REVIEW: Kokomo by Victoria Hannan

It’s been months since I first read an early copy of Kokomo and yet this tender and provoking story is still bouncing around in my brain. Victoria Hannan’s VPLA-winning debut is the must-read new novel of this winter. It’s one of my favourite books of the year.

Victoria Hannan

Mina has left her life in Melbourne behind for London, where she goes unloved by the man she admires and unrecognised working in an elitist and indifferent creative industry. A phone call sends her racing home – her agoraphobic mother has been seen outside her house for the first time in twelve years. The sudden family reunion is not a pleasant one. Her mother evades her questions, forcing Mina to face the past she ran away from and piece together the truth behind everything.

I love Kokomo for all sorts of reasons that are hard to wrap up in a short review. This book subverts your expectations right from the very first page. It’s effortlessly hilarious just when you need it to be. Hannan, in fresh, unpretentious prose, showcases a frankness and tenderness when dealing with her characters, who are fully realised and feel instantly familiar. Kokomo also shifts effectively in time and place to give readers an intimate understanding not just of a daughter and her mother, but of two families and how they interrelate.

Most of all, I adore this book’s grip on the disappointments, the longings and the deep loves that permeate our lives. There’s just so much to connect with in Kokomo. Read it and you’ll see how.

—Kokomo by Victoria Hannan (Hachette Australia Books) is out now.

Kokomo

by Victoria Hannan

When Mina receives an urgent call from her best friend back in Melbourne, her world is turned upside down. Her reclusive mother, Elaine, has left the house for the first time in twelve years.

Mina drops everything to fly home, only to discover that Elaine will not talk about her sudden return to the world, nor why she's spent so much time hiding from it. Their reunion leaves Mina raking through pieces of their painful past in a bid to uncover the truth. Both tender and fierce, heartbreaking...

Order NowRead More

No comments Share:

About the Contributor

Ben Hunter

Ben is Booktopia's dedicated fiction and children's book specialist. He spends his days painstakingly piecing together beautiful catalogue pages and gift guides for the website. At any opportunity, he loves to write warmly of the books that inspire him. If you want to talk books, find him tweeting at @itsbenhunter