This trending bestseller is the latest novel from Emily Austin, a Canadian author who has a background in libraries, teaching, and working as an information architect.
Enid, a lesbian with an obsession with space and true crime podcasts, works at The Space Agency and lives an unconventional life. She has a major phobia of bald men and tries to avoid them at all costs. When not listening to true crime podcasts on a loop, she’s serially dating different women on dating apps. She’s also constantly concerned for her forgetful, depressed mother and is trying to forge relationships with her estranged half-sisters after the death of her absent father.
Just as she unintentionally plunges into her first serious romantic relationship, Enid starts to believe that someone is following her. Her bald neighbour is constantly standing outside her door, and her new door camera shows a hooded figure entering her when she’s not home. As her paranoia spirals out of control, her new girlfriend suggests a therapist to help. But with each successive therapy session, Enid has a mounting suspicion that something is seriously wrong with her. As her muddled past blasts back to haunt her, Enid must finally face herself instead of pushing everything away.
This is an extremely original and hilarious story, with meaningful issues woven into it, including mental illness, dysfunctional family relationships, and queer dating, and self-acceptance.
Enid is an eccentric, unusual, paranoid, and extremely interesting character. Her life is a series of contractions. While she’s diligent and responsible at work and while caring for her mother, she’s terrible at taking care of herself or keeping her apartment clean. From the onset, her serial dating suggests that she has a difficult time being alone but also has a big fear of opening up to anyone. These are clear signs of resolved issues and traumas that she hasn’t dealt with, causing her to be unsettled inside. Her constant obsession with being watched, although a serious mental health disorder, is presented in a hilarious manner through the ridiculous dialogue that spews from her mouth and also the irrational inner thoughts that are constantly racing through her mind. To her defence, though, it’s only natural to be concerned for her mother, who clearly is having her own battle with depression and seems to be losing it. The book also has an amazing ensemble of characters, from the estranged step-sisters to the disoriented mother to the string of women Enid dates, that really add layers and richness to the novel.
Narrator Natalie Naudus clearly did her homework before performing the narration on this one. She not only portrays Enid in all her weirdness, paranoia, and unsettledness, but she embodies all of it through her tone, infliction, and a constant undertone of ridiculous humour. You really get the sense that you are listening to real-life Enid and not a narrator, similar to watching a stellar performance on screen. If you’re in the mood for a laugh-out-loud, completely original story with an undertone of darker elements and meaningful issues, you’ll definitely enjoy this one.