A Very Nice Girl by Imogen CrimpMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Sharp, witty, and oh so honest, let me introduce you to A Very Nice Girl.
A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp plunges us into the life of Anna, a young Opera singer, as she balances her love for singing with the devastating fact that it’s hard to make a living out of the life she wants to have. Living in a house with her best friend Laurie, Anna spends her time evading the judgemental stares of her landlords, going to classes she does and doesn’t like, singing at a hotel bar, and just generally trying to exist.
Then Anna meets Max, a wealthy, older, and slightly closed-off man, and she agrees to go to dinner with him despite the fact that she doesn’t really like him all too much.
A Very Nice Girl is not a love story, but Anna desperately wants it to be. It is painfully honest in how Anna is constantly lying to herself about the life she is leading. The truth is technically subtext, but Crimp masterfully makes it clear for the reader to see. Crimp successfully weaved me into Anna’s life until I absolutely had to know how her story ended; just as how Anna had to, as well. In fact, and I’ll try to avoid spoilers here, it has one of those great book endings. I desperately wanted the story to continue, but, as I scrolled through the empty white pages, I found myself realising that the story had to end where it did.
Crimp’s writing style is fresh and all-consuming. She doesn’t use speech marks, but it’s not confusing. Each character is distinct, their voice their own, and you’re never left wondering who’s saying what in a conversation. And the descriptions that emerge when Anna is singing are mesmerising. I understood her nerves, her frustrations, and her joys instantly. I’ve never been a singer, never seen an opera, but through Anna, Crimp invites us into this world until we feel just as passionately about it as Anna does. In fact, had I known she was an opera singer before starting, I might not have read this book. It’s totally changed my opinions on this form of storytelling and now I desperately want to see one.
Anna herself is such an interesting protagonist. Told in startlingly present first-person, she’s a new sort of unreliable narrator. Anna doesn't hold things back because she wants the reader to have a different opinion of events, but because she herself is blind to what she is suffering. There are moments in this book where you just want to step into the story and shake her, clean the etch-a-sketch of its mess until she can see clearly where her life is headed if she doesn’t stop and re-think. All the side characters are blisteringly real, too. Some may appear stereotypical but that’s just because Anna doesn’t let herself see anyone in 3D. She doesn’t have the energy, frankly, and it’s fascinating to see people emerge as the story goes on. Tara was a particular favourite character of mine, as well as, eventually, Laurie.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that has consumed me and left my brain thinking in the same way as the protagonist, and this book completely infected me. I can’t wait to read the next thing Imogen Crimp has in store, and I urge you all to read this when you can.
5 out 5 stars.
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