Review by Fireside119 -- Ironing by Navajo

[Mercy119]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Ironing" by Navajo.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Ironing by Navajo is a work of fiction that provides an insight into the lives of ordinary people. It is set in present-day London and the characters include teenage girls, school teachers, and immigrant families.

Among the characters is a young woman, Emma, who is influenced by her mother's crazy ideas. Emma follows her mother’s gospel blindly; her friends notice that she is sinking to the lowest common denominator. Samira is the daughter of non-practicing Muslim parents, and her father objects to her marrying a white Polish man. Peter is an unambitious 29-year-old man who lives with his mother. His simpleton attitude frustrates her, and she doesn’t know what to do with him. There is also a neurotic, misandrist woman who thinks that all men are stupid yet she is raising a young boy.

What I liked most about the book is the author’s great storytelling. The characters are robust, and the vivid scenes paint a realistic picture of the events. The relatability will appeal to a wide range of audiences since the scenarios portrayed will spark interest in readers. The bouts of suspense kept me flipping the pages, and I arrived at a fast-paced climax at the end of the book. There are, however, multiple instances of profane language that pop up in the characters’ dialogue. These convey the gravity of the characters’ circumstances and don’t detract from the storyline.

I didn’t like that the plot is fragmented, hence the story reads like an observation of unrelated events. Scenes shift rapidly and the drastic introduction of new characters threw me off. I often had to go back a few pages to pick up a plotline that had been interrupted by another. The novel could be presented as an anthology of short stories to rectify this. That will segment the different plotlines and make it easier for readers who would like to re-read or find different stories within the text. It also doesn’t help that the book lacks a table of contents and there aren’t any chapters within the text. A round of editing could remedy this and elevate the work to the masterpiece it could be.

Overall, the text is well-edited and there aren’t glaring grammatical errors. The two errors that I spotted were easy to overlook. I will award this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars because the absence of a table of contents and chapters was quite an inconvenience. Otherwise, I would’ve given it a full rating. Since the book is short, I would recommend it to anyone who desires a quick read. Lovers of fiction stories will also appreciate the author’s creativity. Since there are gory scenes and profane language within the writing, I wouldn’t recommend the book to readers who can’t stomach them.

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Ironing
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[Kavita Shah]

Ironing is multiple stories in one story. A table of contents sure helps make things easy. The fast-paced climax is great and the writing style is commendable. I will ads it to my shelf. Thank you for an honest and insightful review!

[aodonnell]

Books without chapters drive me nuts! They feel like a challenge to read them as fast as possible because they aren't meant to have breaks. This may not be a book for me, though it does sound interesting.

[Mtibza eM]

Thank you for sharing this great review. I have read this book and unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it. The glaring errors and poor structuring made me rate it 1 star.

[Joyful17]

All books need harmony, most especially short books. Thanks for a candid review.

[markodim721]

Thanks for the great review, it definitely got me interested in the book.

[Huini Hellen]

A combination of suspense and vivid descriptions couldn't be more inviting. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Chigo Nwagboso]

Thanks for an insightful review. I can imagine how it feels like eating a book without table of content nor chapters.

[AvidBibliophile]

Crazy maternal ideas, simpleton attitudes, and loads of relatable moments — now that’s the kind of character-driven story I can get behind. Thanks for your engaging review!

[Kennedy NC]

Thid seems like an easy-to-read and interesting plot. Great review.

[Prisallen]

It seems a little weird that the author has several different plotlines going at the same time without weaving them all together at some point. Separating the book into chapters, with a table of contents at the beginning shouldn't be hard to do and should help. Thank you for your wonderful review!

[MsH2k]

I am intrigued by all the comings and goings in this story. I may have to give this book a try. Thanks for the heads up on the quick transitions!

[Mariana Figueira]

The negative points of this book really threw me off, I'd definitely avoid this one. Thanks for the insightful review!

[Kirsi Cultrera]

This sounds like an interesting book. I especially like that the author included immigrant families to the story, as it results to cultural collisions. This is a topic that is most definitely present in every big city nowadays.

Thanks for the detailed review!

[Jagiine]

Hmm... it seems that this book reads like an anthology that is supposed to tie the stories together. Is that right? That's a very difficult thing to pull off, which I think is why we don't commonly see it. I hope the author manages to iron out the kinks and, if necessary, choose either cohesion or isolation for the tales. Thanks for your review!