ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Over Sharing by Jane Fallon
Over Sharing by Jane Fallon is published by Michael Joseph in hardcover, ebook and audiobook. My thanks to the publishers for the proof copy.
Iris is happy: decent job, good friends, her own flat. Everything but her own family. She and her husband Tom were trying for a baby when he left her for his life coach, Maddy, four years ago.
One day Iris’ best friend Fay sends her an Instagram video of Maddy, now a successful family influencer with a huge following, posting wholesome videos with her husband Lee and their three-year-old twins. Tom is nowhere in sight.
So what did Iris end her marriage for? Needing answers, she delves into Maddy’s life. Just how much can you hide behind an online persona?
Are we all guilty of Over Sharing in this modern age of social media. Is everybody simply faking it?
On the face of it Iris has a good life. She has a nice flat and a good job. But underneath she is still not over the end of her marriage to Tom, and with it her chance to be a mother. She blames Maddy, the woman Tom left her for and so when she sees Maddy has become an influencer on social media along with her husband Lee and their twins, Iris is incensed. Where is Tom and how dare Maddy be living this wonderful life when Iris is not? She decides to find out what might be hiding behind Maddy’s perfect façade.
I always enjoy Jane Fallon’s books and Over Sharing is no exception. She writes engagingly and realistically about women in their 40s and the issues they face. This book is about friendships, about having to move on with your life when you don’t have the life you want and your friends do. There’s no doubt Iris is bitter about her situation and it leads her to do things that seem irrational but deep down are the result of her unhappiness.
I enjoyed Iris’s progression through the story and I found the conclusion particularly satisfying. Fallon puts her characters through the mill but they come out the other side much stronger and she portrays them sympathetically and with understanding. There’s a lot of female empowerment in this book. I really enjoyed the changes Iris made to her life and despite the fact that some of the things she does are not very nice, I still liked her and was really hoping things would work out for her.
The underlying message is don’t necessarily believe all you see on social media. It’s so easy for people to show the world an image of themselves that just isn’t real. Over Sharing is relevant, current, incisive and witty. I found it an extremely readable story of revenge and recovery.
Jane Fallon is the multi-award-winning television producer behind shows such as This Life, Teachers and 20 Things to Do Before You’re 30. Her Sunday Times bestselling books – Getting Rid of Matthew, Got You Back, Foursome, The Ugly Sister, Skeletons, Strictly Between Us, My Sweet Revenge, Faking Friends, Tell Me a Secret, Queen Bee, Worst Idea Ever and Just Got Real – have sold over a million copies in the UK.
