The More You Ignore Me by Jo Brand

Val Penny ♦ April 12, 2013 ♦ Leave a comment

I really wanted to like this book, The More You Ignore Me, as I usually like Jo Brand and her comedy and  humour very much.  However, this book was hugely disappointing! The characters were so under-developed, cardboard. The only part of the book I enjoyed was the end.  However, it was so completely random and did not align with my impressions of what the characters have done.

It is a novel about mental illness, growing up, and celebrity obsession but, the description of mental illness, if it is to be humorous must be dealt with delicately and with sensitivity.  There is none of this here.

The story is about Alice’s family, tucked away in a cottage in the deepest part of Herefordshire, England. It is more than a bit weird. Her mother, Gina, suffers from a mental illness.  She is obsessed with the weatherman on the local news, and when she climbs onto the roof naked with her daughter’s pet guinea pig in her arms, she is whisked off to the local psychiatric hospital. Keith, Alice’s father, tries to keep calm, but his patience is being severely tested by his in-laws, whose behaviour terrifies the community.

Alice is convinced she needs five personalities to cope because a mother-daughter reconciliation seems impossible. At this point, the stage may be set for even more heartbreak than Alice can imagine.

I wish I could tell you that I enjoyed The More You Ignore Me, but I did not.  I cannot recommend it.