I vaccilated, in my opinion of this book, throughout. Couldn't decide whether to give it 3 or 4 stars. Ended up giving 4 as ultimately I was glad to have read it. Initially it seems to be a memoir of a young woman who's slipped into a dead-end life of excessive drinking and some drug abuse. Whilst it is clearly stated that this is not a happy or healthy lifestyle, and the narrator knows she should get out of it, the true misery of such a life is not forcefully portrayed. Then it becomes a story of a young woman writing about a young woman living the life described, above. It gets a little confusing - but I say that as a positive, as the disconnect between a realistic memoir and the alternative reality that the story moves into works well in this framework. Frankly, I'm really struggling to write a coherent review without simply saying what happens, so perhaps I should just advise you to buy a copy and decide for yourself! Perhaps the fact that it is so hard to classify is recommendation enough.

This is an incredibly clever novel. Part ‘autofictional’ memoir (or is it?), part fiction this is a real exercise in postmodernism and seems very fitting in our current state of ‘post’. The protagonist, Michelle is trying to get by and ‘grow up’, while simultaneously taking heroin and embarking on love affairs and this presents the first conflict between two realities. The narrative entirely shifts part way through as it becomes a much more meta narrative and (fictional) Michelle grapples with an attempt to represent anything meaningful and ‘true’ within the constraints of her world. And then the apocalypse approaches. This apocalypse initially seems reminiscent of the destruction of the World Trade Centre on 9/11, with reports of people desperately jumping from buildings (although this turns out to be ‘straightforward’ apocalyptic suicide). There are passages of lucid dreaming, interspersed by conventional narrative and this constant rollercoaster of fiction and metafiction makes this innovative novel a real treat. I feel I should add that I would not categorise this as sci fi/ fantasy (despite the end of the world) and feel that it would be better suited to someone who likes existential, postmodern and experimental contemporary fiction, than someone expecting a large amount of sci fi tropes.