I loved this book. Slightly predictable, but a new type of female voice and actually laugh out loud funny - a statement which I usually find untrue, but I certainly let out a few chuckles reading this. Yes, it’s jumping on the bandwagon of a “Sheldonesque” narrator, but it’s very well done and tied into a lovely, genuine story.

Highly recommended.

What a brilliant debut novel. Susan Green is a fabulous character with plenty of wit and sarcasm. I couldn't put this down - loved it!

I really quite enjoyed this book. The main character Susan is borderline unlikable due to her 'cactusness' but she warms on you. She definitely has an Eleanor Oliphant-like tone.
Susan is a strong, independent, 45-year old woman who's life is ordered as she likes it. He world starts to change when her mother passes away and she finds out she is pregnant.
Quite a funny read, thoroughly enjoyable.

I generally know which way a book’s going, but I had no idea about this one - I was kept guessing till virtually the end.
What initially seemed like Cinderella, stepmother and ugly sisters soon evolved into a completely different story....but as much of a fairy tale as the first. So very sad in parts, so joyful in others - I loved it. And the descriptions of a mother’s feelings about her new born baby were especially moving, I had a lump in my throat while reading them, so very lovely.
Thank you, Ms Haywood, for a very enjoyable book, I’m looking forward to the next!

Totally get the comparisons to Eleanor Oliphant; the main character Susan is independent, controlled and ritualistic. When life throws her multiple curve balls, she is challenged with her brother, his ever present friend and an unexpected baby. Susan is so deliciously created, I feel like I’ve seen her on the tube every morning and her unwavering unique viewpoint is really enjoyable to watch. No doubt this story will be a huge success.

Susan Green is a 45 year old single woman with a very particular lifestyle and world view. She's very set in her ways and routines, not very good with people, and from the privileged point of view we have - inside her head, seeing her thoughts as well as her words - we very quickly began to suspect that she may be on the autistic spectrum.

At the very beginning of the book, we, along with Susan, learn that her Mum has died from a stroke. Pragmatic as ever, she goes off to work as normal, and goes about making arrangements to attend the funeral. She doesn't tell anyone.

As we learn more about her, we discover that Susan did not have the best start in life. Her Dad was an alcoholic and her Mum always favoured Susan's younger brother, the feckless Edward, who still lives in the family home. Because of the mollycoddling Edward received as a boy, he has grown into a middle aged man seemingly incapable of doing much other than falling into and out of the pub of an evening, and living a lifestyle that Susan finds almost offensive. Feeling rebuffed, Susan learned to look after herself and has locked away many of the bad memories she has, becoming fiercely independent, with a good, steady job, her own flat in London, and a life that she feels she is completely at ease with. She even has a 'friends with benefits' style relationship with Richard, a mutual arrangement that has been going on for over a decade; meeting a few times a week, and going off to live their separate lives after their dates are over. This suits Susan down to the ground - a relationship would just get in the way of her routine, and why would she want that? The prickles are showing.

The main story arc is based around Susan's sense of betrayal and injustice when she discovers that her Mum has left Edward a life-long interest in the family home; meaning that the house can only be sold and the proceeds divided between the two siblings once he is prepared to move out - and let's face it, with a free 4-bed house in a nice part of Birmingham, that isn't going to be anytime soon. Susan becomes convinced that her Mum was not of sound mind when she wrote the will - she'd had several strokes after all - and sets about trying to prove it. It might sound like she has an axe to grind and is simply jealous of her brother - but there's something she might be needing that money for very soon…

As I started to read The Cactus, thought it would divide people over whether or not they could relate to the main character - Eleanor Oliphant was a huge success because although Eleanor was a little…odd…so many people took to her. Susan is a different kettle of fish, in that she seems outright rude to people, but again, being inside her head, you see that it isn't meant to be rude - it's just the way she's wired. The story flips her life around quite brutally - the Susan you know at the end of the book isn't the one you started reading about, and it's enjoyable watching her character develop, open up, and change - even if she's not at all sure about doing it.

I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book via Netgalley in return for an honest review. Although I guessed some of the reveal early on, I did enjoy it and think it will probably be a big hit - fans of Eleanor Oliphant and the Rosie Project will enjoy it, if they can bond with Susan. I liked her - although stand-offish and downright rude at times, especially with irritating family members and colleagues, I think it's fair to say that we've all wanted to channel a little of Susan's attitude sometimes!

To be honest I loved the sound of the main character of Susan because I could totally relate to her! I’m definitely an independent woman who has everything just the way she wants it. The book was picked for Richard and Judy’s 2018 Book Club and I had high hopes for this book, but did it live up to the hype?

I found the book a little slow to begin with but once I got into it, I really couldn’t stop reading. I’ve been reading it at bedtime, before I get up and even in the car before I started work. As I read through the book I liked Susan and could understand where she was coming from. I thought the book was really well-written and liked the way the story developed, with Susan adapting to what was happening to her and becoming open to the possibilities which came her way.

I admit I worked out where the story was going pretty quickly, but this didn’t affect my enjoyment at all. It’s a fun story with a quirky, strong female character – what’s not to love!

A perceptive and witty read. A story about family life and the interaction between siblings. Although the story is about everyday life it still manages to find twists and turns to satisfy the reader.

i quite enjoyed this book though it took a while to decide whether or not I really liked Susan. She's quite a difficult person to like _ as prickly as the cacti she loves .stand-offish ,independent,control freak, unwilling to let anything or anyone get through that shell she's built round herself.
However,her carefully constructed life all come crashing down when she finds herself pregnant at 45 - unplanned of course - her mother dies and she finds the family home left to Edward ,the brother she can't stand.The story then unfolds throughout her pregnancy and her determination to expose her brother as manipulative and taking advantage of his elderly mother.Along the way we encounter various family members and,neighbours all adding colour to the narrative.Hidden skeletons come out of closets ,Susan's life is turned upside down and she eventually realises the value of friendships and family,that life is for living ,can't be controlled and that sometimes you just have to take that leap into the dark and see where it takes you.. Yes a good read with quite a twist at the end by which time I was well and truly rooting for her.

In all honesty I really struggled with this one. I thought I would like it because of its comparisons to Eleanor Oliphant but I don't think this is actually a fair comparison.

Sarah Green is described as a 'prickly independent woman' much like the cacti she keeps at home and on her desk at work. I think this book tries to make her out to be quirky and eccentric because of this but she's actually quite unlikeable and not a nice person. I wasn't as invested in the story because of this. I also found the book quite long and slow, and I almost completely put the book down as DNF. I would say it's worth sticking with for the last third of the book and I enjoyed the ending, however it's a 2/5 star book for me.

Welcome to the world of Susan! I loved this book. It’s a complete breath of fresh quirky air. Twists and turns and some intrigue are the perfect recipe for this tale. The ability to follow Susan within the stilted, routine orientated life she leaves and understand the process involved in her decisions is fascinating. Not wanting to spoil the story but the prices of flourishing and discovery is touching. Can’t praise this book enough!

Enjoyable, quirky but a bit predictable and had too many similarities with Eleanor Olipant to feel original! That said, I did enjoy it and was curious as to how it would unfold, with its colourful ensemble of characters.

Lovely book! Easy to read and absorbing, well written main character and the smaller characters just the right side of caricature

The Cactus by Sarah Haywood

Although she keeps a small collection of these plants the biggest, spikiest thing in this novel is the central character, Sarah Green. She's really unpleasant and the challenge for the reader is to decide whether she is simply beyond the pale or capable of the inevitable redemption which this kind of novel provides.

Her obnoxiousness is fairly boundless. Her mother, who she has clearly neglected for many years in the interests of being an efficient person, dies. She finds the arrangements for the funeral tiresome and she has to meet her brother Edward who she dislikes intensely for a number of evident failings, as well as some fairly harmless relatives who also come in for heavy sledging. More trouble starts when she finds out that her mother has left the house to her brother for his lifetime and she determines to contest what is evidently a clear expression of the old lady's wishes. She is also pregnant by her unenthusiastic but sexual relationship with someone called Patrick and is evidently disliked and unsuccessful at work. Parts of this are funny if you find that kind of snobby contempt for the human race amusing but she isn't a lovable person.

She is saved by a friend of her brothers called Rob who persists in being nice to her despite the way she treats him. She is helped by Patrick who wants to help as a father despite strenuous rejections and her rudeness and by a friendly single mother who lives upstairs. As readers, we are invited to decide that this help is okay and she can then be properly excused or redeemed by a series of family revelations about her drunken father and her parentage which somehow makes the person she has become more understandable - even if not socially acceptable. That leads the book to a happy ending when she has a baby, comes to know herself a little more, finds love and understands friendship - all nicely oiled by her brother's decision to sell the family home and share the proceeds immediately.

I'm afraid I didn't warm to her at any point. I found her cactus like behaviour offensive and it stopped her from appearing to be a victim like, for example, Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant. There is too much nasty snobby contempt for the human race - work colleagues, people on the tube, relatives - and if she is a victim, she hasn't made much effort to ever come to terms with it. And, it has to be said that her redemption doesn't come from within! I have a feeling though that the person she is at the start of novel will appeal to some readers and, yes, you could sort of laugh at the way she puts people down but it wasn't for me.

This book was an enjoyable read; the characters were nicely built and the premise of the storyline was interesting. I found that there were a few too many unbelievable factors however, especially towards the end of the book, which detracted from this, although I was intrigued until the end what the big reveal was going to be.

Really good read that yes is similar to Eleanor Oliphant but doesn't retract from the plus's of this book. It made me laugh and smile all the way through and I would definitely recommend.

I think it's a shame for publishers to bill this as like Eleanor Oliphant, because it falls short. That could be because it didn't come first, but I think it's a lighter story and should be judged on it's own merit. In which case I enjoyed it - it was a light-hearted, easy read with a good outcome - what more do you want from a book?

I LOVED this book.

Susan is an interesting character - definitely a grower! At first I found her to be quite prickly but I grew to love her and was really rooting for her towards the end.

A really fun read and one I'll be recommending to others - would love a sequel!

4.5 Stars.

Thanks to NetGalley, John Murray Press, Two Roads and Sarah Haywood for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.

The cacti that kept on her desk reflect the prickliness of Susan's character! With a life is bound by logic and order she keeps emotions fiercely contained until family issues present challenges that spiral her life out control. This funny, quirky book made me laugh out loud at the characters who are so vivid I felt they lived next door.

Fun chick-lit type novel, with shades of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

An enjoyable, light read.