A nice, easy & engaging read. That is how I would describe the debut novel A Likely Story. The plot had a lot of potential and delivers to a reasonable extent.
This is the story about the Manning family which centres around a New York Times Bestseller author Ward Manning – a man full of himself & always in need of having his ego stroked. He is presented as ruthless – willing to go to any extent to defend his fame & popularity. His wife Claire – a kind hearted & giving person – who plays a major role in Ward’s success but goes unacknowledged. Their daughter Isabelle – an upcoming writer awaiting her first publication.
As Isabelle is led to an unfinished manuscript of her mother’s book, she discovers some hidden truths of her family. How she gets caught up in an unintentional folly & her redemption is what constitutes the later half of the book.
What I really liked about the book, other than the plot, was how craft fully the author has built up the character of Ward Manning. It delivers the desired effect immaculately – you loathe the man as you read more and more. There are two super funny passages – first, when Ward is chewing pistachios & Claire imagining him choking upon them hahah! And the other when he is chewing cheese and Claire hating him. In both instances, you experience the same feeling towards him, and that is a victory for the author’s narration!
The other thing that works for A Likely Story is the book within a book. Within the main story, you have Claire’s manuscript running along – which is equally fascinating, if not more. And it’s interesting how they are running in parallel to converge at the end.
There are some passages in the book that I thoroughly liked. The bit about Claire’s Project Story has some poignant writing where the author refers to Isabelle’s angst about her book as an ailment of the entitled. It was a trouble one could focus on because the real things – food, shelter, health – were taken care of. I loved this phrase which made so much sense.
Before I picked this book, I had heard a lot about the second half of it being the winner. Though I agree, the first half was like a car running in cruise control, just a smooth easy ride but no thrill or excitement. But I actually found the second half left wanting at places. Probably I had a preset mind and was expecting a lot out of it. But I felt, the whole guilt trip that Isabelle goes into was a bit strange. Had she chanced upon the manuscript – say cleaning the drawers or something, agreed – it would be vile to use it. But it was her mother who guided her to it – she obviously wanted Isabelle to publish it. She wasn’t looking for fame herself – in that case, she would have published it in her lifetime!
Secondly, at a point towards the end, everyone seems to go into confession mode! One after another! While I can understand Isabelle’s doing so still – wanting to credit her mother, Ward’s owning up was too little too late and grossly over simplified. Once Isabelle had found the manuscript and had interpreted it’s true meaning, I was expecting her to use it to expose her father and procure justice for her mother. So all this came as a bit loose ending with everyone coming out clean and just moving on.
Conclusion
A Likely Story is undoubtedly a good, one time read. Leaving aside how I thought the story could have gone, by itself it is a worthy book. There are far more positives to the book than a few scattered negatives. A recommended read – get it here -> A Likely Story
Try other literary fiction