TABLE FOR ONE by Emma Gannon
Inspired to read this by Emma's substack, this is a terrific novel about reconnecting with oneself
Until I joined Substack and started following writers, I did not know who Emma Gannon was. However, I quickly came to like her newsletter, The Hyphen, and I picked up her new novel, Table For One, recently.
Table For One tells the story of Willow and jumps through times in her life - current through to back to her childhood. The flashbacks provide context for the relationships in her life and how she finds herself, at 35, back living with her Aunt Carla.
It explores Willow’s relationships - with her friends and her long term boyfriend, Dom. And it takes a look at how much of ourselves we give up or minimise in order to fit in, whether that be with people, into workplaces or into society.
Willow’s story also take place against a burgeoning friendship with online influencer, Nas Chopra, who from all angles is vouching for and living her best single life, encouraging women to release themselves from the shackles of unfulfilling relationships and men who need mothers, not partners.
With this novel, I did what I try hard not to do - fall into the buzz created online around books and authors. I mainly avoid this because, usually, my thoughts are wildly different from the masses (hello, The Goldfinch amongst others). However, I do like Emma’s Substack so I bit the bullet and I am glad I did.
This was a two day read for me and it wasn’t a hard one. Table For One is well written and well executed, even if it is not going to change lives. That’s perfectly OK - most books don’t, nor should they. For the most part, the characters are well developed (although something about Penny didn’t quite click for me) and the ones we are supposed to dislike, we do.
I quite liked Table For One and maybe the timing was serendipitous, because last weekend, I watched the final episode of And Just Like That… and Carrie’s narration finished on the line “The woman realised she wasn’t alone: she was on her own” which (a) I thought was a great line (and one I’ve been thinking about a lot over the past week) and (b) seemed a perfect summation for Willow, too.
Table For One is a great weekend or beach read and a great outing by Emma Gannon. I hope you like it too.
I had not heard of Emma Gannon until I came to Substack. I really enjoy reading her updates. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this. I wonder if this is your first Emma Gannon book? It was an easy weekend read but I on the other hand, couldn't get into it. I thought the story line was less about the title. I imagined or expected the character would spend more time on solo dining experiences. The ending was a bit flat for me. I also thought the storyline was quite similar to a previous book she had written, which I enjoyed more. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on that one, if you haven't already read it. That one is called 'Olive'.
Interestingly another review I read, from someone who lived or visited in the area where restaurants were mentioned, took great delight in visiting those restaurants.