Danny Wallace’s “Charlotte Street”: A Heartfelt Tale of Socially-Awkward Boy Meets Beautiful Girl
Reviewed by Bella Salyer
Set in 21st century London, this novel has exquisite imagery as well as a
captivating plot about an underdog man finally winning over the love of his life.
Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace, is a romantic-comedy created in 2012
following the tediously average life of Londoner Jason Priestley who just can not seem
to shake his not-so-recent breakup from ex-girlfriend Sarah. One slow and boring day,
Jason spots a female seemingly struggling with many boxes into a cab. Surprisingly,
Jason leaps at the chance to add a bit of diversity into his dull day, and decides to assist
the helpless girl. After helping her load the cab and a glorious smile from her, Jason is
found alone yet again but with a disposable camera left in his hand. Inspired and
desperate to find this mystery girl again, he develops the photos and goes on a crazy
adventure visiting all the places in her photos, to find more clues to her whereabouts.
This book was a great, light-hearted read. It’s very easy to get caught up in the
romance and add no other dimension to books, but this was not the case for Charlotte
Street. The author did an amazing job of keeping you interested and adding some laugh
worthy moments, while still controlling the romance and keeping the plot line stable and
intriguing. I would describe Danny Wallace’s writing style as modern or contemporary.
He gives a very accurate portrayal of modern day London as well as modern day love.
Wallace writes, “But that smile came to obsess my afternoon, and then my and then my
last term of school. Emily Pye had smiled at me! Which meant...she liked me” (Wallace
53). Jason has lost his sense of reality. He jumps to conclusions much too quickly
because of his desperateness. But this also is an example of modern day, how people
get consumed by others so intensely.
The imagery in Charlotte Street really portrays modern London magnificently.
“You don’t mind anything once you’re used to it. Not the graffiti you find on your door the
week after you painted over it, or the chicken bones and cider cans you have to move
before you can sit down for your damp and muddy picnic….It’s the London I see every
day. I mean, tourists: they see the Dorchester. They see Harrods, and they see men in
bearskins and Carnaby Street. They very rarely see the Happy Shopper on the Mile End
Road, or a drab Peckham disco” (Wallace 10). Following Jason in the first person
through his adventure of finding his true love, Wallace keeps you interested in the setting
with amazing, easy to follow imagery. He conveys emotion through it all as well.
Perhaps one problem with the book is its length. It truly is an outstanding novel,
but is quite lengthy, totaling up to 407 pages. At times it was a bit of a chore to read,
having to get through the lengthy parts, but other than that, I have no complaints about this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment