The Grand Scheme of Things

This was a random selection from the library (really: I was having analysis paralysis in the field of library book selection and assigned random numbers to sections and shelves until I was down to a handful of books to choose between). And an excellent random selection it was too, I highly recommend the method for taking you out of your comfort zone.

Naledi has a long name of Botswanan origin that the British are terrible at spelling or pronouncing (yes: points at self, I’m guilty of forgetting it as well), and generally goes by the nickname Eddie as a result. She’s a young playwright trying to get a break in the London theatre industry. No matter how good her plays are the scene is dominated by white men. She strikes up an odd friendship with posh white guy Hugo and they hatch a plan to pass her work off as his.

I’m not generally a fan of books that the cover shouts out as being funny, but this one worked for me. The humour is in the situation rather than slapstick. The farce is about how bloody ridiculous society in general and some people in particular are. The central scenario requires that the characters can’t just explain and be honest with everyone which removes a lot of my objections to usual farce situations in fiction, though I did feel this was taken too far in some places. But it’s a good story with lots of interesting characters and I’m glad I read it.