The Book of George by Kate Greathead is absolutely focused on the life of a guy called George, but the most interesting character was George’s mother. Or more specifically, the bit that had me intrigued, was George’s relationship with his mother, Ellen – fraught, inadequate, over-bearing, intense… you could throw any number of words at it, and they’d probably fit.

The story begins with George as a young boy –

George struggled to grasp the nuances of his mother’s contempt, but it was the beginning of his awareness of a problem in his parents’ marriage that had to do with his father’s love of expensive clothes.

And then –

By the time he and Cressida were teenagers, Ellen seemed to view them as fully formed people who were going to do what they were going to do. She supported their endeavors and applauded their successes, but their accomplishments were not a particular source of pride for her. Nor was she inclined to interpret their struggles as a referendum on her mothering.

George is spectacularly self-centred, lacks any self-awareness and drifts through life completely blind to his privilege.

George knew he shouldn’t be surprised – in the middle of tenth grade he’d pretty much stopped doing homework – but still, it felt like a slight when he wasn’t accepted to a single Ivy.

I realise that I may have made this book sound unappealing – not my intention! Greathead has a dry sense of humour and all of George’s exploits are told with satirical edge.On his decision to major in philosophy at university –

George’s initial enthusiasm for Kierkegaard and Nietzsche was complicated by their popularity.

One scene, when George volunteers for a day at a primary school (and gets the ‘uncooperative child’, who really is just a kid wise to George’s bullshit), will stay with me – it was so damn funny, and George’s reflections on horses is hilariously revealing.

“Because I always get the bad horse. The difficult horse. There’s always one horse in the stable that’s trouble, and that’s the one they put me on. And some guy who works there is always like, ‘Oh, you got Aspen? Watch out!'”
Iris had been avoiding eye contact, but now she looked at George in a curious, scrutinizing way. “You just have to keep trying,” she said.
… “It’s the horse,” George repeated. “I always get the difficult one.” George was usually popular with kids. He felt like Iris had gotten a dud.

It ends with George coaxing the kid to climb onto his shoulders and touch the roof without the teacher seeing. And this is the thing about George – he’s an absolute pill but he’s sometimes fun and kind and impulsive in a way that people occasionally like, and that’s what keeps people in his life (particularly long-suffering girlfriend, Jenny).

This book is being described as a ‘…moving portrait of millennial masculinity’. Well, I hope it’s not a representation of millennial masculinity because goodness, nothing will get done… unless the world is filled with Jennys.

I received my copy of The Book of George from the publisher, Henry Holt & Company, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3/5

George was the kind of exhausted where it was hard to fall asleep, especially knowing he’d be woken up in a few hours. he had an idea: he would surprise everyone by making breakfast. he would make lemon ricotta pancakes. Denis used to make them on Christmas.