Life, Death and Vanilla Slices

From the cover and title of this book, you might be forgiven for thinking it’s a light hearted comedy, or an undemanding chicklit novel. But it’s neither of those things. This is the story of Jean Collins, who is in a coma after having been knocked down while crossing the road. Her daughter Anne, who has always had an uneasy relationship with her mother, and is now married to a selfish husband and has two – frankly horrible -teenage sons, travels to be with her mother in the hospital.

Narrated in alternating chapters by Jean and Anne (with the very occasional chapter narrated by other characters) this tells the story of their family history, which contains secrets and tragedy which they have not addressed for years. Both mother and show more daughter hold guilt about the past, and through their memories, the reader pieces together the truth about a mystery which has created a hole in their lives and their hearts.

I really enjoyed this book, even though it is not always an enjoyable read. The characters have had a lot of heartache in their lives, and it is clear that they have not properly dealt with it before now. Both Anne and Jean are very believable and real characters – both basically good people, but deeply flawed and certainly not always likeable.

Jenny Eclair is very talented to have written such an easy to read (the writing flows beautifully) book, while at the same time handling some very tough and delicate subjects. I had one, and only one, slight niggle and that is that near to the very end, there is a almighty coincidence, which I feel was very unfeasible. But I’m just nitpicking with that. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. show less

Jean is in a coma after unexpectedly stepping out into the street with a box of vanilla slices. She can't move or communicate but she can remember and so she goes through her lifetimes store of memories. Jean's daughter Anne gladly leaves her dysfunctional family to go up north to her mother but the two of them aren't close and Anne isn't sure what to do. Told in alternating chapters, this is the blackly funny story of a family and its secrets. As we gradually come to learn these secrets we start to understand why both Jean and Anne are the way they are.

I haven’t read a novel for Over 4 years. I chose Jenny Eclair to get me back in to regular reading. Took me a while but I have finished it. Great character building in this book, some very real characters however I wasn’t enamoured of the structure where one main character is reflecting on her life whilst in a coma. There are some loose ends too. Ultimately I very enjoyable read

Within the first couple of paragraphs I knew that I was empathising with the main character and this feeling lasted throught the whole book. I ws a little disapointed when it ended as I wanted the experience of reading this book to last for longer.
There are two seperate story lines that converge at the end of the book, the mother and the daughter. This is the story of thier lives together. Some sadness, some love. The disappointment that comes from living a real life.
I will certainly be looking for more books by this author