Saving Simon
With his ‘perfect’ in-laws in full-action mode, they can’t see a life unravelling before their very eyes
With some authors you never know what to expect when they release a new book. Every one of Toni Jordan’s novels has been different to the last and they are always brilliant. The latest is a story about family life. It is clever and funny, but the real brilliance doesn’t become apparent until the very end, and to say any more would be a spoiler, so I won’t!
Dinner with the Schnabels is about a week in the life of Melbourne man Simon Larsen. Things are not going very well for Simon. He was a successful architect with a beautiful home. But then during lockdown his business failed and the home has to be sold. Now Simon has moved his family to a tiny flat, and he is unemployed, broke and can hardly get off the sofa.
Simon does have one project on. He has agreed to landscape a friend’s backyard so that a memorial service for his wife Tansy’s estranged father can be held there.
But despite only having a week to complete it, somehow Simon can’t get round to making a start. This is not entirely his fault. His well-meaning plans keep being derailed by unexpected events, including the arrival of Tansy’s mysterious halfsister Monica.
While Simon seems hopeless, the family he has married into are formidable. Beautiful Tansy, her terrifying mother Gloria, football-hero brother Nick, perfectionist sister Kylie and now Monica bursting onto the scene. I loved the Schnabels and would like to read more about them, still I am not sure I would want to be related.
This novel is a delight. It is beautifully constructed, elegantly written and emotionally authentic, and while it is a light and zippy read, the more you think about it, the more it seems to say.
Witty and wise, a story about everyday life with a not so everyday family, this novel is for anyone who is looking for top-quality pleasure reading.