BOOK REVIEW: Eight Days a Week

A true surprise, a book I could not put down, and truly did not want it to end—this is the kind of story that stays with you and pops into your head every time a Hyundai hatchback drives by, or a children’s show is on TV, or someone shouts, “Kowalski,” and you know they have a certain penguin in mind. It was an absolute joy to read, every single scene laced with the type of light-hearted humour that makes you gigglesnort. But it is your heart that is the ultimate winner because it grows tenfold by the end of this delightful book.

A young man in his mid-twenties but a big kid at heart, Andrew Lyons has never found his true calling in life. Constantly drifting from one interest to another, he never commits to any endeavour long-term because he knows that no achievement of his would ever make his father proud. After two years spent travelling through Europe and squandering his inheritance, he returns home, only to find that no place feels like ‘home’ anymore. Desperate to get away from his overachieving sister’s judgemental eye and to stop depending on her for a roof over his head, Andrew manages to find the perfect place to rent. And somehow between drooling over his new landlady and fantasising about having sex with her, he ends up agreeing to become a live-in ‘manny’ as well.

“I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with this kid.”
“He’s a child and you’re immature. Play with him.”

Completely out of his depth, with no prior experience in childcare, he has no idea what he is doing, making it up as he goes along and following his instincts, and as a result, all his attempts at being a responsible adult and role models to the two small children in his care never stop being downright hilarious. But the more time he spends looking after them, the more he realises that something in their young lives has marked them deeply and that for the first time in his adult life not only might someone truly need him. But he might also be the best person for the job.

“Be cool. What did they do on television? What would Tony Danza do? He’d sleep with his boss, Angela. Shit. Sitcoms were no help at all.”

Unfortunately, his growing affection for the kids is not the only unplanned complication to his seemingly simple life plan of having a job and satisfying his libido, his attraction to the ‘lady of the house’—Gwen—slowly morphing into something he has never felt before. But when the wellbeing of two innocent souls starts depending entirely on Andrew’s selflessness and his ability to put them first, even before himself, every decision he makes becomes a wake-up call for a big kid who never wanted to grow up. And not even an overly eager “Don” can sway him from listening to his newly found conscience.

“Don wants to know what he did to make Gwen want to hang out with other dicks.”

As Andrew stumbles through the never-ending challenges of quasi-parenthood, his head is desperate to catch up on what his heart already knows. We watch him embrace every new responsibility, every new promise, every new emotion unreservedly and wholeheartedly, to become the kind of man his parents can be proud of.

“Please be real.”

A story that is both heart-warmingly sweet and laugh-out-loud funny, I was besotted from the very beginning, giggling at Andrew’s hilarious inner banter as much as I choked up every time he interacted with the kids. I felt somewhat detached from the heroine though, which is unusual for me, wishing at times to hear her thoughts too as her actions did not always depict a clear picture of her state of mind, but this story is written entirely from Andrew’s point of view and as such, it is a male viewpoint through and through. The intimate scenes between Andrew and Gwen, from mere sexually charged exchanges to sizzling make out sessions, are phenomenally written, and at times, even too well written, in my opinion. I felt a slight imbalance between the sweet family moments and the intense and quite graphic sex scenes, making me wish for less of the graphic in favour of more of the sweet. But I did not look away and I enjoyed every mind-blowing moment of it.

“Her eyes flicked to the opening in the towel, and her eyebrows rose an inch. Oh, hello, Gwen. Meet Don. You two will be great friends.”

This is one of those books you cannot help but want to re-read at some point, so many memorable lines staying with us long after turning that last page. I caught myself chuckling too many times to count, Andrew’s shenanigans never failing to amuse me, and yet this is a story that is deceivingly light-hearted, tackling some very serious issues and life lessons, all under the guise of humour and entertainment. A beautiful read, one I genuinely recommend to anyone looking for a book to warm their heart.