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A Novel
by Clare Pooley
Book Reviewed by:From the New York Times bestselling author of The Authenticity Project comes an escapist read that will transport you, cheer you, and make you smile - and make you, too, wish you had Iona's gift for bringing out the best in everyone.
Nobody ever talks to strangers on the train. It's a rule. But what would happen if they did?
Every day Iona, a larger-than-life magazine advice columnist, travels the ten stops from Hampton Court to Waterloo Station by train, accompanied by her dog, Lulu. Every day she sees the same people, whom she knows only by nickname: Impossibly-Pretty-Bookworm and Terribly-Lonely-Teenager. Of course, they never speak. Seasoned commuters never do.
Then one morning, the man she calls Smart-But-Sexist-Manspreader chokes on a grape right in front of her. He'd have died were it not for the timely intervention of Sanjay, a nurse, who gives him the Heimlich maneuver.
This single event starts a chain reaction, and an eclectic group of people with almost nothing in common except their commute discover that a chance encounter can blossom into much more. It turns out that talking to strangers can teach you about the world around you--and even more about yourself.
The relationships and bonds formed throughout the book are one of its main highlights. In every pairing, an interesting dynamic arises, challenging our perceptions of the characters. Unconventional combos are formed, and the author guides readers into seeing the hidden treasures of these arrangements, even more so when all of them are put together, making for a perfect dissection of human interaction. There has been a recent wave of novels featuring characters finding solace in atypical groups of friends, such as The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune and One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. I'm certain Pooley's book will find a place amongst these and others in which readers encounter a sense of warmth...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by Noshin Haque).
Walk into any office and you'll likely find a mix of people at different points of their lives: Baby boomers, Generation Xers, millennials. And the presence of Generation Z continues to grow.
Iona, the main character in Clare Pooley's Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting, often experiences people judging her competencies based on her age. She's on the older side, some feel she's past her prime, and she tries desperately to prove them wrong. But what do generational identities say about our capabilities as workers? To tackle this question, we'll first have a look at the impact our generational differences have on us in the workplace, and then delve into the truth of the issue.
How do generational differences affect us in ...
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Kelly Corrigan, New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me More
Clare Pooley has found a delightful way to bring home the point that we need each other.
