’s the worry that you’d be super aware it isn’t your house and so I’d feel anxious/uncomfortable the whole time, but in theory? I love the idea! Especially if it’s a house swap somewhere I haven’t been (ie. Harriet’s family go to London and Sophie’s family go to the countryside).
Harriet was such an interesting character, she’s hard to love, I won’t lie because she’s so regimented in everything she does; she calculates everything down to a T. Like, I’m genuinely surprised she didn’t schedule in bathroom breaks. It’s all very Sheldon Cooper-esque, although she does say she isn’t on the spectrum, and she probably isn’t, it’s probably more so a form on anxiety/control. Nothing can go wrong if every single second is accounted for, although that doesn’t leave her open for unforeseen circumstances (like ash clouds).
On the other hand, Sophie is laid back. Honestly, she comes off as quite simple at first – very unaware/naive. Leaving a lot of decisions to Dan, not really owning her own life. But I actually really warmed to her once she started to realise everything that was going on around her. Her transformation from a meek little mouse, who wouldn’t say boo to a goose to someone who sticks up for herself and has a backbone was the best part of the novel for me. It was slow little realisations, slow little changes that made her realise that, actually, she COULD do things for herself, she could stand up to Dan, her husband, and the world wouldn’t end (although he would be slighted, typical alpha male behaviour).
I will say, there are a few “eeek” moments in the novel. There’s a massive point of contention between Harriet and her daughter Billie that was borderline homophobic. Personally, I’d have re-written that entire thing. I can understand shock and confusion, but the blatant homophobia (“she doesn’t look gay”) made me cringe. I understand Gorman wanted something to spin Harriet’s world out of control, but her daughter’s sexuality was the wrong thing for that to be (imo). There was also a line, I think about Harriet, being “woke” and, again, I would have edited that out or used a different word. On the one hand, Chick Lit does not feature gay or lesbian romances as a whole, unless it’s the token gay best friend, so I appreciate that Gorman included Billie’s sexuality, but to use it for a cheap plot point made it cheap/rote.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Staycation, had everything above been edited out/changed this would have been an incredible read, but the slight homophobia kind of put a dampener on the novel for me, personally. I still enjoyed it, it was a fab little read, and I really liked the contrast of Sophie and Harriet’s characters, I never thought I’d warm to Harriet, but I did. Because I kind of understood her mind-set. And Sophie’s too. Sophie was a darling and I just wanted to hug her and make everything okay, because I can’t imagine spending years with someone who wants to control your every move and makes you feel like a child. Like, at the beginning, I thought it was cute how Dan called Sophie a silly bean, because it seemed like a term of endearment, but for every time he used it, it became clear it was used to patronise/condescend towards Sophie and that made me angry.
I’m so excited for Michele’s Lilly Bartlett offering in a couple of weeks, I really enjoyed The Staycation, it was a very apt novel for our times at the moment, where everyone is stuck at home!