When to Walk is a fantastic read, but you wouldn't know it from a back-cover blurb or review synopsis: We're told that Ramble's marriage suddenly ends over lunch, her husband calling her an "autistic vampire", how does she go on, blah blah blah. One is forced to (rightly) wonder: Surely this isn't compelling stuff? Is there really anything original left to say on this subject?

What's most surprising is what the blurbs don't say: namely, how extraordinarily FUNNY the book is! Ramble, deaf in one ear and with "a dysfunctional pelvis", has a mind that's both brilliant and bent; her attention to detail is almost panoptical, and her tendency towards digression, reflection, and bewildering interpretation is no less hysterical than it is astounding. Her internal dialogue can make the strangest sidesteps - as when the sudden appearance of someone surprises her, and she promptly recalls the earliest OED citation (c. 1513) of the word "wow".

This is the tenor of the novel's narration, and you'll either love it or hate it. The lunchtime pronouncement is a clear illustration, as it's not what the husband said, so much as her instant rewording: "He didn't put it like this, didn't use either of the words I'm about to use, but I found he was telling me that in the person of his wife, I have degraded into an autistic vampire." She's incredibly intelligent, possibly gifted, hopelessly internal in her workings, and one gets the sense of her being slightly surprised by most everything - if only for a second. At one point her husband complains that she spends too much time inside her own head, and we're annoyed to concede that he might have a point. (Not that this makes him any less of a bastard.)

The novel takes place over a single week - each of the seven chapters comprising a single day - and, given the kind of story it is, doesn't have the greatest amount of plot. This has seemingly frustrated some readers, but I had no quarrel with that fact; Ramble's character and voice are such a singular mixture of ridiculous and affecting, that my only complaint was that it ended at all: I gladly would have read many more weeks' worth of her strange and comical misadventures.

When to Walk is Rebecca Gowers' first novel, and it's an astonishing debut. I'll be anxiously awaiting her second.

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i absolutely loved this book, which took me completely by surprise. I was expecting a female-centric Bridget Jonesy pulpy novel, especially judging from the uninspiring back synopsis, but what I actually got was such an engrossing read that I finished it in one sitting (EXTREMELY rare for me)

At first Ramble seems a very unconvincing character, but within a few pages I came to realise that the author had actually drawn a marvellous character, whose meandering first person mental processes were an absolute delight to read. The book's sense of humour is a real high point, with one joke in particular (regarding her father's last words before his death) making me genuinely laugh out loud (and, in fact, sent me in search of a housemate to read it aloud to; said housemate enjoyed it just as much as me).

The plot is so marvellously small scale (a week in the life of a disabled - don't let that put you off - copy writer with very little ambition in her life and a failed marriage) it's a mini masterpiece of character and tragicomedy.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys things like Alan Bennet talking heads or Marion and Geoff, or other such insights into the thoughts of a character by turns touching and hilarious.

There are those people who simply won't 'get' this book, and fair enough. But for those who DO get it, it will be a joy from cover to cover. ( )

A difficult read but for the wrong reasons. The character of Ramble is exactly that, a rambler. Good to see disabilities and mental health issues being so well dealt with; however I didn't think it was particularly well written or that interesting.

The book is set like a diary but not like Bridget Jones as the blurb states (thank god!). The reader is introduced to the week after Ramble's husband announces he is leaving her. The rest is quite fantastical and you will get a little lost off! ( )