There are so many wonderful moments in this book seamlessly joined by metaphor and subtext. The idea of grief as an incommunicable language, for example, finds voice in Issac’s initial attempts to understand Egg which gradually evolves through the novel as Isaac begins to emotionally emerge. Truly one of the most beautiful stories you'll ever read , written with generosity and warmth, and such perception. What's it about? I'd love to have a stab at explaining, but I can't. You're just going to have to find out for yourself. I can tell you one thing: it's a story for anyone who has ever lost somebody, or has ever lost their way I had no idea what to expect from this book, I went into it completely blind not knowing anything about it - and to be honest that was perfect. I don’t think anyone could have described this book to me anyway, if I had to tell you what this book was about I’d be lost for words. Unique and very special is how I’d describe it, and a book you will probably always remember with great fondness and a lasting impression – I know I will.

Dat is het moment waarop Isaac Egg ontmoet, een groot ei met een pluizige witte vacht, een geel gezichtje, grote ogen en lange armpjes. Hij kan dit bijzondere wezentje niet achterlaten in het bos en neemt hem mee naar huis, waar Egg alles op z’n kop zet, maar waar Egg er ook voor zorgt dat Isaac weer een reden heeft om uit bed te komen. Ze proberen elkaar steeds beter te begrijpen en Isaac gaat over belangrijke zaken nadenken, zet zijn overtuigingen op een rijtje en komt tot nieuwe inzichten, hij zet weer stappen in de buitenwereld en kan zijn gevoelens niet meer wegdrukken maar moet dwars door zijn rauwe rouw heen om weer voorzichtig licht in de duisternis te kunnen waarnemen. Hoewel Isaac wel inziet dat Egg te bijzonder is om met anderen te kunnen delen, wil hij ook geen afscheid van hem nemen. Zal hij ooit sterk genoeg zijn om weer op zijn eigen benen te kunnen staan?This story is incredible. A tale so beautiful and funny and heart-warming, yet filled with the most evocative descriptions of grief I've ever read. It takes some authorly skill to have a character so bereaved that their mind breaks apart in the same chapter as a hilarious scene of a man and a creature playing baseball with the contents of the fridge. I wanted to sit and talk about this wonderful creation while I was absorbing it, because that's what it does, Bobby Palmers narrative will seep into your very pores. You will want to share every last paragraph of this multilayered triumph, while at the same time wanting to stay quiet, to understand what others make of it, wonder whether you share the same thoughts. My advice is to read it with people, many people, experience it with company. Survival against impossible extraterrestrial odds: Invasion ends its second season with hope … and not? (S2, E6-10) I have avoided the recent trend of books about grief and have issues with audio so this was another choice that perplexed me in hindsight – that was until I started listening. Thank you so much to Headline Audio and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A tender, funny and surprising meditation on grief and hope . . . like nothing I've ever read before' STYLIST An utter sparkler of a novel… highly imaginative, extremely funny and profoundly empathetic’ S UNDAY INDEPENDENT Isaac and the Egg is the debut novel from Bobby Palmer. Last year I heard so many people raving about how wonderful it is. Finally, I have got around to reading it and they were all right -it is wonderful! The Chinese creator god Pangu also hatched from an enormous egg, one in which the opposing principles of yin and yang were perfectly balanced. In fact, the idea of the “world egg” can be found across cultures, continents and millennia, from Finnish epics to Polynesian mythologies to the ancient texts of the Egyptians and the Zoroastrians. Halloween graphic novel review: Voyaging Vol. 1 – The Plague Star by George R R Martin (story) and art and adaptation by Raya GoldenIt was utterly charming, which probably sounds like the strangest description of a book about grief you could imagine but it’s true. It captured the tsunami feeling of grief so perfectly and what felt like effortlessly, feeling like you’re spiralling out of control and losing your grip on reality while life carries on for everybody else. Isaac was profoundly relatable and his emotions throughout the book felt so real. I read it in one breath… true and tragic and funny and hopeful and big – big enough somehow to contain all of our stories and all of our lives inside it’ JOANNA GLEN