Jake

But that actually isn't what it is.

And it is.

And it's interesting.

It's got a lot to say.

It's also a real laugh.

It's also really exciting.

It's also really weird.

There's a lot in it that I loved that moved it away from that idea of the big, serious literary novel that it also is.

So for anyone who doesn't know, this is a book about the Barnes family, a mum and dad, son and daughter.

And it's in my, this is probably my perfect genre of a family.

Ideally American, but we'll take Irish, who all have secrets.

They're all a bit fucked up and they've all got stuff going on.

And it's going to all come to a head in interconnected ways until one blowout moment.

That's my perfect novel.

Yes.

Which isn't in fiction enough.

So you've got like the dad that's obsessed with the end of the world, building a bunker.

You've got a mother who's like struggling with the kind of mundanity of her life with marriage and two children.

You've got a teenage daughter going through school with a really toxic best friend and a son that spends all of his time gaming.

And they're all disconnected.