Victoria Park - Gemma Reeves

This book definitely gave me Nick Hornby vibes in the style of the writing - which I really enjoyed. I also liked how all the characters stories blended together, it's an easy read which pulls on the heartstrings and I would recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read and review it.

This is a beautiful crafted novel with a stunning reflection on humanity and how are lives are affected by the unforgiving passing of time. There was lots of detailed imagery which made the book really nice to read. The characters are really well developed and engaging although twelve different characters was hard to keep up with

Park Life.

Twelve interconnected short stories of love and loss, and community.

Set over the course of a year, in which the passage of time is marked by the natural world, Victoria Park opens a window on the multicultural residents of an east London square. Each story follows a different character, yet the so-vivid characters often burst from the confines of their own story, making their way into those of their neighbours.

Victoria Park is a sensory feast. Generous with the food – the latkes, potato salad, fresh chicory and horseradish, cinnamon pastries, aubergine parmigiana, kofta – it also captures the stench of market stalls and petrol, the illuminated shop windows, the sirens and ringtones, the lubricant pooling on hospital-issue blue paper cloth.

Reeves is a talent to be watched. Her writing is finely observed, empathic and joyous.

Sublime.

My thanks to NetGalley and to publisher, Atlantic Books, for the ARC.

Gemma Reeves' 'Victoria Park' is a stunning reflection on humanity and how our lives are affected by the unforgiving passage of time. The plot follows the disparate local residents who live around Victoria Park and the events which affect the community across the course of a year, the reader witnessing how much life can alter, for the better or worse, in 12 short months. Reeves writing is lyrically woven and beautifully introspective, ordinary daily experiences depicted with sensitivity throughout.

Each chapter follows a different person or family who lives within the community, bookended by the story of Wolfie and Mona. They have been married for 65 years and are an important part of the spirit of the local area with Wolfie's deli having legendary salmon. We heartbreakingly realise that Mona is slowly losing her memories of the last 65 years and Wolfie struggling to hold onto the woman he has grown old with.

This is characteristic of the tales Reeves tells across each chapter, weaving together stories which highlight both the most joyous and the darkest times humans face across their lives. Stories of new beginnings are juxtaposed with endings, these seemingly ordinary events illustrating the importance of us having empathy for our fellow humans: what happens behind others' closed doors can never truly be understood.

This novel is subtle yet packs a huge emotional punch. What is certain is that I will be hugging my family a little tighter and telling them I love them a little more frequently. Reeves' new book is a must read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book!
The story follows Wolfie and his wife Mona and the residents of Victoria Park. It’s so simple in many ways and all the residents are very ordinary but I just loved reading everyone’s stories and how they linked into one another.
I would highly recommend

This Debut book by the author tells the story of 12 people who are linked by the neighbourhood they live in and tells the story of the 12 different people .

I really enjoyed this book and getting to learn more about the different 12 people .

I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars, With thanks to Netgalley & Atlantic Books for the Arc of this book in exchange for this honest review.

I was not sure about this book to start with but I was gradually absorbed by the story of 12 people linked by the neighbourhood they live in. You learnt about how their stories progressed by details included in the stories of other individuals. Each is grappling with some dilemma or issue at whatever age or stage of their life story.

An easy read but one which enveloped me and left me wanting to know more about a set of characters I wanted to know more about.

Initially, I really loved the concept of this book and how each chapter was told from a different perspective and set of people. It really brought the story to life as you got to see people from other character's points of view too as well as their own.

I really liked how you gradually began to see the links between all the characters as their lives are intertwined and linked in Victoria Park, however, at times I found myself getting a bit lost with the whole plethora of characters as I felt that there were too many sometimes and they were difficult to keep track of occasionally.

Overall, the residents of Victoria Park make for compelling reading filled with love and heartbreak that I would recommend!

Although this was an easy read I still got emotionally invested in the stories and lives of the characters. Such a lovely read.

Definitely recommend this book. It's a great easy read - if we could go on holiday I'd definitely take it with me!

This is a cross between a novel and a series of short stories. The connection between them is the park, as the title would suggest. Not all of the lives intersect directly with each other but there is progression in the narrative to maintain the semblance of a novel. The empathy and understanding of some of the more unlikely characters exudes a real warmth and sympathy. The challenges faced by the elderly and teenagers are particularly well explored, and portrayed. I wasn't sure after the first couple of chapters but I have ended up loving this book.

I loved this book from the very opening. It opens with rich, detailed imagery of various food dishes. The rest of the book contained similarly detailed imagery, as it told the story of different people who lived around Victoria Park. I loved the way that the author wrote about such a plethora of people, all from different backgrounds, all of different ages. I loved the way the stories interconnected, to concentrate on ideas like memory, love, and the inevitability of the passage of time.
I would really recommend this book, it's so well written, and although there are sad moments that will make you tear up, it is well worth the read.

Reeves has written twelve interlinked short stories about the residents of Victoria Park in East London.
The stories start and finish with Mona and Wolfe, an older Jewish couple, and cover tales such as Bettie and Mia’s quest for a baby and how Daniel protects the reputation of his elderly neighbour Monty and how he died.
Reeves is an assured writer and I liked the way the characters’ lives intermingle: we learn whether or not Bettie and Mia are having a baby through Bettie’s yoga teacher.
I’m not a huge fan of short stories but these are well-written, compelling and easy to read. We learn so much about the residents of Victoria park in relatively few words.
Recommended.

Thanks for the copy via Netgalley.

I was really excited to read this, with the relationship between Wolfie and his wife sounding intriguing and was looking forward to see how that would be sensitively covered. Instead it was smaller part of the story, as you hear from other residents that have a connection to the local area. Although it was a great mix of characters, I found myself to read quickly and get through chapters to understand their connection.

🌟🌟

Just like we all feel the months in real life go by far too fast, so do the months in this book. I wasn’t expecting to be as absorbed by this book as I was, due to each chapter being from a different perspective. However, Gemma manages to weave all their stories together, giving you just enough that you want more. All their stories are connected in some way, and I did enjoy how from a simple sentence, a person’s story can be summarised by someone else.

I would definitely recommend reading this book. It’s such an easy read and leaves you wanting more from each chapter. Each sentence is perfectly crafted, and I very much enjoyed Gemma’s writing style.

This reminded me of Nick Hornby’s writing, which I love, and from the outset, I was drawn into the lives and loves of those living in Victoria Park. The story is bookended with the lives of Mona and Wolfie, married 65 years, and their neighbours and friends who live close by. Twelve residents share their stories; some overlap unexpectedly, others barge into their friends’ lives over the course of a year. By the end of the book, some characters’ lives are changed irrevocably. The writing is clear, but with feeling, and there may have been a tear shed while reading some of the tales. It runs the gamut of emotion and I was surprised at how quickly I finished it. A really open and honest account, thoroughly enjoyable.

A beautifully written novel which perfectly captures the spirit of the place it describes and has some sentences so gorgeous they made me want to cry. Unfortunately, it struggles under the weight of too many characters. We first meet Wolfie and Mona, an elderly Jewish couple; Luca, their employee in the deli; and Mia and Bettie, two lesbians struggling to conceive a child. For me, this would be enough, but the linked chapters from different perspectives go on until we are hearing from Bettie’s yoga teacher and Luca’s son’s girlfriend’s mother’s employer, a former ballet teacher and general racist who doesn’t add much apart from some finely turned sentences and a reminder that M&S used to be quite good. The author doesn’t quite resolve the argument that she flirts with throughout the book, which seems – though I may have got it wrong – to be whether Wolfie and Mona’s restrained, rationed, emotionally resonant East End was better than today’s chaos of acid-throwing, IVF and Deliveroo, or whether such a time of suffering and loss with the Blitz and Kindertransport should never be revisited if we can help it. There is no easy answer to that question, and this author has something to say, but like her cautious characters, it feels like she’s shying away from saying it. Still, this is a gentle read with some compelling characters that I won't hesitate to recommend.