Reviewed on 25th June 2019

Something to Live For by Richard Roper

Genre: Contemporary / Fiction
4ratingratingratingratingrating
Something to Live For by Richard Roper Synopsis

Sometimes you have to risk everything to find your something…

All Andrew wants is to be normal. He has the perfect wife and 2.4 children waiting at home for him after a long day. At least, that’s what he’s told people.

The truth is, his life isn’t exactly as people think and his little white lie is about to catch up with him.

Because in all Andrew’s efforts to fit in, he’s forgotten one important thing: how to really live. And maybe, it’s about time for him to start.

Something to Live For by Richard Roper Review

A Story About Lies and Loneliness with a Touch of Humour

When we lived abroad, strangers would often say things to me in passing that I didn’t understand. In a split second, you take the decision to either admit that you didn’t understand, or just to nod and smile and hope they move on. If they continue the ‘conversation’ though you can very easily find yourself in a hole of your own digging.

Andrew, the main character in Something to Live For, is deep in just such a hole. A little lie told at his job interview has grown bigger and bigger to the point where he cannot see a way out.  It is stifling him, but at the same time, the nature of his lie also provides him with some comfort in his loneliness.

And loneliness is ever present in this book. The story centres around the council department that deals with people who die all alone and often undiscovered for some time. Andrew and his colleagues have to sort through the deceased person’s possessions to try and find either the money to pay for the funeral or details of any living relatives.

Initially, I found it quite frustrating that Andrew himself has always just assumed that he will be one of these people who die alone. He is unconfident and quite passive about the situation he finds himself in. I did warm to him though as I got to know and understand him better. By the end, I found that I was totally invested in the story and was really rooting for him.

All this sounds quite serious but there is plenty of humour in the story too. Andrew’s colleagues and boss are wicked characterisations of the type of people you might come across in an office environment. There are also some crazy Come Dine with Me style scenes after Andrew’s boss Cameron decides they should take turns hosting dinner parties to get to know each other better.

I think that it is the main theme of the book that will stay with me for a long time. Our lives are often so busy that it is too easy to just let friendships and relationships drift. Likewise, we should never forget that there are legions of people out there who are alone and lonely, but who have interesting stories to tell if we can just take the time to listen.

Support us by visiting our advertisers

Many thanks to Tracy at Compulsive Readers and Orion for including us in this blog tour.

Published by: Orion
ISBN: 978-140918-559-8

Buying the book using Amazon helps support the author and The Glass House without costing you a penny extra
What did you think?

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.

Recent Book Reviews
More from The Book Club