Isaac and the Egg - Bobby Palmer

Author: Bobby Palmer

Narrator: Johnny Flynn

Genre: Literary Fiction

Rating: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: Can’t believe this is a debut work! So nuanced, so well-developed, so innovative, so wacky! The audiobook narrator took the great plot ever higher.

Story Synopsis: (Don’t want to reveal much, so just giving the barest of outlines. But the story is a lot more than this.)

Isaac Addy is contemplating suicide. While standing on the ledge of a bridge, trying to build up the courage to jump off, he suddenly hears some screaming. In following the noise, he stumbles upon a 2 feet high white egg in the forest. Isaac feels a sudden kinship with the abandoned egg and decides to take it home. Thus begins the unexpected journey of Isaac and his strange companion, whom he decides to name ‘Egg’. (Yeah, not the most imaginative guy, this Isaac!)

The story is written in the present tense using the third person limited perspective of Isaac.

First things first. This book won’t work for those who take the written word literally. There is a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, and a plot that veers between the fantastical and the outrageous. If you want a straightforward storyline that calls a spade a spade, better avoid this book. It’s for those who would enjoy allegorical takes on pragmatic conundrums.

Where the book worked for me: (Again, trying very hard to avoid spoilers! This is tough!)

💛 Egg. That’s it. No further explanations possible. Just know, I loved Egg.

💛 Isaac’s portrayal. I laughed with him. I cried with him. I felt like whacking him. I felt like hugging him. Though known to us only through a third person narration, Isaac was almost an open book, until you discover that he wasn’t.

💛 There are a few secondary characters who have quite brief roles. But even in their limited page space, their personality shines through clearly. The best of these were Mary and Joy.

💛 This is an out-and-out character-oriented novel. Such stories are tougher to carry out successfully, but the author does a splendid job.

💛 The depiction of grief is one of the best ones I have seen in fiction. Subtle yet impactful.

💛 For a debut work, it is impressive to see how controlled the writing and the plot development is. The story doesn’t go all over the place but sticks to its focus and delivers plenty of surprises too.

💛 Though most of the plot is very intense because of grief and mental breakdowns being the prime focus, there are still some light scenes and humorous banter between Isaac and Egg. These are really well-done and don’t feel out-of-place despite the dreary theme.

💛 I was worried that the ending would shatter me. But it is heartwarming and hopeful, and more importantly, proceeds logically from the story.

💛 The nod to ET.

Where the book could have worked better for me:

💔 It gets very intense on the feelings, especially when Isaac is in the depths of despair. You feel as lost as he is, floundering to get a grip on reality while shackled by his grief. Feeling a oneness with the character works to a disadvantage when the character is struggling to cope and doesn’t want to continue living.

💔 It’s a bit slow at the start. The audiobook helps.

The audiobook experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 7 hrs 25 min, is narrated by Johnny Flynn. I honestly believed that no one can match Christopher Ragland when it comes to voicing non-human characters. Johnny Flynn negated my assumption. What an outstanding narration… nay… performance! When Isaac is dealing with grief, Flynn sounds depressed. When Isaac is happier, Flynn sounds jubilant. There is some communication from Egg’s perspective, and in these, Flynn sounds like… well, like how Egg would have sounded! After a long time, I had an audiobook that I couldn't stop listening to, and that took me along the highs and lows of the characters’ emotions. Brilliantly done!

There’s so much more I want to talk about, but these babblings would be tantamount to huge spoilers. I hope this is a book where a little feedback will go a long way, just like the singular theme of the story takes the plot to greater heights.

Strongly recommended to those looking for an unusual story that combines literary fiction, magical realism, and contemporary drama. It’s simultaneously weird and wonderful! If you are an audiobook aficionado, please opt for the audio version.

4.5 stars. (If I had read this, it would have been at least 4 stars, though I am not sure how I would have felt about the barrage of grief in the initial section. But the audiobook deserves a much higher rating.)

My thanks to Headline Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Isaac and the Egg”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.