What’s it all about?:
The Weirds have always been a little peculiar, but not one of them suspected that they’d been cursed by their grandmother.
At the moment of their birth Annie Weird gave each of her five grandchildren a special power that she thought was a blessing.
Now Annie is dying and she has one last task for Angie, her favourite grandchild. Angie has to gather her far-flung brothers and sisters and assemble them in her Grandmother’s hospital room so that at the moment of her death, she can lift these blessings turned curses.
What did I think?:
First of all, a huge thank you to the wonderful staff at Mr B’s Emporium Of Reading Delights in Bath for recommending this to my sister, Chrissi Reads and I when we had a reading spa in their fantastic bookshop. I can’t believe I’m only getting round to reviewing it now but I have a massive backlog of reviews that I’m only now just starting to see the end of and should hopefully be fully up to date by this time next year (SHE HOPES!). I was definitely intrigued by the way the marvellous bookseller sold this book to us and when the time came round to read it, I was really in the mood for a good bit of magical realism so was overjoyed to discover that what was inside this novel was just as good as the synopsis suggested it was. This is a story where the characters are paramount and I loved exploring their relationships with each other and the journey they go through as individuals since a curse was placed on each one of them.
Andrew Kaufman, author of Born Weird.
This is the story of five siblings – Richard, Abba, Lucy, Kent and Angie who all had a curse/blessing (blurse?!) placed on them at the moment of their birth from their grandmother. The blurses range from always being safe, to always having hope, never getting lost to having great physical strength and finally, to always have the capacity to forgive anyone instantly, no matter what they do. Initially, this sounds like thoughtful gifts for a grandmother to bestow upon her grandchildren but unfortunately these “gifts” plague our Weird siblings all their lives leading to emotional detachment, gullibility, intense anger and flightiness. The grandmother calls Angie to her hospital bedside as she lies dying and tells Angie she’d like to remove the blurses on the children so it’s up to Angie to re-unite her brothers and sisters in the space of two weeks so that they can finally see what living ordinary lives might feel like.
Toronto, Canada where part of Born Weird is set.
I loved the fantastical edge to this story, that’s for sure but what I loved even more is that this novel is about so much more than just magical realism. It’s the story of a family, their relationships with each other and how they re-connect with each other after an extended period of silence. It’s also their journey as individuals and how each separate blurse has affected them at various points in their lives particularly regarding their character and temperament. There’s a surprising amount of heart-break in this story that I don’t really want to ruin but involves the Weird parents and how they are no longer in their children’s lives – either because of a medical issue or a strange disappearance that forms an additional exciting little mystery to solve throughout the narrative.
Like all good literary fiction, I really became immersed in the characters behind this story and every one of them felt fully fleshed out and completely authentic. I felt the pain, sorrow and frustration that their blurses cost them and also realised how much it affected not only their relationships with each other but their relationships with other people outside the family unit. It’s a quirky, one of a kind and definitely “weird” reading experience but it’s one that’s absolutely worth your time if you get the chance to read it!
Would I recommend it?:
But of course!
Star rating (out of 5):
