The Rachel Incident: Early Adulthood's a Bit Messy, No?

- a novel by Caroline O'Donoghue.

This was a fun and energetic read, perfect for a light summer reading. Packed with personality, it is sharp and it is pure wit, everything I seem to love and appreciate in a book. A part of the plot, made known quite early on, threw me off completely! The story took a completely different turn to what I expected, and maybe how I had anticipated it would go? Maybe.

"Everyone in Cork remembers the Rachel Incident. But what really happened? It's simple. It's complicated. It's about love, sex and friendship. It's definitely about betrayal." (Waterstones)

Rachel and her (gay? read to find out) best friend James are a painfully relatable pair. The book, I don't want to give much away, follows the drama(s) in their lives and how they inexperience-ly try to deal with them- from their jobs to their dreams and living situation to their dating life and of course, to their friendship. Rachel like most of us in our 20s, and slightly earlier too, develops a crush... on her (married) professor, of course! (Shout out to Stav and Anirt, my two girlies- we rode, survived and got off that giddy train together, and of course that's not their real names).

Anyway, coming back to Rachel, she does in her 20's what I once did in my teens, so clearly growing older doesn't change things up much- she goes above and beyond to arrange a gathering with the said crush hoping to seduce him (okay now, to clarify, the seducing part I didn't do) into a cliché and forbidden love affair, spicy. But to her disappointment he might not. be. interested. in. Rachel. Maybe he actually has a moral conscience and does not want to cheat on his wife? But if he doesn't want to cheat on his wife and yet is a significant contributor of the main story ... then why is the rest of the 240 pages riding along?

The story and the book is such a joy to read and credit goes to Caroline O'Donoghue for writing it in a way that makes it such a page-turner. Rachel is such a carefully formed character with her foolishness yet moments of maturity. Both Rachel and James embody fumbling through life while trying. And that, what I can say from my lesson-learning experiences with it every day, is what your 20s are- you grow up, screw up but you're trying. The book embodies all that- it's about crafting independence that, however much of a success or failure it try turns out to be, is still tainted by blotches of dependence you keep trying to pretend does not exist; it's about crushes and secrets, making that part of your life viable.

In all, this was definitely a favorite for me and one I would love to take the time out to read again once the memory fades, and judging by the rate at which the grey strands are popping out wouldn't be too late. On the flip-side to the greying, and I think I have stressed it enough, this novel is one to read for your 20's!! PERIOD!!!