Book review: Amp’d by Ken Pisani

The book:

Amp’d by Ken Pisani
To be published May 2016
Pages: 288

The blurb:

Aaron is not a man on a hero’s journey. In the question of fight or flight, he’ll choose flight every time. So when a car accident leaves him suddenly asymmetrical, his left arm amputated, looking on the bright side just isn’t something he’s equipped to do.

Forced to return to his boyhood home to recuperate, Aaron is confronted with an aging father (a former Olympic biathlete turned hoarder), a mother whose chosen to live in a yurt with a fireman twelve years her junior, and a well-meaning sister whose insufferable husband proves love isn’t just blind, but also painfully stupid.

*** Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. ***

My thoughts…

I had no idea what I was going to make of this book, which is narrated by Aaron, who has had his left arm amputated following a car accident. In fact I thought that, given the subject matter, it might be pretty grim.

But actually, I loved it! It was very well written and at no point did it feel like the author was forcing us to feel sorry for the narrator – instead we were presented with a believable character who was frustrating, annoying at times and yet very witty. He is constantly putting himself down and making self-deprecating comments about himself, which are funny yet also highlight what a horrible situation he finds himself in, especially now he is having to live back in the house where he grew up.

My favourite parts of the book were those with Aaron’s family, who all had their own unique characteristics but you could tell all loved each other in their own ways, as families do. They were a pretty odd bunch but there was something quite loveable about all of them.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and got through it in just a day. It was unsentimental, funny and sad all at once and I thought it was very well written.

My rating: 8 out of 10

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