I’m currently going through a stage of comfort reading and anything by N.R Walker is usually a go to reread with no hesitations, but more so in particular this novel and its sweet little short A Very Henry Christmas.
The most important question for this review is where do I start?
The best thing about this book- well let’s be honest anything written by N.R Walker- is the believability of the characters she writes. For a piece of fiction to be successful you need to be able to either relate or empathise with the characters and in The Weight of It All (TWOITA) you can’t help but empathise Henry, an individual who’s just been dumped by his boyfriend of eight years for being too fat and having an “old man” lifestyle.
Henry is nothing short of simply a superb narrator and character; you can’t help but life him because he’s not only a funny person but also a character who’s got their flaws and strengths, a richly drawn character that you can’t help feel like would be your friend if they existed in real life.
At its core TWOITA is a story about acceptance and loving oneself; for despite Henry attending a gym in order to try to get his boyfriend back, we see him being encouraged by his hunky personal trainer Reed to achieve greatness in his life.
Speaking of Reed, as the other main character he’s nothing short of totally loveable, believable and amazing; he is also richly drawn out with his own background and faults and fears and desires; another example of how we all have our own paths to follow and the message of accepting ourselves is truly universal.
By the end of TWOITA you can’t help but fall in love with everyone in the novel- well the ones who you should fall in life with anyway.
Rating- 5/5 stars.