speckled_pages's profile picture

speckled_pages 's review for:

Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell
4.0
adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character

A well done debut by a Canadian author. There have been comparisons of this novel to The Office meets Eleanor Oliphant. I do agree, in that there is a quirky cast of diverse and flawed characters and the author nails a dysfunctional workplace (in this case, a corporate office for a fictional Supershops national chain). 
There is also a lot of humor (much of it through mixed media which is fun when done well), and very cringy moments. There is also a serious dark side to the novel and the characters. The main character, Jolene, is a Persian Canadian with crippling personal struggles, an overbearing mother, and a “oh no she didn’t” personality. Sometimes this story was difficult to read because of Jolene’s decisions, but ultimately, the story “swings-up” for which I was relieved.