Lily, recently moved to a flat in Belfast after the death of her mother, is struggling in her isolation. When she encounters Siobhan, a girl who lives in the flat upstairs, Lily perceives her as someone who has a happier, fuller life than her own. Lily fantasises about them forming a friendship, being out for a drink together, but she cannot see any way to bring this about.
Siobhan, meantime, has a job she loves and more people in her life than Lily does. But she has been involved with a married man for three years and is becoming increasingly unhappy living a life on hold, waiting for her next contact with him.
Common Decency compares Lily, as she trails through a pointless life working in a hospital gift shop and Siobhan who constantly checks her phone for activity. Each regards the other as very different from themselves, but Susannah Dickey demonstrates just how similarly unhappy each one is. She presents a dark study of one young woman full of potential, who suspends her sense of self to be what a man wants, and another who has had her mother-her other half removed, and no longer has any idea of self.
In the expert hands of this writer, it becomes increasingly difficult to decide which character is speaking until they almost become synonymous.
Desperation sets in for both and a collision course becomes inevitable.
Ironically, we are left with the impression that Lily might be starting to find her way, while Siobhan has a longer road ahead.
This is a fabulously insightful novel, captivating and moving.

Susannah Dickey’s Common Decency picks up some of the themes she explored in her first novel, Tennis Lessons, through the story of Lily, who has sealed herself off after the death of her beloved mother, and Siobhán, locked into an affair with a married man, who lives above her in the same apartment block. Siobhán has little mental space for making friends and when she rebuffs Lily’s tentative advances a third time, Lily’s feelings turn to rancour. She manages to get her hands on a key to Siobhán’s flat, fitting her snooping around Siobhán’s schedule, at first satisfying her curiosity then making little changes. Unsettled by apparent lapses in memory, mislaid bits and pieces and increasing frazzled by her affair, Siobhán begins to unravel.

Dickey alternates her narrative between Lily and Siobhán as she explores the very different emotional dysfunction of these two women with a wry wit. Anecdotes and memories reveal Lily’s relationship with her mother and her disabling grief while bright, sociable and competent Siobhán is slowly being drained of what little self-esteem she had, checking her phone obsessively and carefully censoring her replies to Andrew’s messages. There’s always a niggle of worry around second novels but, if anything, I enjoyed Common Decency more than Dickey’s excellent debut.

From the first page of "Common Decency" by Susannah Dickey I was hooked on following the story of two young women who live in the same apartment building in Belfast.

For me, this novel masterfully explores the subject of grief, experienced by Lily after her mother's death. The trauma of the loss makes her go through a range of unpleasant emotional states - from indifference to anger, which are mostly directed towards other people, especially Lily's upstairs neighbour, Siobhán.

However, Siobhán doesn't know she even crossed someone, as she navigates her complicated relationships with men, mainly Andrew, who is married and cheats on his wife with Siobhán. This relationship is so consuming that Siobhán neglects her friendships with women, as well as familial bonds, not to mention the impact it has on her work as a teacher.

Because of the close proximity of the characters, in "Common Decency" we get to observe how some of the interactions and situations are perceived by both characters. However, it's really hard to sympathise with any of them. Pure compassion for either - the grieving woman, or the one who's slowly losing her mind as she's being "punished" - proves impossible.

I truly enjoyed how the storyline of Lily that introspected to the times when her mother was still alive, shows how grief and loss can drastically change a person, as it was portrayed very realistically.

Overall, a good read.

I really enjoyed this book and I rushed thorugh it. It was well written with a good storyline and a dual narrative and well developed characters that were flawed and immensely relatable. A great read.