Up on the Roof by A.L. Brooks

Up on the Roof by A.L. Brooks

My rating: 3.68 out of 5 stars


*I received this book from Ylva Publishing for an honest review*

I know I’m something of an early outlier, at least based on early ratings for the book, but I haven’t read anything yet to see how and why I’m an outlier. For, you see, despite things that probably would be off-putting to me in any other situation, I rather enjoyed both this book’s story, and the two main characters in it.

The negatives: I like cats, tis just who I am, and react vaguely badly when I see/hear/read someone being bad to cats. Lena doesn’t like cats. Yet have two of them living in her apartment. Therefore I must despise her, right? Well, oddly, I had no real trouble with Lena’s reactions to the cats – they weren’t hers, but her ex-girlfriends; she does take care of them, and give them pets (about 90 to 95% less than a cat-lover would do – pet-wise), but she’s also quite allergic to them, and needs to pump her body full of drugs to be around them. So, yeah, I can live with this type of situation – human cat situation. Plus, there were tears in her eyes when a specific moment occurred regarding the cats that I cannot mention without being spoiler-y. I think. Would it be spoiler-y? hmms. So – cats. What other ‘negatives’ do I have? Well, Lena’s quite of-putting, easy to anger, hard to forgive (Lena finds it hard to forgive, I mean), remembers the wrongs done to her, and just plain mean. Probably not anyone I want anything to do with (on the other hand, I might have just described myself, but let’s pretend I didn’t say that).

She’s socially awkward, but for different reasons than other similar characters I’ve run across. Here it’s a combination of her upbringing – bad relations with her parents, and culture, and bad horrible break-up with her ex-girlfriend that led her to be the stand-offish loner that she is. As is mentioned at some point, her personality changed when the ‘tough times’ hit her one after another. So, yes, she is different than others like her I’ve come across, in that others like her always were like that (though there’s evidence that Lena’s worse now, but still was off-putting before ‘the troubles’ began (see: stories about her childhood). This is a negative since it’s not easy to read a person like this . . . in theory. Though I mostly enjoyed her interactions with others. Especially when her feistiness caused her to call out Megan’s family for their actions. Standing up for Megan. But, let’s not get too spoiler-y, eh?

The positives: well, let’s see. I liked both Megan and Lena. Megan being the other main character (and point of view) who has a much different experience with life than Lena. Both from a family point of view (her family were quite okay with Megan being lesbian; Lena’s cut her out of their life, mostly), and from a cultural point of view (difference between being of Indian decent and not of Indian decent, though Megan has the ‘burden’, not actually seen in this book, that comes from being of Irish decent living in London (is it a burden? Is it not? Do people care one way or another? I really have no clue)). On the other hand, Megan also has had some rough times lately, see her most recent relationship. And, well, just that really. Oh, and she’s clumsy and her family call her names she dislikes but they refuse to stop calling her. But otherwise . . . . something something.

Where was I? Where was I going? Bah. No idea. I started off going down the wrong path anyway, after seeing the current overall rating and reacting. Mmphs.

My head hurts and it’s almost 1 am.

This book is set and takes place mostly in London. A few moments are spent in a nearby city (living in the USA, everything is ‘nearby’ in England) where Lena’s sister Madhu lives (and where Lena is from and where her parents also live). The time? The present.

The story? Lena lives in an apartment complex in London. The kind with, apparently, just three apartments in it. One of the apartments has been empty for a while, but the book opens with someone moving into that other apartment. Whereupon Lena and the other main character, Megan, ‘meet badly’. When Megan accidentally puts a massive scratch into Lena’s apartment door while attempting to move furniture into her new apartment. Recall how I mentioned that Lena is easy to ‘set off’ and has trouble with forgiveness? Yeah, so, here ‘meet badly’ really has meaning.

Megan, though, is a nice albeit clumsy woman, and Lena doesn’t think, 24/7, mean thoughts about her. Especially after Megan keep making overtures of friendship after Lena’s often mean words (like inviting Lena to parties). Then a storm damages Lena’s apartment and Lena now needs a place to live. Whereupon . . . I stop recounting the story or I go too far, eh?

As I said, I actually liked the two main characters. The parents of Lena’s were intended to be disliked. I didn’t specifically like Megan’s parents (father: laughing at and name-calling daughter; mother: some mean things said, albeit said with love; plus the things father did), though I think I was supposed to do so. Jen, Megan’s friend, had a presence in the story, but I didn’t really like her much either. Madhu, Lena’s one good relative, was a good side character; as was the other apartment dweller in the building – Dorothy (who everyone tiptoed around for . . . unexplained reasons – she’s pushy, argumentative, and plays loud religious music if you annoy her, but . . . two can play that game . . and stuff, so…). Hmms. Slow burn romance. There was graphic sex. Hmms. What else to note, what else to note. Hmms. High possibility I’m the outlier in liking the book, and that’s a danger to anyone coming along after me, but they probably will see the book’s overall rating so come to their own ideas pre-reading.

Rating: 3.68

ETA: (not really edited to add, but just remembered something I normally mention for whatever reason - this is the first book I've read by this author).

March 2 2018




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