I admit, I was attracted by the trendy, scrappy looking artwork on the cover of the book, and the cleverly shot picture of the author. I read the first page, liked it and went ahead to buy And Now You Can Go.

Little did I realise it would take me close to three months to finish a 190 page book. It’s not through lack of trying to finish it. I’ve had ample opportunity to read the book, but it’s very much a different sort of book to what I am typically used to. In that sense, And Now You Can Go is very much a book for women by a woman. I say this, because it has an air of familiarity in the meticulous detail and precision with which it is written.

There are lots of details, lots of examples of the female psyche and its response and behaviour to certain situations; situations that would be dealt with differently by a male, at least from my male perspective. It’s written by a female, and the main character is also female. Most of the male characters are written off as thuggish, moronic, suicidal brutes incapable of wiping their own backsides without the support of their mothers. This strikes me as slightly unbalanced, and not the sort of thing I’ve come across before. More than a little unrealistic.

And Now You Can Go revolves around the character Ellis; a bright, young twenty-one year old female who happens to be held at gun point on one particular day. The effect of the incident causes her to lose her ability to register any feeling with those around her.

In the back of my mind I was trying to find solutions to not lose interest, such as reading another book during the day, or perhaps starting on something else completely

She seems incapable of letting go of the incident, and instead intent on using it as a catalyst for extracting herself from the monotone existence she has led, to becoming more productive; trying to find ways to make her life actually seem worthwhile, but finding nothing is really keeping her interest.

I’ll definitely say it’s an interesting book, but just as so-called “chick flicks” I felt my interest wained somewhat when it came to reading the book. Most of the time I felt bored rigid, falling asleep after reading a few pages. The book came across as quite bland, rather than depressing. Perhaps I just didn’t get it, due to my inflated male thuggishness.

I felt no sympathy for Ellis, as she just seemed like a typically spoiled twenty-year old female living in the States. Perhaps that was the intention; to suggest that Ellis is an ordinary girl trying to cope with the psychological trauma of being held at gun point. However, there seems such little change in her behaviour before and after.

The book does start to pick up around page 80, when Vida starts to make the language and the characters a little more interesting. She adds more humour, more style, more substance rather than the drab, lifeless monologue that the book sometimes comes across as during the first 80 pages or so.

Most of the male characters are written off as thuggish, moronic, suicidal brutes incapable of wiping their own backsides

Again, this is from my perspective, and as someone not familiar with female writing in general. Most of what Ellis is thinking about is just very, very dull. A fair characteristic for someone trying to keep their mind off the incident that took place, but it seems to go on forever without any point. When the book does start to speed up and improve, it happens to be away from the whole gun incident; where the one-dimensional, generic characters in the States are no longer present.

I started to like Ellis around that point, when she’s abroad with her mother. The synergy between the two characters is quite endearing and humourous. Suddenly Ellis has other characters to contrast her disinterest with, as she feels neither impressed nor intrigued by the younger boy who tries to make a pass at her.

It’s rather ironic then, that when the book returns to the States again, it falls under the spell of absolute dullness. The chaos and nonsense that follows is so implausible and unlikely that you have to suspend disbelief at a book which seems to try to ground itself to being realistic and hard hitting.

Part of why I struggled through the book was because it failed to really hold my interest for most of the time. In the back of my mind I was trying to find solutions to not lose interest, such as reading another book during the day, or perhaps starting on something else completely. None of which really encouraged me to read And Now You Can Go without forcing myself to do so.

Vendela Vida has managed to write a fairly competent book. I wouldn’t rate it as highly as those that have praised the book have; I found it not the most interesting of debut titles, but it’s certainly intriguing in parts. I think this book is definitely for the opposite sex, as they have more interest in the intricacies of the female mind. I personally found the book too wrapped up in apathy, detached and ultimately predictable to really grab me and make it an enjoyable read.

Verdict: Often dragging and dull; with spurts of intelligence and humour. An average debut.