NUMBERS, NUMBERS, NUMBERS!

Review of 'Addition' a novel by Toni Jordan

I am reviewing the paperback edition of this novel, ISBN 0340963778, Publisher Sceptre, 241 pages, cover price £7.99. Genre:- Modern fiction,

**THE PLOT**

Thirty five year old Grace Lisa Vandenburg is a counter. She counts everything, from the letters in her name (19) to the bristles in her toothbrush (1768). Grace is a slave to her obsession with numbers and counting. She denies that she has OCD, that is for compulsive hand-washers, not unemployed teachers with numerically planned routines such as herself.


Grace plans her day by the clock, she knows exactly how many minutes it takes to do the most mundane of chores, she knows how many steps it is from her front door to the cafe where she drinks a hot chocolate with 2 marshmallows and eats a slice of orange cake with poppy seeds daily. The cake is a trial to her as she is compelled to count the individual poppy seeds on her slice which in turn dictates how many bites she'll take to eat it.

Grace shops on a particular day each week and buys a set amount of the same items every time. She eats, organises and lives as far as possible by the number 10 and multiples of that number. She owns 10 pairs of shoes, she buys bananas in tens, she brushes her hair 100 times and even reads books 10 pages at a time. She is also consumed by a desire to measure everything and cannot manage to leave her flat without measuring the walls.


Grace is not only a slave to numbers but she is also obsessed with the Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla. Nikola was also a 'counter' and as such, he is Grace's hero. She fantasises about Nikola rescuing her from a variety of near death situations, even though he has been dead for many years.

Grace has lost her teaching job due to her counting and has had a little therapy for the condition to no avail. Her family have more or less given up hope of Grace ever living a normal life and let her get on with her self imposed routines, ringing her at set times on set days. They know that Grace finds it easier to count everything as that way there are no unpleasant surprises to rock her world.

One day, in the supermarket, Grace realises to her horror that she has only picked up 9 bananas, she is so fazed by this that she is compelled to pinch one from another shopper's basket. Naturally this leads to a verbal exchange with the other customer and so Grace meets Seamus Joseph O'Reilly, (also a 19).
Once the banana incident is sorted, Seamus is attracted to Grace and the pair form a relationship, Grace then has to juggle love with counting, a recipe fraught with disaster and confusion.

**ABOUT THE AUTHOR**

Toni Jordan was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1966. After leaving school, she enrolled in a Bachelor of Science at the University of Queensland. She has worked as a research assistant, molecular biologist, quality control chemist, door-to-door aluminium siding saleswoman, marketing manager, shop assistant and copywriter.

In 1996 she moved to Melbourne, and in 2004 quit her job to study professional writing full time at RMIT University. While studying, she began writing her début novel, Addition.
Toni still lives in Melbourne with her husband and works as a freelance copywriter.

Addition was one of the books on the Richard & Judy 'Summer Reads' list in 2008.

**MY THOUGHTS AND CONCLUSION**

As I had not come across this author before and Addition is Toni Jordan's first novel, I had no preconceived expectations of the book.

Addition is a strange novel and to be honest, I found this book a little hard going at first as the constant references to number sequences, numbers and mathematical equations was bizarre and somewhat off-putting. However, once I became used to the writing style, the plot flowed and became thoroughly enjoyable.


Toni Jordan has taken a difficult condition, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and woven a novel with a real spark. The central character, Grace, is wacky, quirky and very likeable. Her condition is ruling her life and she doesn't really like the way she is, yet feels safe and comfortable with her routines and habits. As the plot progressed I found myself rooting for Grace and urging her to combat her obsession. The author has injected humour and empathy into the storyline without belittling or trivialising the condition her character is facing.

I particularly liked Grace's habit of delivering one liners which she felt drew the attention away from herself and her disorder and focussed on the irony of her situation. The result is a fast moving, funny novel with a very strong female leading character.

This is a novel that I would actually like to see made into a movie, something I can very rarely visualise, as I tend to prefer the written word to films.


The author has obviously researched her subject thoroughly, particularly where the life of inventor and 'counter' Nikola Tesla is worked into the plot. All in all, I found this novel to be an excellent read and would recommend it to others.

Thank you for reading.

©brittle1906

N.B. My review may be found on other review sites under the same user name.