Fionnáin reviewed What You Could Have Won by Rachel Genn
Review of 'What You Could Have Won' on 'GoodReads'
4 stars
A sharp, fast paced story about abuse (substance and domestic). Genn delivers the voices of joint protagonists, one a failing psychology PhD and the other a pop star with addiction issues. Each character is brilliantly constructed, and their thoughts and motivations are carefully teased out on a journey between Greece, France and the USA on a path of degradation and attempted rehabilitation.
The story progresses from chapter to chapter but jumps narrator each time, which allows the reader to compile each previous part of the story from the point of view of the other - a clever device well employed. The storytelling is lucid and exciting in large sections, although I felt a couple of the chapters dragged on a little so the final cut might have welcomed a slightly sterner edit. But overall this is a piece of forceful storytelling.