3.5 out of 5.

It's a fun, light story even though it deals with some serious issues (illness, listlessness, insecurity, depression, etc) at times. The scenes where the gang of the six of them are putting together Luke's "space suit" are a hoot and I was reminded of being young and doing stupid things with my friends in high school. The fact that the main characters in this book are all about my age just reminds me that we are allowed to be young and listless and goofy still - and that when the opportunity to take an adventure arises, whether it's buying a lifetime subscription to a magazine or taking a three week unexpected trip to Cambodia or anything in between or outside those bounds at all, you might as well. Who knows what you might discover?

More at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2014/12/26/going-out/ ( )

Luke is 25 and has not been outside his house since he was 7 years old: he has a rare disease known as XP which means he is allergic to sunlight. His best friend is his neighbour Julie, who is equally trapped by her own fears in a town where she has never really fitted in. Expected to get straight A's at A level with a place waiting for her at Oxford, she deliberately failed her exams and is now working as a waitress in a pizza restaurant. But when Luke is contacted on the internet by a friend of a friend who claims that he can cure him, it means a trip to Wales involving a VW campervan with dodgy brakes, a homemade spacesuit made out of wellies and aluminium foil to keep Luke out of the sun, and a driver (Julie) who insists on using only B roads. And various friends who all have issues of their own.

Altogether not a great book but a fairly relaxing read. The details of the plot and its repercussions seem a little far fetched but the characters are believable. In particular, it's very evocative of the area: the Essex towns bordering the A12 between East London and Colchester. ( )

Considered entirely in its own right this novel is probably not too bad, if a little turgid in parts. However, my expectations were immensely high based upon my response Scarlett Thomas's marvellous later novels "PopCo", "The End of Mr Y" and especially "Our Tragic Universe" (one of my favourite novels of all time). When compared with those books this one was very disappointing, and I found it a struggle to summon any interest in any of the characters or their wholly implausible situations. ( )

The last time Matt saw sunlight it almost put his lights out for good. Confined to his house his only contact with the outside world is Julie. Julie has problems of her own though. Whilst Matt can’t engage with the real world, Julie doesn’t want to. She’s so full of neuroses there’s nothing much left.

A chance virtual meeting with a lifestyle guru extending the possibility of a cure sees them and a motley crew of friends and associates load up a camper van and head for North Wales. Throw in some wicca, testicular cancer, a latent mathematical prodigy, and Matt wrapped in tin foil and we’ve all the ingredients for a re-working of The Wizard Of Oz. ( It’s not that difficult to spot and there’s an epigraph and a post script that give the game away ). Like the Wizard of Oz the storyline is the hook for some gentle satire. Only this time it’s consumerism, and brand saturation that take the hit.

The only real weakness is the idea that every character seems to have some neurotic apsect to their character. Anyway, I’m now going to take off the white gloves and replace "Going Out", spine un-broken, on the shelf next to the rest of the chronologically ordered, mylar protected, Scarlett Thomas first editions ( I’m joking about the gloves – I only wear them for hardbacks! ) ( )

Luke is allergic to everything. His best friend Julia is brilliant and physically healthy, but afraid of everything. With a motley crew of friends, they set off across Britain in search of a cure for both their diseases. This is a quiet novel about interesting characters growing and changing and I treasured every page. ( )