The Trouble with Rose

This is the brilliant debut by Amita Murray set in London featuring 25 year old Rilla. It begins with her wedding to Simon, and something is clearly not right with Rilla as she becomes the runaway bride who is arrested by the police for shoplifting. As an Asian woman, Rilla comes with a huge extended family, packed with quirky and eccentric characters, such as her Uncle Jat, Auntie Pinky, Auntie Promilla and so on. This is no small thing as everyone feels they have a say on everything in Rilla's life, and have no intention of holding back on anything. She is a spiky personality which in itself is an understatement, she has reached the point where she is bubbling close to a mental breakdown. She lives in Lewisham, South London, sharing a flat with her Mexican gay flatmate, Federico, and is conducting a MA thesis on which she has made and is making copious notes, but she is floundering when it comes to writing anything up, so much so that she is receiving warnings about being thrown out.

In her head, she is consumed with guilt and thoughts about her sister, Rose, only Rose left the family as a child, and Rilla is convinced she was the cause, she was mean and spiteful to her older sister, jealous and resentful of her beauty and how everyone loved her. There is an unbridgeable silence when it comes to Rose in the family, with no mention of her, it being a forbidden and taboo topic. As Rilla becomes ever more isolated, the more she veers into dangerous waters, suffering panic attacks, unwilling to meet with Simon and discuss their relationship, and whilst she is struggling with her MA on cultural responses to love and other matters, she cannot see what else she can do in life. In fact, the more Rilla studies the concept of love, the more aware she becomes of her failings, her inability to love anyone, and her increasing conviction that she knows nothing whatsoever of love. She reaches the end of her tether as she finally understands she is going to have to confront her past and find out out what happened to Rose if she is to stand any chance of resolving the forces that her tearing her apart.

As Rilla begins the search for Rose, it is ultimately a search for herself and her own sense of identity. She is aided by her young phone obsessed cousin, Jharna, who just happens to be a expert at hacking to get the information that Rilla wants. Murray writes a beautifully poignant story of family dysfunction and trauma, of Indian culture and community, of what it is to be a version of a British Asian woman today, and Rilla's absolute need to find out the truth of what happened to her sister. The characterisation is fabulous and endearing, from Federico to Professor Grundy. I loved Lord Basingstoke, the mentally messed up cat that Auntie Promilla foists on Rilla. This is a wonderfully humorous, witty, comic and entertaining story that I found hugely compelling. Many thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC.

I found this very funny at first, a lot of things that the main character Rilla was experiencing, especially family related, resonated with me.

The book switched half way through and it became a lot more serious. The story had me turning the pages, I needed to know what had happened to Rose.

Wonderful reading. Rilla feels her life is spiralling out of control, and has done ever since her sister Rose disappeared when they were children. Full of humour and sadness can Rilla sort her life out and find the happiness she yearns for?

Rilla is breaking into a sweat and panicking right before her wedding. Only her sister, Rose, could see her through it but the trouble with Rose is… she isn’t around, and Rilla can’t move on till she finds out why. Amita Murray weaves together comedy and emotional suspense into a fantastic book! Rilla’s GIF offers a hilarious (and totally relatable) backdrop to her journey. The characters, human and feline, are written incredibly well. Their interactions, when not navigating complex emotions, are laugh-out-loud funny with just the right amount of crazy.

I love a good book with a great dollop of culture, my own culture, in it.
And this debut, filled with the fun of being a British Indian, complete with the obligatory GIF (Great Indian Family) was fantastic!
I love that there were elements of the story I could relate to, nodding my head, smiling manically or giggling to myself, with my son sat beside me wondering whether his mother was finally losing it...
That being said, there was a lot that wasn't ordinary about the story too.
We follow Rilla, a young woman on the eve of her wedding, who ends up bailing, in the most unorthodox of ways, by getting arrested (on purpose).
She's stuck in a loop in life, trying to get her MA, but unable to really focus, always feeling like she is second best in everyone's eyes.
Because of Rose.
A person who hasn't been in her life for over half of it, but who has overshadowed her every move,
Rose - her sister, who suddenly went missing from her life.
Rose - who no one will talk about.
Rose - did she run away? Did she get taken away? Did she die?
All these questions, but no answers.
I really enjoyed everything about the book, and look forward to more from this great talent!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, made me laugh as it was so refreshingly different to everything I have been reading at the moment. Highly recommend

I'm very happy I was able to read this book as it was a great reading experience.
The book is engaging and entertaining, at time hilarious, always full of emotions.
I loved Rilla, a very well written and fleshed out characters. I loved her evolution and it was both heart breaking and heartwarming following her adventures.
The cast of characters is interesting, all are well written and interesting.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to HarperCollins and Netgalley for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all opinions are mine.