Review of Fill The Gaps

[Lily Ordaz]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Fill The Gaps" by Andrew Johnston.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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“Fill the Gaps” is a story featuring the anti-hero Isaac, an unreliable narrator who avoids struggles and responsibilities. He has an ingrained need to feel superior and feels the need to gloat and glamorize about a job he does not have. His life is suddenly disrupted by a friend from the past, who offers a questionable way to earn money. Isaac, stuck in a lie, follows along this old friend’s escapade despite the dangers.

“Fill the Gaps” has great fundamentals for a storyline, and I personally enjoy unlikeable characters. The author does well to depict the emptiness one can feel after college. The gap years it can take to finally find your footing in a world not dictated by class schedules and social life. Isaac is not the only one struggling; his flatmates are as well. All 3 men are essentially spiraling from the lack of success promised to them during their education. The story feels inspired by “Catcher in the Rye”, although Isaac is a far crummier person than Holden Caulfield. There are themes including struggle with self-identity, depression, isolation, and self-destruction throughout the book.

Overall, I would rate the story 3 out of 5. While I enjoyed the story, the description of a character’s actions sometimes came off as erratic. This is most noticeable in the first chapter of the story. There were many movements, head turning, sitting, lying down, listening, to keep track of. The author could also condense words, diversifying the language overall. Stronger, more weighted words can be used to describe actions. For instance, Isaac always “looks away” or “turns away” from others. Instead, he can be “avoiding” or “ignoring” them. Lastly, at times the author would try to open the perspective of the story. Moving the focus away from Isaac to his flat mates, Lyle and Will. Sometimes the transition was jarring, but it was also successful. The story could benefit from playing with that form of storytelling more. It adds some interesting lore and aids the world-building. It also helped emphasize the distrust the reader has in Isaac’s perspective. I also just had some unanswered questions about Isaac’s parents and Cullen that were left hanging. Perhaps that was on purpose, but by the end I cared about what happened to all the characters.

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Fill The Gaps
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