The Things We Do For Love

by Roisin Meaney

[Leah]

Earlier this year I tried Irish author Roisin Meaney for the first time. I picked up her novel Half Seven on a Thursday really cheap when I was in England in 2010 and when I read it, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had a lot going on, sure, but once I got into the novel it was easier than I expected to juggle all the characters and plots going on. So when I was asked if I’d like to review her latest novel The Things We Do For Love, I said yes because I thought it sounded brilliant. I spent my weekend reading it and I can report it is a really good read.

The Things We Do For Love is another somewhat chaotic novel. I do think the word chaotic sums up Roisin’s novels nicely as there’s a lot going on. The novel spans six weeks broken up into weekly sections and then further broken down into daily chapters, chronicling the lives of the folks in the novel. It’s a good approach, actually, and it’s good to see how people’s lives can change in such a short time. Instead of having one big plot, the book has many. However the one thing most of the characters have in common is Audrey Matthews’ life drawing class. That’s how they all meet, or that’s how they all end up interacting eventually. It’s the catalyst for the novel, its the novels focal point, if you will.

As for the many subplots there are a lot. There are at least 10 main characters with many lesser-but-still-important characters and, I admit, it took me a long time to remember who everybody was and how they all connected. How they came into whose story, how they added to the book, but it’s safe to say that by the time I reached the halfway point of the novel I had a faint grasp of who everyone was and how they all impacted the novel. There were a few characters and stories that I preferred over others. I like Zarek and his Polish contingent, how he was trying to make it in a new country; I liked Audrey and her new dog, Dolly; I liked Michael Browne and the story he had with Carmel and Barry; I liked Fiona’s story, too and Jackie was a favourite. There were parts I could have done without, too. I wasn’t a fan of Meg, not really, finding her ungrateful. Anne’s story was probably the most intriguing as she tries to cope with being single all of a sudden and I felt that hit home the most, but the story I wanted more of and could have happily continued reading about was the Michael/Carmel/Barry story.

It’s almost as if the novel was many smaller stories, like vignettes. Like a film, where you see the characters going about their own business, interacting with other characters and then have it all come together as the characters lives start overlapping. With so many characters and stories to keep up with it was difficult to feel involved with the characters. However the ones who made an impact on me, who I liked, were Audrey, Michael, Carmel, Jackie and Zarek. Irene and Meg didn’t really speak to me, both seeming somewhat cold and selfish. However it was a nice large cast of characters and their stories and their lives and how it all crossed over was excellent. Roisin Meaney weaved an excellent story and managed to keep it all going chapter by chapter. I did find the ending a bit abrupt. I would have liked to have seen an Epilogue of some kind, set a year or two later, maybe. However I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel. It was excellent and I look forward to reading more from Roisin in the future!