Thrown - Sara Cox

My preferred title for my blog was '100 pages', but for whatever reason, Blogger wouldn't let me use that. That is the limit I will give a book the opportunity to grab me and want to keep on reading.  Anything that doesn't look promising I'll put aside, as I have a mountain of other books I'd much rather be spending time with. Such is the case unfortunately - but not unexpectedly - with Sara Cox's Thrown. I'm not sure it's fair to call this a review then, as I didn't get 'to the last page', but as long that's clear, here's a few thoughts impressions I have from the first 100 pages, which will at least ensure it is spoiler free.

It's probably no surprise then that Sara Cox's debut fits very clearly under the category of 'Women's Fiction' or 'Female Interest'. I don't mean this to sound like a dismissive put-down, as it these are recognised and very popular genres, but as I am not the target readership it's definitely not my usual thing, so it's hard to be fair. To be fair though, Sara Cox's debut novel does fit the model well and comes with a pleasant dose of her familiar radio DJ sense of humour. You can definitely hear her voice in the witty one liners, her interest in people's stories and the amusing observations she makes along the way.

Those observations are, somewhat predictably as far as I can see, mostly around the troubles facing women of a certain age. Cox provides a broad, perhaps a little too calculated, cross-section of women of differing ages and backgrounds who all live in the Inventors' Estate in a suburb of Manchester. What they all have in common is that their lives are in a rut; marriages, family life and relationships haven't turned out the way they expected. What brings them together and will presumably turn their life around - if only on a small way - is their decisions to join the new pottery class that Becky - just as much for her own benefit - has organised in the local community centre. You can be sure it's going to attract those lost souls with fantasies about the movie 'Ghost'.

Excuse my presumption of thinking I know where this one is going, but Thrown does seem to be heading down the predictable route of 'never too late to learn something new' platitudes; you can always make new friends, gain new interests and find love again. It's a light and pleasant read, undoubtedly "big-hearted" as the publisher describes it, with a group of characters and recognisable circumstances and situations that many will be able to identify with. The writing is straightforward, the focus on telling people's stories in short chapters that flit from person to person, each unburdening themselves of their problems at the drop of a hat. Cox manages to enliven this with her humour, in the banter between the women and the men - partners, husbands, exes and handsome hunks who have little voice and inevitably fit certain stereotypes. Doesn't mean it's not true to life. 

Personally, I found even getting through 100 pages - over a third of the book - hard going. It's all a little too mundane and domestic for me, relating stories of miscarriages, divorces, retirement plans, gossip, family disputes with fashion tips and food recommendations thrown in along the way. There's also something rather back-to-school juvenile about everyone's behaviour, getting weak-kneed and blushing like teenagers at the soft Scottish burr of a handsome stranger, making new best friends, worrying if you will fit in and be accepted, get to hang out with the cool gang. There's certainly an element of escapism in this, which of course is part of the attraction.. I guess we want to escape from the drudgery and disappointments of adult life at some stage and, for some, Sara Cox's Thrown might not inspire any great changes but will at least undoubtedly be a pleasant distraction from them.

Reading notes:Thrown by Sarah Cox is published by Coronet on the 12th May 2022. Thanks to the publisher for the advance proof copy.