In the world today, many people tend to live anonymously, in
their own personal microcosms. However, in Iona
Iverson’s Rules for Commuting, British author
Clare Pooley brings people together--strangers--in such a fun,
spirited way that it’s bound to spark readers to expand their worldview.
This endearing novel, told from the points of view of an
ensemble cast of vividly drawn characters, starts on a London commuter train.
At the center of it all is Iona Iverson, a vibrantly quirky, 57-year-old
magazine advice therapist--an observant creature of habit with job security
issues--who leaves Bea, her significant other, and sets off to work with her
beloved French bulldog, Lulu. Every day, Iona and Lulu sit in the same
carriage--usually in the “seventh aisle,” seat “number three”--as the train
traverses ten stops over 36 minutes from Hampton Court to Waterloo Station. In
her mind, Iona assigns clever pet names to the seasoned commuters with whom she
daily co-exists, but never speaks to. This includes “Impossibly-Pretty-Bookworm”
and “Mr.-Too-Good-to-beTrue.” The other passengers, likewise, do the same—Iona
is referred to by one as “Rainbow Lady” and another as “Crazy Dog Woman.”
One fateful day, a man who doesn’t normally ride the 8:06 a.m.
train--whom Iona bills as a “Smart-But-Sexist-Manspreader,” who talks too
loudly on his mobile phone and refers to his wife as “the ball and
chain”--boards Iona’s carriage. He dresses exquisitely but has his look
“ruined” because he displays an “extraordinary sense of entitlement which only
really comes with being white, male, heterosexual and excessively solvent.”
When he starts choking on a grape from his fruit salad, the normal, everyday
order of the commute is upended. A medically capable oncology nurse,
Sanjay--who has the hots for the “Impossibly-Pretty-Bookworm” but lacks
romantic confidence--performs the Heimlich maneuver on the “Manspreader.”
Sanjay’s heroic, life-saving act serves as a catalyst that suddenly transforms
the travelers from strangers into friends. Over the course of the story, the
soul-filled truth of each person connected to the near-death experience is
revealed. The stereotyping of appearances can be very deceiving.
As in her previous novel, The
Authenticity Project, Pooley’s
grasp on the constraints and longings of the human condition proves
immensely entertaining. Readers will be charmed by this uplifting, hopeful
story rife with tender insights. Traveling with Iona Iverson is a literary
journey well worth taking.
Iona
Iverson’s Rules for Commuting: A Novel by Clare Pooley
Pamela Dorman
Books (Penguin Books), $27.00 hardcover, 352
pages, 9781984878649
Publishing Date: June 7, 2022
To order
this book on INDIEBOUND link HERE
NOTE: To
read this review as published on Shelf Awareness
for the Book Trade (April 14, 2022 ), link HERE
NOTE: To read a
condensed version of this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's
Edition (June 6, 2022), link HERE