It took almost a full six months, but I think I have what might become my favorite book of 2022. Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley was a wonderful surprise. I grabbed this book from a library display (to complete a summer bingo card entry “read a book from a library display”). I had enjoyed Pooley’s previous book, The Authenticity Project, so I decided to take a chance on her latest.
Iona Iverson was somebody back in her day. She and her girlfriend Bea, made lots of society headlines, as party girls who didn’t care what people thought of them. She got paid to attend the hottest events and cover them for a women’s magazine. But times have changed and 30 years later, Iona is an agony aunt for a declining magazine.
Iona rides the same train back and forth to the city each day (London) as do several other commuters. The story follows how these strangers, whose only connection is the same train, become a part of each other’s lives.
All of the characters are quirky but well drawn. Iona (and her dog Lulu) is a force to be reckoned with, Piers is a down on his luck former stock market big shot, Sanjay is a nurse with major anxiety, David is an older man stuck in a rut in his marriage, Emmie is a frustrated advertising professional in what appears to be a dream relationship, and Martha is a high school girl struggling with how to fit in.
The book alternates chapters told by each of the commuters. So many of the observations are on point and very funny. Like how each of them has a different nickname for Iona before they actually meet her . (Come on you know how you do this – tag somebody you see often with a nickname that describes them – “Man with big friendly dog”).
The book is a fast read and seems light, but covers lots of important issues – same sex marriage, interracial relationships, abusive relationships, internet bullying, anxiety, etc. (Pooley did the same thing with her last book, I kept on thinking it was a light read until I realized all the hard stuff she had tackled in it.)
I did really like this quote from the book “Love is the greatest risk of all, but a life without it is meaningless.”
For people who like books with quirky characters, like The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, A Man Called Ove, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, you will love this book. For everybody else, you will love this book!
