Isn’t It Nice We Both Hate the Same Things (Jessica Seaborn, PRH)

Isn’t It Nice We Both Hate the Same Things by Jessica Seaborn has a lengthy title that might be tricky to remember, but its characters are anything but forgettable. Seaborn (Perfect-ish) has woven together threads of romance, friendship, family and identity to remind us that growing up is a life-long process – one that doesn’t stop just because you’re in your thirties. Charlie, the main character, is staring down the barrel of big life failures: her marriage is over, her job as a producer on a breakfast radio show is precarious, and she’s couch-surfing with no permanent address. As she emerges from the fog of grief caused by the dissolution of her relationship and its consequences on her friend group, Charlie finds that, without the social safety net of a husband, she is isolated and lonely. Her cut-and-run pattern of conflict avoidance has hurt those who love her in ways she hasn’t allowed herself to understand – she has held herself above and apart from those around her. As she seeks to rebuild her foundations, Charlie must face the hard realisation that if she wants to change her life, she might also have to change herself. A sympathetic and relatable narrator, Charlie is also flawed. While readers may occasionally find her frustrating, her journey is ultimately satisfying as she re-examines and begins to dismantle the self-protective instincts that once helped her survive but are now keeping her from thriving. For readers of Jessica Dettman’s Your Friend and Mine and Zoë Foster Blake’s The Wrong Girl.  

Books+Publishing reviewer: Kate Cuthbert is the publishing director at Books+Publishing. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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