Stephanie Jane reviewed Reality Check by Carol Browne
Wonderfully surreal
4 stars
Reality Check is a wonderfully surreal novella with which I identified rather more strongly than is comfortable! It did take me several pages to settle into the story as I didn't really have any idea what to expect. The main character, Gillian, is also struggling at this point with how to tell her story and how much to reveal - just in case anyone does ever read her diary, the entries from which are what makes up Reality Check. As I learned more about Gillian's life and her strange housemates, I became greatly intrigued by her predicament and loved the way Carol Browne gradually reveals the elements of her situation.
It's difficult to say to much here without inadvertently giving away spoilers, but I think that Reality Check is an ideal story for people who enjoy grappling with philosophical ideas around existence, reality and perception. At one point I attempted …
Reality Check is a wonderfully surreal novella with which I identified rather more strongly than is comfortable! It did take me several pages to settle into the story as I didn't really have any idea what to expect. The main character, Gillian, is also struggling at this point with how to tell her story and how much to reveal - just in case anyone does ever read her diary, the entries from which are what makes up Reality Check. As I learned more about Gillian's life and her strange housemates, I became greatly intrigued by her predicament and loved the way Carol Browne gradually reveals the elements of her situation.
It's difficult to say to much here without inadvertently giving away spoilers, but I think that Reality Check is an ideal story for people who enjoy grappling with philosophical ideas around existence, reality and perception. At one point I attempted to unravel my own ideas around one of Gillian's conversations with her professor and almost completely blew my mind! There's deft humorous touches to offset too much existential angst though and I particularly appreciated that Browne never makes Gillian a figure of fun, however bizarre her life appears. Moments where we were suddenly encouraged to see Gillian from outside herself reminded me of the mantra about being kind because we cannot tell by sight what another person might be going through. While Reality Check is a fictional tale, it contains a lot of truth.