I’m delighted to be sharing my thoughts about Probably Nothing by Lauren Bravo. Loved this story!
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Probably Nothing by Lauren Bravo
- Category : Contemporary Fiction
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster UK (4 July 2024)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 448 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1398510696
- ISBN-13 : 978-1398510692
- Goodreads | Waterstones | Amazon
Probably Nothing Summary
Bryony doesn’t actually mind being single. So she doesn’t understand why she keeps seeing (ok, sleeping with) Ed, who is perfectly fine, but also only okay. After developing the ick on their fifth date, she resolves to end things – only to receive a call the next day telling her Ed has died.
Worse yet, he seems to have represented her to his family and friends as his great love. Obviously, it would be cruel to correct them. Then she’s invited to the funeral. It would be equally rude to refuse… right?
Before she knows it, Bryony has been drawn in by the charisma and chaos of Ed’s eccentric family and tangled in a web of her own lies. She’s been guilted into signing up to his sister’s pyramid scheme, she’s in far too deep with several of his nearest and dearest – and to make matters worse she’s experiencing a lot of physical symptoms that are becoming harder and harder to ignore…
Probably Nothing Review
I love a story that takes me inside family relationships and tells it how it really is, which is exactly what Probably Nothing does!
Loved Bryony. Her family home and childhood are so different from Ed’s, once that hook started drawing her in, I could see why it was easy to get deeper and deeper into the lies, even though inside she was in turmoil. She’s honest about her feelings towards all types of relationships in her thoughts (and to Marco – loved their friendship!). Those things it’s not ok to say out loud for fear of reprisals? Those! In a way, I found this kind of normalising for some of my own thoughts! It was easy to identify with her and dare I say it, reminded me of my younger self. I wanted to take her out for drinks and tell her from experience, “when you say yes to others, make sure you’re not saying no to yourself.” (Paulo Coelho)
Brilliantly flawed characters, I came to care about them all quite quickly. Marco is the voice of reason from the beginning – he’s so patient with Bryony! I had this idea of what Steve was like, which turned out to be totally wrong. Anna who wants to please (an underlying theme!) and ends up in a situation that’s hard to get out of. Kelly with her tight hold on life but who cares more than she lets on. And I’m 100% sure we’ve all met a ‘Tamara’ at some point in our lives…
There were quite a few moments when I held my breath (and carried on reading because I just had to find out the answer) and I welled up when Bryony spoke to her dad 1:1.
I could easily spend more time with the Slingsby family and was reluctant to get to the end and let all these characters go. I knew I’d miss this messy and chaotic family who snuck into my heart. Oh, and I loved that even though Ed is absent, he’s still an integral part of the story and we get to know him quite well.
Probably Nothing is so refreshing. It’s honest and raw and funny. Recommended!
About the Author
Lauren Bravo is an author, journalist and lifelong hypochondriac who has written about fashion, popular culture, food and feminism for titles including Grazia, Stylist, Vogue and Sunday Times Style. Her debut novel, Preloved, was named one of Red’s best books of 2023. She lives in London with her husband and daughter. Twitter/X @laurenbravo