My Review of Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver

My Review:

Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver is like no other story I've ever read. It's disturbing and akin to watching a train crash occur in slow motion and be unable to prevent it. Carver engenders a sense of helplessness in the reader akin to the powerlessness felt by some of the characters. It perfectly mimics how real people feel when loved ones commit suicide with both the inability to have done anything to help beforehand and the sense of guilt that can linger for decades afterwards. Carver expertly portrays these painful emotions and skilfully highlights the antithesis of the detached and somewhat emotionless suicide victims. 

Nothing Important Happened Today is told from a third person omnipresent narrator and perfectly exemplifies how we can never know another person's innermost thoughts. Carver does not want his readers to connect to the characters, the reasons for which become apparent, to ensure this suicide victims become reduced to mere numbers and labels. To further discombobulate the reader events are out of sync, and as a reader I was thoroughly engrossed in both the narrative, for its a gripping read, and also keeping on top of placing events in terms of what I already knew. Furthermore the denouement when it comes is shocking and utterly unexpected. I was completely unprepared for how jaw dropping it was.

Well done Will Carver on a stupendous novel.

Thanks to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for my gifted copy.