Paula Cocozza

‘’Focus, Mary. Don’t let him go now. So what if you’re tired and hungry. So what if you’ve crawled to the end of another miserable day in a job you hate, and tomorrow will bring only more of the same, which will feel not the same but worse, and you can’t sleep and can’t eat, which means there’s only waking and working, waking and working.’’

Mary isn’t really at her best. For quite some time, she has been trying to cope with an ugly break-up, a mundane work where an incompetent colleague constantly spies on her, and her weird neighbours. Her monotony is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a male fox, a beautiful creature that seems to understand her better than any human being close to her. Mary finds comfort in its presence but the neighbours don’t share her opinion. Before long, Mary finds herself in the middle of problems that aren’t hers and a struggle to protect this unique animal. The question is where is the end of love and the beginning of obsession?

Paula Cocozza has written an extraordinary novel, one of the most unique I’ve recently read. Haunting, beautiful, puzzling. The setting of the suburbs in London during the sultry summer nights (primarily) creates a seductive and suffocating environment, while the woodlands neighbouring the urban scenery emphasize Mary’s connection to nature and her growing isolation from the weird human beings that want to have their say in her life. Cocozza’s writing is so beautiful and so hard to summarize. The novel is full of vivid descriptions in an exceptional marriage of urban and nature scenes. I was able to ‘’see’’ the soft afternoon light on the houses, the blue evening sky. I was able to ‘’hear’’ the own and the insects, to ‘’smell’’ the distinctive summer night air. All these features paint the picture of a summer night when everything can happen and everything can go wrong. It is amusing how the tone changes from one moment to the next, keeping the reader alerted, waiting.

‘’Mary deleted all her messages. She wanted no one else’s voice in her house.’’

Poor Mary with all the lunatics she has to face day after day….Her supervisor, her ex-fiance who is rather intriguing and enigmatic but immensely controlling and manipulative, and her neighbours who stand on the razor’s edge, facing serious issues following the birth of a baby girl. Mary seemingly finds a way to go through a few unpleasant encounters with the aforementioned obstacles and the Fox slowly becomes the one stable point in her life. Soon, the animal is turned into an object of obsession for everyone, a symbol of the unacceptable disturb of the suburban life. Mary will leave you puzzled and fascinated right until the end. Personally, I loved her. Her whimsical nature, her thoughts and sensitivity… In my opinion, she’s an extremely memorable character.

Despite the playful, whimsical tone and the ‘’feeling’’ of a British urban fairytale, there is a kind of darkness and a tense, foreboding atmosphere throughout this unique story. The owls, Michelle’s depression, the emphasis on lack of sleep, the woodlands and the frequent mention of the fences, the noise of the city, the summer nights. These are only a few of the ingredients that make Paula Cocozza’s novel such a haunting read, painted in a very particular background. The parts of the story that depict the perceptions of the Fox are some of the finest passaged I’ve ever read.

How To Be Human is one of the best books I’ve had the good fortune to read this year. A fascinating mix of Literary Fiction, Mystery and Fairytale, a modern allegory that speaks of obsession, isolation, understanding, threat and refuge. Of disappointment and the strength that may come through it. Simply outstanding…

‘’That’s where civilization was. Up there, glowing with the borrowed light of street lamps and tower blocks. Down on the ground was desolate. It seemed to her that the purple haze of London’s night sky had been lowered like a lid of light over the clearing to seal all the darkness in place and her inside. She was a tiny specimen in a giant jam jar, thoughtfully provided with a twig floor and cuttings of familiar habitat, awaiting examination through the convex lamp lens above.’’

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com… (mehr)

I received a free, advance copy of this book for Hutchinson and Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Mary is struggling. She has recently ended her engagement, she's been given a formal warning at work and she's avoiding her neighbours. But this is not the story you're expecting.
The first chapter is exquisite and unsettling as Mary comes face-to-face with an urban fox and finds a baby on her doorstep. The first chapter is one of the most creepy-beautiful openings I’ve ever read, setting up an atmosphere of brooding unease and the suspicion that Mary's mind is teetering.

From there Cocozza takes us back to when foxes, and this fox in particular, first entered Mary's life, starting as a typical urban pest and slowly becoming the centre of all her thoughts and affections. The tentative interactions between human and wildlife are beutifully done, capturing the fear and curiosity of both side. We even see inside the mind of the fox and Cocozza's playful use of language helps to capture the alien nature of his thought processes. As they seek one another out there is the creeping realisation that just as Mary’s life is crumbling her mind is beginning to teeter also as she attempts to correct all the mistakes in her other relationships through her growing obsession with the fox.

It's an interesting premise that starts so well with a mesmerizing use of language that is startlingly visual and atmospheric, times when I could vividly imagine it as a film with quiet menace. Mary's fears of her old toxic, manipulative relationship and her observations of her neighbours' struggle
with family life is effectively contrasted with the simplicity and concreteness of her relationship with a wild thing. Unfortunately it begins to lose steam as more characters and events come into focus, drifting too far into unsettling but typical suburban drama. The most interesting aspects and original aspects of the writing begin to fade and the subtlety of the atmosphere disappear as "events" take centre-stage and my ability to suspend disbelief was stretched to its limit. I look forward to Cocozza's future work but her strength is in her use of words and in How To Be Human the increasing intensity of the plot overpowered the writing.… (mehr)

For some reason, I had a really hard time getting started with this book. Kept starting over and over for a couple of months -- picking it up, reading a few pages, putting it down again. We just didn't click, the book and me. But I gave it one more go, and then just read it straight through in only a couple of sittings. And really enjoyed it.

This was certainly an unusual story. Yes, disturbing -- as many have said. Have to admit, I was attracted to the novel because of the fox -- I've always loved the critters and we have them around our yard and neighborhood. There's one particularly handsome specimen who naps in our patio area during the summer. I can see myself getting obsessed with one, although I hope not to the extent that Mary does in the book.

Anyway, what a mesmerizing debut. So glad I didn't pass this one up. I'll be recommending it, and looking for future work by Paula Cocozza.… (mehr)

The story begins with a fox bringing a human baby, neatly bundled and unharmed to Mary's doorstep. Mary, who never thought of herself as having a baby, is charmed by this one. And she knows where it came from.

Mary lives a fairly typical British middle class life. She's just had a rather bad romantic breakup, but managed to buy out her partner's half of their house. It boasts a great garden and opens into an undeveloped area she calls 'the woods'.

There are foxes in the area; she's seen a dead one on the road and a handsome male lives in the woods.

Gradually, as Mary's life spirals out of control and she is on leave from her job, the fox becomes bolder and the two develop a friendship, which turns into love and obsession on Mary's part.

Unfortunately her neighbor is anti-fox and plans are made to exterminate him.

The fox accepts food and brings a few chewed up gifts in exchange. First the fox comes to her patio and then even inside her house. And then it brings the baby to her door step.

I love characters that are unreliable witnesses. The neighbor is suffering from post-partum depression. She's clearly lying about how her baby appeared in the fox hole. And Mary – well, even her ex think she has gone round the bend and that he must step in.

It makes for an interesting ride. To my surprise, I was engaged by the story and ended up reading it quickly as I was carried along by the tale. 3.5 stars… (mehr)