This is the book that almost broke reading for me. It took me three years to read it, painful page after painful page. I stopped reading other things because I was determined to finish this. I started to wonder what reading was for, and who I was as a reader, or if actually the book was just trash and I’d fallen down my own philosophical hole.
This book is not trash, and this review is not a roast. In this review I’m going to talk about why it didn’t work for me, who it might work for, and some dangers all indie authors need to watch out for.
The first issue is the title. “Baggage in a B Cup” is a brilliant title for a chick lit/romantic comedy. So I went in with one set of expectations, and those expectations were immediately spoiled by what is actually family drama following a working mother trying to navigate a series of crisis. The thing is, Baggage in a B Cup is actually a pretty clever title given the plot – but sometimes we have to ditch clever ideas so that the reader gets what they think they’re buying.
My second confusion was that it didn’t ever actually state that this novel is set in apartheid era South Africa. There were lots of social mores that didn’t make sense to me until I finally figured out where and when we were. I’m still not 100% sure! Race wasn’t brought up, which is fine, although a short section on observing the quaint African village did make me feel rather squeamish.
My final problem was Pam, the main character. I think if she and I sat in a room with each other we would instantly hate each other. I thought the way she treated and thought about her friends, family, and husband were pretty awful, and yet as we ride through the book almost entirely from her perspective she is presented as a hero struggling against the weight of her useless family. I think in many ways what kept me going with the book was wondering if it was an elaborate satire! Sadly, it was not.
A side note: she did occasionally slip into other characters POVs, and this was a mistake that broke immersion – rather than developing the characters it was a cheap way to explain what would have been done better from Pam’s perspective.
BUT.
The issues confronting the family were genuinely compelling. As an insight into a time and place happily long gone, it was warm and intriguing. It managed to take what is in real life some pretty terrible trauma and take the edges off, making the book more cosy than it might have been and thus more appealing if you’re not looking for a perilous read.
I think the bottom line is that if you are a white, CIS, conservative, middle-aged mother you may enjoy this book far more than I did. Not all books are for everyone. This one is well written and constructed, and if you can get along with Pam you can get along with this story. Not a bad book – just not for me.
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