Arena

I loved this book! Evaristo's writing is so engaging and easy to read, yet it carries almost a poetic rhythm to it that allows you to appreciate how well crafted a novel it is. All the characters in this book are deeply flawed and complex so while I laughed at Barry's outrageous commentary on his wife's friends in one moment, I was angered by his sexism and toxic masculinity in the next! His life partner Morris was my favourite character and while the novel explores some important themes of cultural and religious indoctrinated homophobia, racism, gender politics and gentrification, it does so with such a light touch and an abundance of humour, wrapping everything up in a very satisfying ending!