The fourth book in the series of ‘Big Read’ is Kevin MacNeil’s The Brilliant and Forever. This novel is weird but brilliant.
We get taken on a trip to an island full of characters who thrive on writing. The story follows three main characters, a man, a woman and a Llama (yes you read that correctly).
Every year the island hosts a ‘Brilliant and Forever Literary Festival’, which is a competition. The story sticks with the three friends in the run up to the festival (in which they will all be competing in).
The whole novel lends itself to many parallels with real life, with the Llamas struggles to have the same rights as the humans, being a type of symbol for repression in society.
We also have some thought-provoking nuggets in there like the ‘what’s life all about?’ theme, which is mostly bought out in the short stories (entries to the festival) that are shared throughout the book.
It’s a little zany to say the least, but hilariously ‘laugh out loud’ funny in places. This book will have you screaming with laughter and crying into your pillow, all in the space of a couple hundred pages.
It’s a bit of mental weirdness that provokes all sorts of emotions and makes you think about your place in the universe. It’s a book that plays with language and doesn’t stick to rules. It’s a book that needs to be talked about, quoted and read over and over again.
Ultimately the novel is about sharing the fact that everyone has a story to tell, and at least one will be worth hearing too.
You can grab a copy here, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below,
Lucy xox
Twitter – @LHutchon
Instagram – @lhutchon
Elle Hache 