Perfect by Rachel Joyce

Someone returned this to the library at the high school a couple of weeks ago and I decided to take a look at it on my lunch break instead of putting it right back on the shelf. I absolutely loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey so I was curious to read more by the same author.

The book has two parallel stories being told, one starting in the summer of 1972 and the other in the present day. In 1972 a young boy named Byron finds out that two seconds are being added to the world's clocks, a prospect that terrifies him. He's afraid of the repercussions of interfering with time in that way. What kind of ripple effects will that cause? He becomes consumed with these two seconds and how that will affect the world. One morning while driving to school his mom takes a different route through a poor neighbourhood and while Byron is convinced he sees his watch go backward for two seconds his mom gets distracted and unknowingly hits a young girl riding her bicycle. This sets off a chain reaction of events in their family that cannot be undone.

Alternating chapters tell the story of a man named Jim, living in the same town in the present day. Jim has no family and struggles with some serious mental health issues. He has been in and out of the local mental health facility but that has now closed so he lives alone in a broken down van. He works in a cafe located inside a store and hides his OCD rituals from the few people in his life. Through his job he meets an exciting woman named Eileen and tries to get to know her better.

Little by little you see how these two stories could be intertwined. Byron's mother also struggles with mental health issues, and it is heartbreaking to see her health deteriorate as their story progresses, while Jim begins making progress. The mental health stories were written with great respect and understanding. I think books like this can go a long way towards continuing to break down mental health stigmas and bringing greater understanding to these issues and to the people who live with these struggles and illnesses each day.

While I didn't love it as much as I loved Harold Fry I still enjoyed it quite a bit and read through it quite quickly. There was a good twist at the end as the two stories came together. All in all, I felt it was an enjoyable read. I'll read more from Rachel Joyce for sure.