I was certainly intrigued by this title when I was offered it for review. I'm not totally convinced of the wisdom of it, though. It is, of course, a novel, but if you saw it in a bookstore your first thought might be that it was a textbook, especially with this cover, on which the text foregrounds the philosophy and pushes the girl into the background. You'd probably get a clue from the naked legs, mind you. On the other hand, once you cotton on, it is a clever marketing ploy, and a clever idea for a book. Essentially this is chick lit, but chick lit of a rather superior kind -- though, not being a reader of that genre, I can't really judge how it compares.
Susannah, the heroine and the narrator, is a philosophy student at Sussex University. The year is 1974. Susannah, who comes from a small town in Wales, has managed to avoid living in seedy campus accommodation by moving in with her older boyfriend Jason, a rather suave antiques dealer, who has a classy flat a short train journey away from the university. But Jason is spending more and more time away in London and not taking all that much notice of Susannah when they are together. Susannah, meanwhile, finds herself in bed with her tutorial partner Rob, who has soft brown eyes and an innocent look, as well as a silver bangle and jeans just the right length. Keeping two relationships on the go is quite a strain, and Susannah tries to sort out her confusion by turning to the philosophers she is studying -- Nietzsche, Heidegger and Kierkegaard. But working out exactly what they are saying, and then applying it to her own life, is far from straightforward. And when she discovers she is pregnant, things become hideously complicated. For one thing she is not sure who the father is, and for another, although abortion is a possibility, she can't make up her mind whether she wants to keep the baby or not.
This is a really charming book. I loved the 1970s setting, which is very nicely done, and Susannah is delightful -- naive, confused, but thoughtful, intelligent, and trying hard to do the right thing, if only she could work out what it is. I found her, and indeed all the characters, absolutely convincing, and I really wanted to know what the outcome was going to be. Good fun, but also thought-provoking.
