WHISPERS THROUGH A MEGAPHONE.

WHISPERS THROUGH A MEGAPHONE by RACHEL ELLIOT.

BACK COVER BLURB (Contains what might be considered spoilers. Simply hi-light the text to view the full synopsis. TT): 'Testing, testing. This is Miriam Delaney. Is anyone out there?'

Miriam hasn't left her house in three years, and cannot raise her voice above a whisper. She still lives in the shadow of her dead mother... But today she has had enough, and is finally ready to rejoin the outside world.

Meanwhile, Ralph has made the mistake of opening a closet door, only to discover that his wife Sadie doesn't love him... And so he decides to leave his home.

Miriam and Ralph's chance meeting in a wood during a summer storm leads to an unusual friendship, and quirky twists. Rachel Elliott's loveable characters confront the hardest things in life with delicious humour and steady courage. Because sometimes, our over-connected world can seem too much for just one person...

FIRST SENTENCE {1: The Superabundant Outside World}:  Miriam Delaney sits at her kitchen table and watches the radio.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 178/79}: The effort of thinking makes him belch again, which seems to release the word from its hiding place. (Imagine what would happen if neuroscientists discovered a connection between semantic memory and burping.

SOURCE: A blog win courtesy of Charlie over at The Worm Hole. You can read her thoughts on the book here.

MY THOUGHTS: Hmm! Trying to make sense of the jumble of thoughts I have about this novel. 

The story of Miriam, Ralph and what happened when they chanced upon each other. 

The formative chapters clever, whimsical and somewhat bleak albeit a bleakness tinged with a subtle and yet dark humour. The latter chapters (and the ending in particular) .... perplexing and ultimately unsatisfying. 

A book I have thought lots about since reading it. It's just a shame that it hasn't clarified my thoughts on just how to rate it, hence what I, in this instance, consider my 'default' rating of 'It was Ok'.

Perhaps there was simply too much going on. Miriam's relationship with her mother, her neighbour and Ralph. Ralph's relationship with his wife, Sadie, their sons and Miriam. Sadie's relationship with Ralph, Twitter (alas I found her 'tweets' intensely distracting) and her friend(s)-come-possible-love interest(s). The list goes on.

Perhaps the author invested too much of her background as a psychotherapist. I certainly felt increasingly irritated by what felt like her conclusion that 'this' is what happens when a child is raised by a mentally unstable parent. 

What I do know is that not all of the characters behaviour was plausible (but then that's humans and poetical licence for you). That sometimes, and I know this is going to sound rather strange, for all her mental instability, it was Miriam's mother's behaviour that made more sense, was more believable than that of some of the other characters. That come the end of the book I was left with a strong feeling that I had missed something essential, something that would have made sense of the ending.

Each to their own. Effectively whilst there was much to recommend Whispers Through The Megaphone - not least of which was the sense of hope that prevailed throughout - ultimately it wasn't altogether a read for me.