We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

My partner bought the paperback of We Are Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler during his last Waterstones shopping spree when we returned to the UK in April. I hadn't read anything about it prior to picking up the book so didn't know anything about the 'otherness' of Fern until Fowler reveals her in the text. In her afterword, Fowler says that many people do already know and this doesn't detract from the novel. I don't want to give the secret away though - just in case there is still someone else out there in blissful ignorance. This stance does make reviewing the book a tad tricky!

I can say that We Are Completely Beside Ourselves is a very readable book, well plotted and with strong characters throughout. I liked our protagonist, Rosemary, a lot especially her discussions of memory and how events we think we remember aren't always as they actually were. We unwittingly alter our memories simply by repeatedly remembering them. The path that Rosemary's family chose to take - yes, I'm being deliberately vague for plot reasons - shocked me and I did google in disbelief. Scientists really did think this was a 'good' thing to do. There are several real life occurrences and relatively recently too!

This is certainly a thought-provoking book. Issues such as the consequences of lying to children, animal rights, scientific responsibility, our understanding of intelligence, and the blurred distinction between fighting for freedom / terrorism, are all thrust into the spotlight for the reader to consider. Fowler does include lots of long words so there were times when I wished I had it on Kindle with the inbuilt dictionary, but all in all, an engrossing and interesting novel.