Middle England, by Jonathan Coe

I wish I could tell you that this book is a favorite.

I really believe that you can judge a book by its cover, if you will: from the first page, I think you can get a good idea of whether you will like the book or not. In the case of Middle England, I was immediately impressed by the writing. Not only is it objectively beautiful, but I like it: it is honest, colorful, masterful without being pretentious.

In addition, I was surprised to notice that there were tons of facts and comments about the Brexit. This is actually the subject of the novel, but true to myself, I had no idea. That's a good thing, because the chances that I would have read the book even if I knew what it was about would have been much lower. I always feel like political novels are made for people who are more educated than I am... (This is a case of therapy, of course it's not true.) But I loved learning more about what was going on in England during that time, and I now feel a bit like I was there.

So why isn't it in my favorites? Because two or three weeks after reading it, I don't really remember it. I never think about it again. I think I have two images that stick with me: one of a windmill with a peaceful old man in it looking out at the sea, and one of a much too friendly dinner in a lovely estate in France. That's it. I was impressed, but not touched.

Still: if you want to learn about the Brexit while having fun (literally), without even realizing you're learning things, this is the book to read.