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A review by kiwikathleen
The Graphologist's Apprentice by Whiti Hereaka
4.0
I seem doomed to find myself reading, completely by chance, several books at the same time (or in close proximity to each other) with similar themes. Usually I find it amusing, but when the theme is that key characters are unpleasant / unlikable / prickly / casually immoral (2 or 3 of these in combination often - and no, unpleasant and unlikable aren't necessarily the same), it can get a bit much. And so, at the beginning, I found this book to be one that I wasn't sure I wanted to keep on reading. However, I was aware that my reaction was because of the overdose, and because I've enjoyed books by this author and because I find graphology fascinating (though not fascinating enough to ever do a proper study of it, so I probably should say I find it "interesting"), I persevered. And was glad of it.
January is one of those people you feel really sorry for but still can't bring yourself to like. If I worked with her, I'd probably be like Alice, but I'd never expect January to get over herself. This is a novel, however, and we always have hope that the lonely will find happiness, the misinformed will come to their senses, and there will be a pleasing end that rounds things off nicely. Along the way we expect to find twists and difficult paths, which I found to my satisfaction. And we expect (or at least, I do) to learn something of interest that connects with the title theme, which I did. Of course, the overarching theme is self-realisation and friendship, and there's always more to learn there - another source of satisfaction for me in this book.
January is one of those people you feel really sorry for but still can't bring yourself to like. If I worked with her, I'd probably be like Alice, but I'd never expect January to get over herself. This is a novel, however, and we always have hope that the lonely will find happiness, the misinformed will come to their senses, and there will be a pleasing end that rounds things off nicely. Along the way we expect to find twists and difficult paths, which I found to my satisfaction. And we expect (or at least, I do) to learn something of interest that connects with the title theme, which I did. Of course, the overarching theme is self-realisation and friendship, and there's always more to learn there - another source of satisfaction for me in this book.