Book Review / "The 31 Days of May" by Helen Aitchison

The 31 Days of May by Helen Aitchison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“The 31 Days of May” by Helen Aitchison is about grief and hope, the two sides of an intricate coin we call life. It is going to be challenging to share my impressions about this book without giving away any spoilers, but I will try.

May is twenty-four. She isn’t the most sociable person, and she struggles in some situations which to others seem mundane and not worth paying extra attention to. Still, May has a comfortable life, with a few people who love her and appreciate her the way she is, her studies and plans for her future dream career. When the tragedy hits, May isn’t prepared for the challenges it brings in addition to the devastating feeling of loss. She tries to continue as before, even though it is harder for her than for more outgoing people. But when a new tragedy follows, having not given her enough time to get over the previous one, May begins a precarious slide downhill.

"She realised now that sometimes it seems easier to let the depths take you when you’re already drowning rather than to swim hard against the tide and search for a life raft." May is ready to succumb to the depths her grief is sucking her into. Yet, she does it her own way. Even the black despair that seems to have consumed her cannot change who she is. And May is someone who must have a plan. She likes predictability and structure. So, she applies these things even in a situation that for others screams ‘impulsivity’ and ‘recklessness’.

And here, the laws of life, which are beyond our control, seem to step in. Before, being different felt like a burden to May, with her missing the opportunities for friendship and socialising. Now, her meticulousness might give her an opportunity to arrive at the stage when she is capable of wrapping her mind around the universal wisdom: "The only way to go when your arse is on the bottom is up."

Still, life gives as much as it takes away. Will May be strong enough to realise another axiom: "And love doesn’t end when a life does"?

“The 31 Days of May” has a lot to offer to every reader who appreciates stories about the intricacies of real life. It has likeable characters aplenty, the plotlines many of us can relate to, food for reflection and much more. For me personally, it was a special delight to read the scenes with a four-legged Alexander and learn about the tremendous role a fluffy ginger tabby charmer played in May’s story.



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The 31 Days of May