Fiction review: Living the Dream – The Sydney Morning Herald – The Sydney Morning Herald

Living The Dream, by Lauren Berry.Photo: supplied

Living the Dream

Lauren Berry

Virago, $29.99

This witty debut from Lauren Berry focuses on two young women in London whose dreams seem out of reach. Emma Derringer works at an ad agency; she blogs on the sly and privately keeps her hopes of being a novelist alive, in the face of a soul-crushing job she hates. Clementine Twist has returned from New York empty-handed, finding casual bar work and living with her mum as she desperately tries to advance a career as a screenwriter. The gal pals bond over random hedonism and cynical banter, while resenting other characters who seem to have their lives more together. Berry writes clever, overheard-sounding dialogue and her satire of two woman-children in their late 20s does have sardonic bite. The main trouble, though, is the novel's resolution a belated coming-of-age that skirts around rather than delves into problems the characters face, and feels surprisingly shallow and unearned.

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Fiction review: Living the Dream - The Sydney Morning Herald - The Sydney Morning Herald