Books To Read When You’re Emotionally Devastated By Your Last Few Reads And Need A Palate Cleanser

So you’ve turned the last page of your book, face (and pages) sodden with tears, and are staring at the wall, wondering how you’ll ever go on. Maybe the author killed off your favourite character, nothing was tied up neatly, or you’re simply exhausted by 700 pages of trauma (ahem, A Little Life). ‘What happens now?’ you wail. Well, may we suggest picking up another book (if it’s not Too Soon) and delving into something light to heal your broken heart. Try one of these palate-cleansing reads to get the taste of death, destruction and star-crossed lovers out of your mouth. From millennial satire to coming-of-age tales ​ー ​touch some grass ​ー​ then dip into these to ease you back into real life...

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

Everyone is talking about Perfection, and for good reason. Inspired by Perec’s Things: A Story Of The Sixties, Perfection analyses a millennial couple living in Berlin in microscopic detail, from the houseplants embellishing their artfully arranged books, to ​the coffee sipped from tasteful, understated cups. This descriptive intensity is simultaneously soothing and masks a pervasive dissatisfaction ー no matter what Anna and Tom do, they are always chasing the next best thing; the rush, the itch of the perpetually online. Hilariously contemporary, this short realist novel will keep you firmly grounded. ​It’s truly perfection.

The Odd Woman And The City by Vivian Gornick

You can’t beat New York, or a memoir by Vivian Gornick. Erudite, sharp, and at times truly tender, The Odd Woman And The City is like taking a walk with an old friend, or an oversharing aunt. Vivian and her friend Leonard traverse the streets of the Big Apple and sophisticatedly discuss their lives, loves and melancholies, observing shopkeepers, doormen, neighbours and outcasts. Nothing here to devastate you, just a thoughtful meditation on love, friendship and the inevitable failures of a life well-lived set among vignettes of New York. Lovely.

Fun And Games by John Patrick McHugh

Lose yourself in the liminal summer between school finishing and university beginning, but make it rural Ireland. Seventeen and finishing his last year of school in a small Irish town off the west coast, John is unsure of how to navigate the end of childhood, a relationship with an older colleague, and his mother sending a compromising picture to a man who is not his father. Growing up isn’t all fun and games. This novel will keep you far away from anything too heartbreaking, and firmly in the realm of coming-of-age drama.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Sayaka Murata isn’t one to shy away from the bizarreness of human life, and in Convenience Store Woman it is confronted in the most mundane setting ​ー the corner shop. With observations derived from Murata’s own experiences (she worked in a convenience store herself), Keiko is single, in her thirties, and self-proclaimed ‘different’. This is a book that critiques what is ‘normal’ in a society that devalues retail work, while interrogating marriage, procreation and what a woman of a certain age is ‘supposed’ to be doing. Refreshingly original, moving and darkly amusing, it’s the perfect short novel to dip into between the more harrowing reads.​

How Should A Person Be? By Sheila Heti

Don’t let the title put you off, this semi-autobiographical novel isn’t totally existential. Sheila is in her twenties, has recently left her marriage, and is wondering how a person should be. She decides it simply must be her friend Margaux, an untortured painter who seems to live and create art effortlessly. It’s an autobiographical novel turned postmodern self-help book, where real emails and transcripts collide with contemporary fiction to make up Sheila’s experimental quest for authenticity. Come for the humour, stay for the chapter entirely dedicated to Sheila’s toxic lover’s... certain body part.