Call Me Evie - a review

I’d heard a lot about Call me Evie, written by Kiwi author living in Melbourne, J. P. Pomare. Dubbed the next ‘Gone Girl’, I was excited to borrow a copy from my mother in law, even if it was an uncorrected proof full of typos (actually quite interesting from a publishing perspective!)

Call Me Evie was a slow burner for me. I almost gave up on it at the start. We’re introduced to Evie/Kate, trapped in a remote New Zealand town with her Uncle Jim. She’s suffered a traumatic event that she cannot remember or doesn’t want to. Her increasing paranoia that Uncle Jim has killed someone, and that he is blaming her, only starts to get interesting when we learn more of Kate’s back story as a teenager in Melbourne.

There are a few issues with the pace of the story. It didn’t become the page turner critics claimed it to be until about halfway through.

My main issue is with the end of the book, though, when the viewpoints of the two men who played a central part in Kate’s story, who belittled her and cut her down, are suddenly introduced.

By making these men out to be quite rational and sorry for what they’d done to Kate (including physical and emotional violence), Kate’s voice became seriously undermined. Yes, I get that she is an unreliable narrator who is not what she seems, but there are some powerful moments of truth in her story. I appreciated a feminist perspective running through a story written by a man.

I’d recommend sticking with this book, even if you don’t warm to it at first. It’s a tease, a mystery, but just don’t expect it to leave you with all the answers wrapped up in a pretty bow.

Have you read the book? What do you think?