I tried, Tartlets. I really, really tried to get into Real Life and Other Fictions.
This women’s fiction book by Susan Coll totally seemed like one I would enjoy. I mean, The Mothman’s in it! We all know supernatural stuff is right up my alley. And, there’s a dog in the book. Animals are the best. The main character’s a struggling writer and novelist, and I can completely relate to that.
Despite all this and so much else recommending this novel, I DNF’d Real Life and Other Fictions at page 176.
What’s Real Life and Other Fictions about?
Real Life and Other Fictions is about Cassie, who’s recently left her cheating husband, Richard, and taken an impromptu road trip with her puppy to West Virginia.
Cassie’s goals? 1) To investigate her parents’ demise decades earlier, and 2) find out more about the Mothman legend that’s tied to the bridge collapse that killed her parents.
Sounds like a lot, right? Yeah, well, that’s one of my problems with this book…
What I didn’t enjoy about Real Life and Other Fictions
You know those kids who toss wet paper towels at walls to see if they’ll stick? I feel like that’s a bit how Real Life and Other Fictions was pieced together. There are just too many things happening in this book. And, they seem to happen all at once without enough stringing them together.
For starters, moths show up a lot. I suspect (hope??) there’s a tie-in to the Mothman legend later in the book, but I didn’t get far enough in the story to see if that actually happens. Bridges are also a motif that Coll clings to, and the author relies on puppy antics for comic relief. The puppy stuff is cute, but after awhile, it’s like, C’mon… what else ya got?
Some deeper themes in Real Life and Other Fictions are family drama, navigating new romance, managing a writing career that never quite took off, and figuring out what’s next after you separate from your life partner. That last one should be the crux of this novel since it’s women’s fiction… but there’s actually a lot of page time devoted to Cassie’s estranged husband, Richard.
Cassie repeatedly claims in Real Life and Other Fictions to be “over” her marriage to Richard, but she’s clearly not. She drops Richard’s name every few pages. She also regularly gets lost in not-so-romantic memories of their life together. There’s a lot of info-dumping that quickly leads the reader (but not Cassie…) to the realization that Richard is a shithead who she never should’ve married in the first place.
I felt bad for Cassie, at first. Clearly, she’s been through the ringer, what with her parents dying when she was young and her writing career in the toilet and her husband being an asshat. But, that sympathy faded after awhile (and after the zillionth Richard memory); then, I was just annoyed.
Should you read Real Life and Other Fictions?
In my opinion, there’s not enough substance in Real Life and Other Fictions to recommend it to anyone I know. I didn’t find the writing engaging, and I didn’t find any humor in the story. Overall, Cassie came across to me as a really dull person who’s made some bad decisions in her life, and reading about them was a slog.
However, if you look on Goodreads, a lot of people enjoyed this book. Many call Real Life and Other Fictions “quirky” and “fun.” It’s definitely quirky, but not in a way I enjoyed. If you’re into slow-moving women’s fiction, give this one a try. It may be the kind of quirky that you’re looking for.
Although I received a complimentary advance copy of Real Life and Other Fictions from Harper Muse, all opinions expressed in this review are my own, and I was not compensated in any way for this review or for any other promotion/publicity I’ve done related to this book.
