English comedian Sara Pascoe has developed a multi-faceted career offstage, writing and starring in her own sitcom, hosting TV shows such as The Great British Sewing Bee, writing non-fiction books and making short films and podcasts. Now she adds fiction to her CV with her debut novel, Weirdo.
The book tells the story of Sophie, an unusual young woman with a big imagination. An obsessive crush leads her to make some rash decisions, which result in a large amount of credit card debt and the end of her relationship. Her ex-boyfriend is now engaged to her sister, Dana (yes, that is as awkward as it sounds), and Sophie is now in a sexless relationship with Ian, a man she despises. Sophie is being chased by debt collectors and working in a pub when her former crush unexpectedly turns up, reigniting her obsession and forcing her to reassess all of her relationships.
That sounds like a straightforward story and one we know well but it doesn’t quite tally with the experience of reading Weirdo, which is as unsettling and uncomfortable as an Irvine Welsh or a Chuck Palahniuk book. However, Pascoe does not offer the reward that those authors do, finely balancing repugnant characters with perfectly calibrated pathos. Instead, we get repellent characters who are played for laughs and inspire little empathy in the reader.
The book seems to have all of the requirements of a good novel. There is tension and mystery, there is a singular voice and an original, fascinating protagonist, there is humour, and Pascoe can clearly write, but despite all of this the book never quite takes flight. The plot feels put together in the way an engineer might put a house together – all of the necessary components are in place, but somehow it is missing the flair of the architect. It feels constructed rather than created. All of the plot turns are signposted so that their eventual reveal falls flat, while Sophie’s character arc from pathological liar and fraudster to what she becomes by the end of the novel feels so sudden and complete as to be implausible.
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The book does try to ask important philosophical questions about family and love, and Sophie’s journey of discovery about relationships is interesting, but it all gets lost under the endless showpieces of too many dislikable characters with too few redeeming features.
