Book Review: Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Really, who would care about a family like theirs? Theirs were ordinary human failings, tragedies too routine to be of note.”

Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan is an evocative character-driven novel that revolves around an Irish immigrant family in a public housing estate in 1990s London. The novel follows the members of the Green family after ten-year-old Lucy Green is suspected of being responsible for the death of three-year-old Mia Enright. Ten years ago, Lucy’s family – her grandmother Rose who was the only person who displayed any affection toward Lucy and has since passed on; her reclusive grandfather John; her alcoholic uncle Ritchie; and her then pregnant teenage mother Carmel who is distant and never shown any concern for her daughter- relocated to London to avoid scandal. Lucy, who is described as having behavioral issues, is taken into custody and her family is subject to scrutiny from their neighbors, the press and law enforcement. The scrutiny and Lucy’s plight compel each of the family members to reflect on their own lives and the dysfunction within their family. unscrupulous tabloid journalist Tom Hargreaves leaves no stone unturned in his efforts to ingratiate himself with this disgraced working-class family of “bad apples” even resorting to isolating them from other reporters, hoping for exclusive content – their secrets, the scandals and any other juicy detail - that would help further his interest.

“There was darkness beneath or inside everything, and even beautiful things were irredeemable because they only acted to obscure but never to transform.”

Despite the short length, this novel is an immersive and emotionally heavy read. The bulk of the novel is presented through flashbacks from the perspectives of each of the family members - allowing us to explore the characters, their emotions, their personal tragedies and their regrets. Written in powerful prose, the novel explores several dark and sensitive themes with brutal honesty and insight – addiction and alcoholism, parental neglect and complex family dynamics and the death of a minor – to name a few. The characters are flawed and realistic, each with distinct trajectories. The focus of this novel is on the family members in the aftermath of the tragedy and the “mystery” behind Mia’s death and Lucy’s alleged involvement in the same might appear to be relegated to the background as we follow the characters’ individual journeys but the author eventually draws us back to present events and how the same impacts the each of the family members.

Needless to say, this is not an easy read. I did feel that the different threads of the story were not quite cohesively woven and rendered the narrative a tad disjointed but overall, I found this novel to be a compelling read that I would not hesitate to recommend to those who enjoy character- driven fiction.

I paired my reading with the audio narration by Jessica Regan whose outstanding narration enhanced my overall experience with this novel.

“There is no secret, Tom, or else there are hundreds of them, and none of them interesting enough for you. The secret is that we’re a family, we’re just an ordinary family, with ordinary unhappiness like yours.”