Really glad I didn't have to live through a nightmare like this situation. ( )

You have to be in the mood for a farce, and with my domestic life being just a tad hectic at the moment, I was definitely in the mood for some frivolity. I romped through Our Tiny Useless Hearts in no time, and enjoyed it for what it is, a lively romcom full of witty humour and daft characters. It made a pleasing counterpoint to my reading of the rather grim Secondhand Time by Nobel Laureate Svetlana Alexievich…

Toni Jordan is an astute observer of the absurdity of 21st century life, conjuring a fantastic cast making entrances and exits through an outer suburban farmlet. Almost the only characters not sleeping with someone else’s spouse are the two small children Mercedes and Paris – and the names of those two alone give you a glimpse into the way Jordan skewers the aspirational airheads who named them. (I say ‘almost’ because I’m not giving anything away!)

Fortunately for the children, their Aunty Janice is the hero of the story, and even though she is a bit screwed up too because she has a divorced a man she’s still in love with, it is she who provides a circuit-breaker when the maelstrom finally erupts. The novel is too witty to be didactic, but Jordan has some serious points to make about making relationships work and about children as hapless victims of parental self-absorption. Mercedes and Paris are more observant and canny than the adults think, but they are still vulnerable little creatures who want to have both their parents together.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/07/30/our-tiny-useless-hearts-by-toni-jordan/ ( )