Scarlett Thomas has penned a chatty, delightful easy read about friendship, love, and making those hard, life-defining choices.
While it might be easy reading, it is by no means lightweight, offering deep and meaningfuls on everything from the Russian literary masters to the very art of writing itself. It is a tightly weaved, multilayered work from one of Britain's rising talents.
The novel is driven by the laid-back writer Meg Carpenter. Meg is facing 40, but not the fact that she is desperately unhappy.
Stuck in rural Devonshire with her useless partner, Christopher, she struggles to write a "serious" novel, while simultaneously trying not to fall in love with the Darcy-like older man, Rowan. Something has to give. The question is: will she choose to chuck caution to the wind and follow her heart or will she listen to the academic inside her and let the head prevail?
To forget her situation, Meg buries herself under an avalanche of activities.
She tries to help her best friend Libby work out her own affairs, spends many hours walking her dog on the stony beach, knits socks, tries to understand tarot, ESP and OCD, writes articles about self-help books, and even ponders the work of Kelsey Newman, who has written a book about the end of the universe - where everything is perfect, much to Meg's disgust.
But none of these distractions can really make her happy. It seems Meg needs to trust in the universe rather than try and work it out.
Thomas wraps the story in the rustic setting of England's windswept southern coast.
There is the smell of salt, the laconic musing of sandblasted publicans, and even the possibility of a beast wandering the moors.
It is authentic, slow-paced, and just the right location for Meg to work not only on her novel, but on who she wants to be - does she really want that perfect universe Kelsey offers or one that is a little more "real", a little more "tragic"?
Thomas' Meg Carpenter is an everywoman for Generation X - a reminder that life is supposed to be about "experiences", not just "existing".
This is one of those novels that publishers dream of - smart and savvy, well-paced and accessible, and, most importantly, memorable reading at its best.
Steve Scott is an Auckland reviewer.
Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas
Canongate $35
