On that last phrase, much of the novel is designed to force readers to wonder, just as the characters do, I f only Byron hadn’t known about the two seconds, If only Byron’s mother, Diana, hadn’t known about the car accident - but what transpired from this knowledge was hard for me to believe.Īnother issue I had with the novel involved a few loose ends, which I won’t describe in detail for fear of revealing too much about the plot in this review. I also had difficulty discerning the “lesson” at the heart of this tale, and I was annoyed that, when I could find it, it amounted to little more than a trite expression like what’s in a name, nothing’s perfect, forgiveness sets you free, or ignorance is bliss. It felt more like an unnecessary trick than a meaningful revelation. I could see this twist coming from 600 miles away–maybe because I was familiar with what Joyce did in Harold Fry–and I spent much of the book just hoping she wouldn’t go through with it. Initially, the two narratives seem entirely separate, but, in true Joyce fashion, Perfect eventually reveals the connection between Byron and Jim with a twist. The portions about Jim felt cohesive and poignant, while the portions about Byron felt disorganized and improbable. The novel involves two interspersed narratives: (1) the story of 11 year-old Byron during the summer of 1972, when two extra seconds were added to Universal Coordinated Time and (2) the present-day story of Jim, a man who has been spent much of his adult life in Besley Hill, a psychiatric institution. Although the novel didn’t sit well with me, I’m glad I finished it. I ended up putting the novel away until yesterday, when I finally finished the remaining 80%. I downloaded the e-book version in time for a family trip in mid-April and immediately read the first 20% of it, which, unfortunately, hardly kept my attention. Having enjoyed The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, I looked forward to reading Rachel Joyce’s second novel, Perfect.

Perfect book rachel joyce