Now I'm working full time at Waterstones, I really have a chance to get my teeth into all of the new fiction out there. When this book appeared in the staffroom, I couldn't resist picking it up, with its quirky title and colourful cover. On this occasion, I'm glad that I judged a book by its cover. I enjoyed this book just as much as that other eccentric book I read recently, The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared- and I actually think the two novels have a lot of similarities. Both present fantastical circumstances in a very realistic light, with genuinely funny moments found in both the unusual characters themselves, and events that turn out too good to be true.
In Montreal, a ten-year-old boy, the narrator of half the novel's chapters, finds his world turned upside down when his parents decide to divorce. Desperate for some resolution, he does what any boy would do in that situation, and asks the sky to help him. When a severe ice storm hits the city, the boy cannot believe his luck- or his power to actually change the weather! What ensues is a fantastic farce, where a stripper takes in a fish-obsessed Russian phD student, and a gay couple invite an angry neighbour into their home. You will not believe the conclusions that arise from these unlikely meetings- but, as I said before, that's what makes this book so wonderful. I love weird and wacky characters in novels, and Szalowski certainly offers us a fair share of them, while still making them easy to relate to.
A simple, surreal, yet very satisfying read- I was sorry that it finished so quickly. My next read is something very different- Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. After that, I'm looking to read a good sci-fi novel...it's not usually a genre that I delve into, but as always, I want to be proven wrong.
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