BOOK OF THE WEEK

There’s A Problem With Dad by Carlos Alba, Ringwood, £9.99

Carlos Alba tackles a challenging subject in his third novel. For those sensitive to these topics, this book and review contain discussions of sexual assault and addiction.

Inspired by a family member with high functioning autism and making use of consultation from Professor Tony Attwood, renowned expert in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Alba presents George Lovelace, a man in his 70s who lives his life by routine and logic.

After the death of his wife, George’s grown-up children, Roz and Melvyn, are concerned he will isolate himself, so Melvyn invites him to his fancy law firm’s annual ball. Events take a turn when George is accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl.

While the writing can be crude, the strength of this novel is Alba’s characterisation. George is infuriating and unlikeable but ultimately sympathetic.

When his black and white view of the world fails him, he concludes everyone is against him. While this seems absurd at first, we are shown emotional reasoning is not available to George and maybe the world was not really built for him. We gain further insight into his understanding of others, especially women, through his writing about his hero John Lennon, whose story George uses as a lens through which to view the world.

George’s children also struggle with their own relationships. Melvyn’s lack of emotional understanding becomes clear to his wife when he does not respond to a tragedy in the way she expects.

Roz’s struggle with addiction has affected her relationship with her daughter, a dynamic echoed with Roz and George. As we learn more about Roz, we learn how childhood trauma has shaped her and become a block to fully recovering from her addiction.

While Alba succeeds in his exploration of neurodiversity across the lifespan, this novel falls short in its examination of what constitutes sexual harassment. It felt like we merely scratched the surface and the arguments presented did not feel convincing. This was not helped by jarring, sexually graphic descriptors at times.

This book may have benefited from further critical editing: some similes didn’t work and there were overly long descriptions of thought processes and minor characters’ backgrounds. Nevertheless, this is an ambitious novel that will continue to spark

contemplation long after you have put it down.