Book Review – Perfect Little World

by Kevin Wilson (Picador) ISBN 9781509820672

Eccentric, funny, and fast-paced, Perfect Little World is full of imagination that makes complete sense. Wilson’s best-selling, The Family Fang was my favourite book of the year in 2012. So, I was looking forward to read the author’s new novel. This smart fairy tale is going to be another favourite of mine, even it is not as strange as his first one.

Young Izzy has fallen in love with her art high school teacher and is expecting his baby. She has no one to fall back on when he can’t support her in her decision to keep the child. She is offered a unique opportunity to be part of a ten year psychological-sociological experiment, where she never needs to feel lonely again.

The Infinite Family Project envisions for Izzy and nine couples, also with newborns, to raise their children as one big family, where each participant is the parent of all the children. They live with Dr Grind, the founder and researcher of the project, and other staff members in a Google-style complex outside Nashville.

This Utopian ideal will make you think about the nature of parenthood and the meaning of family. It is a wonderfully different book.

Pauline Vijverberg
4/5

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