Addition by Toni Jordan

Posted on June 24, 2009 
Filed under Books, Fiction, Humor and tagged , , , , ,

addition toni jordan

We all have quirks.  Some of us have more than others..ahem..but none of us is perfect.  Addition is the tale of one woman who lives with a BIG quirk, and her journey to build a reasonable and fulfilling life around it.

Grace counts things.  Grace counts everything.  She has an extreme form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which compels her to count everything in sight. And the end number must suit her, or she cannot proceed to her next task.  When she eats breakfast, she must first count the number of poppy seeds on her muffin.  This will help her determine how many pieces she must cut the muffin into, which will help her determine precisely how many bites, to take which will determine exactly how many times she must chew the bites before swallowing.  This is Grace’s life.  She’s OK with it.

Except that she’s not really ok.  Her life of counting has interfered with one major thing.  Interpersonal relationships.  Enter Seamus.  Grace meets Seamus at the grocery store when she realizes that she was short one banana.  You see, when you’re shopping, you must buy everything in groups of ten, and Grace only had 9 bananas in her basket.  In her desperation, she steals a banana from the man standing in line next to her.  He confronts her in the parking lot, and thus begins one of the sweetest most amazing courtships I’ve ever read.  And let me tell you, the sex scenes in this book are so hot.  They are awkward and innocent and passionate and real.

Also, this book has some of the best laugh out loud humor I’ve ever found in a novel.  Toni Jordan gives Grace a voice that is both soulful and hysterical (in both definitions of the word).

Addition is more than just a love story.  It is a story about what exactly defines us and what we should do about our personality traits that don’t fit in with societal norms.  Clearly, Grace has a problem.  And yes, she is driven by her counting.  But what should be done about it?  Should we medicate and numb a person in order to relieve them of the one thing that is wrong with them?  The parts of this book where Grace takes medication to get her counting under control are positively heart breaking, and call into question just how we as a society handle people who are not normal.

Actually, the over arching question of Addition is, What IS Normal?  Is there such a thing?  Why do we strive for it, and would we all be better off embracing our manias?

This book reminded me a bit of the film “Lars and the Real Girl” in that it asks the audience to consider whether someone who has a psychological disorder needs drugs or institutionalization…or if the best cure is actually love, compassion, and understanding.

I read this book in 3 hours 53 minutes and 29 seconds… I drank 2 diet cokes and used 6 cubes of ice.  Read Addition, and embrace your inner weirdo.

xoxo

Natalina

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Comments



One Response to “Addition by Toni Jordan”

  1.  busy z Olsztyna do Holandii on June 25th, 2010 7:23 am

    Nice design, what is the name of template ?

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