A really interesting book in the vein of Sally Rooney discovering who you are in the modern world of womanhood kind of way. I loved all the detail about training to be an opera singer. I found that really interesting. It was satisfying for it not to go the way I expected but I was disappointed that it ended the way it did. Pleased it wasn’t the same old story line we’ve seen before in things like Fleabag.

I found the style arch and a little offputting. That might, of course, just be me as it's had good reviews. I may go back to it.

This was a tough book to get into, progress and finish. I persevered but it was tough going. Unsure if it was the print or the story or both....

A Very Nice Girl

Anna, a trainee opera singer, lives in London, in a house share with her friend Laurie, a struggling writer. On the surface, Anna is a very nice girl but as the book unfolds, the reader gets to see someone who is in a constant state of self crisis, wanting to please everyone, paralysed on what to do for the best.

Struggling with auditions, she works in a jazz bar where she meets Max, a forty something who works in finance. Her friendship with Laurie and her singing lessons start to fall away as she reshapes herself for Max, for her auditions, for her friendships. She tries to be who she thinks other people want her to be and this performance becomes toxic, putting her friendship, future career and relationships in jeopardy.

Imogen Crimp not only explores the complexities of friendships and situationships but also looks at the power dynamics of age, career, class and gender. Imogen pulls away the layers of these characters to delve into what makes them tick.

I read this book a while back (COVID got in the way of me writing this review sooner) and I keep thinking about the characters in this book...they are not always likeable but they are so interesting.

Sally Rooney fans will love this book!

I originally read this via an ebook arc from netgalley

This is a book is a coming of age story, targeted for a quite young audience, let's say around early/mid 20s.

The prose is really beautiful and sharp, with short chapter that keeps the attention alive. I've found this to be a very good, witty debut novel, with deep exploration into contemporary subjects and toxic relationships.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Imogen Crimp thrusts the reader straight into the life of Anna, a young Opera singer, coming to terms with the fact of that her passion for Opera and her career of singing isn’t going to make her a living. It’s devastating to think she might have to get a job outside of the life she’s tried so hard to build for herself. Anna shares a rented house with her best friend Laurie, and is constantly avoiding her landlords and their judgemental attitude, especially when the rent is due. She going to classes, singing in a hotel bar, and just trying to exist day to day. Then she meets Max, who is wealthy and older than she is. Strangely she agrees or meet him for dinner, but her first impression is that she isn’t that keen. 

The author has created a very uncomfortable narrative voice here. Anna is an unreliable narrator, not through consciously lying to us, but because she truly believes what she is telling us. This feels strange, because we as readers know she’s deluded. Crimp let’s us read between the lines of what we’re being told by Anna. This is an awful feeling and there were times I just wanted to shake her, to make her see what was really going on.

This is written in an crisp and clear way, Crimp doesn’t use speech marks, but it’s not confusing. Every voice is distinctly different so it’s easy to identify who’s speaking. Anna only seems truly at one with herself when she’s singing and passages about the opera and her voice are beautifully written. We’re shown the raw nerves before her performance, her frustrations with herself, and her triumphs. I’ve seen many operas from the stalls, but Crimp takes us into this world until we feel Anna’s passion for this musical form.

I felt such empathy for Anna as she struggles in her relationship, probably because I’ve been there, but she still presents this as the love story she so desperately wants it to be. She’s so interesting and complex and never consciously hold things back. She is blind to the truth of what’s happening. It felt like Anna doesn’t really see someone’s whole character, only what she wants to see, so I found myself worrying about all the secondary characters. People emerge slowly from the fog of her memory, becoming more real as time goes on. I don’t want to spoil the book any further, but it does have a fantastic ending. For a moment I wondered whether I had a couple of pages missing but the ending is true to the story. This is raw, unflinchingly so, showing us how we can walk blindly into situations and struggle to free ourselves.

I enjoyed this book, particularly the background of the opera world and the detail of the main character pursuing this career, which isn't something I've ever read about before. However, I felt that some of the cornerstones of the plotline have been done before, especially in recent years - I would like to read a contemporary, literary romance/ coming of age story that doesn't involve a naive young woman starting an unsuitable affair with an older married man. Other than that, I did like the characters of Anna and Max, and was really intrigued to keep reading and see where their relationship would go.

4.5 rounded down. A Very Nice Girl was such an addictive read, for a myriad of reasons. We follow Anna, a 20-something woman struggling to make ends meet as she tries to achieve her dream of becoming a professional opera singer, whilst living in London amongst people who like to spend money. She starts seeing Max, who is 14 years older than her...

I have seen reviews calling the narrator unreliable, but I think that is exactly what her relationship with that older man achieves. She doubts herself and becomes anxiety-ridden - we as readers start thinking that perhaps she does it to herself, and that her relationship is not the issue. But read between the lines… If you're not sure what gaslighting is or means, then read this book.

I felt immense empathy for Anna because of a relationship I've been in, which almost made me quit teaching entirely.

If you like character-driven books, it's a must read. If you want to read about young women trying to make it as singers in an expensive city, it's a must read. If you want to read about feminist tropes, it's a must read. 

If you're looking for a complex plot full of surprising twists, and a satisfying ending, then it may not be for you. I personally really enjoyed it!

Feel free to message me about trigger warnings as there are a few.

I am really grateful to @netgalley and @bloomsburypublishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A bit of a drag, ended up DNF, it's a story that's been told many times before and honestly I didn't feel like it had a new angle

Compared to authors such as Sally Rooney, unlike Rooney's novels however, I couldn't get into this one. Writing is still good and I would still recommend giving it a go if you're a fan of Rooney or of the particular type of contemporary fiction inspired by her.

Unfortunately I've tried to read A Very Nice Girl numerous times since my NetGalley request was accepted however it sadly just isn't for me. I know they are advanced pre-release copies however the poor formatting made it incredibly difficult to follow. Equally I know that some readers will love the indirect speech and dialogue between characters however the lack of speech marks and punctuation just infuriated me.

This book just wasn't for me. It took me several attempts to get through it and I felt no connection to or empathy for any of the characters.. Anna, is a talented opera singer studying in a prestigious London Conservatory where she feels she doesn't fit in., she feels the same about her family and feels lost in general. She meets Max, an older wealthy man.. Their relationship develops in stops and starts and it just all felt a bit flat and jaded to me.. I felt like I've read variations of this story many times and this one didn't stand out and I had to push myself to read it through to the somewhat predictable conclusion.

Today I am sharing a review of Imogen Crimp's debut novel about love and power, A Very Nice Girl. This book tells the story of Anna, a young woman studying to become an opera singer. Something blatant at the beginning of the book is that there's a huge disparity between Anna's coursemates lives and hers. While they go out for lunch every day, she struggles to pay rent for her room in a shared flat in a somewhat bare area of London. She feels this disparity and she imagines others feel it too. Yet, it all disappears when she's on the theatre stage - she feels invincible. While she's singing in a jazz bar to make some extra cash, she meets Max, an established businessman. Their lives intertwine until Anna finds her identity to be slowly drifting and is forced to choose what she really wants for herself and her future.
The writing style of this book, as well as its themes, echo Sally Rooney's novels. There are no quotation marks and disbalances in class and power are threaded within each of the encounters and conversation in the book. Having read and enjoyed Sally Rooney's books before, I was glad to read more books in a similar style, but at the same time it made me sad that I could be reading a mere copycat. However, something about this book pulled me in. I think it must have been how Anna reacted to the difficulties in her life, her resilience and strong character.
Overall, this book was a good read. Although slow in parts, what I enjoyed the most was Anna's candid character development. As the book progressed, she truly understood what it meant to make your own choices and live with them. I think this is something remarkable that makes this book unique and worth reading.

I really enjoyed this book by a new exciting author Imogen Crimp. This was a story about a struggling opera singer Anna, who gets tangled in a messy, slightly confusing relationship.
Millennial fiction at its core, however the aspects of opera needled in, which I found very well done and definitely would have loved to read more about.
I really felt for Anna and her character and challenges were drawn well.
That being said, it felt a bit flat at times..I wanted something, something to make an impact on me.
I do think it will be enjoyed by many and will read other works by her.

3.5/5

Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the e-ARC.

3.5* rounded up.

A Very Nice Girl follows Anna, from a northern, probably working class family, as she tries to find her place studying opera at a London conservatory. While there, she gets into a relationship with wealthy bank trader Max. Much of the book focuses on the power dynamic and power imbalance between the two, as Anna becomes increasingly dependent on him.

Anna clearly has a penchant for acting, for imagining and thinking through a scene - and this plays out in her real life, too, making her an interesting but somewhat unreliable narrator. Many of the characters in the book, particularly in London, feel like characetures and you're left wondering if that is the intention - that they are supposed to be exaggerations, Anna's interpretation of them for dramatic effect. But maybe not. Not a lot about this book is entirely clear.

Anyway, this book is an interesting take on 'sad girl' lit and I liked the details about opera, though if you're expecting a lot of getting to know the opera world you might he disappointed as much of the intimate detail outside of big rehearsals/shows/Anna's individual classes isn't there. I think there are probably better written and more engaging books with a similar feel, and some things could have been fleshed out more (the details of learning opera, for the aforementioned reasons, for example). But that doesn't mean it's badly written. If you like books with unreliable, 20-something narrators trying to figure out life then it's probably worth a read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.

I was disappointed in this book or, more accurately, disappointed by my reaction to it. I'd seen swathes of overwhelmingly positive reviews for this debut novel, which focuses on a 24-year-old opera student and her relationship with an older man, and I was really looking forward to reading it. London setting, coming-of-age, young woman going through a difficult time: all staples of my reading, and after the deliciously rendered first chapter, I was convinced that A Very Nice Girl was going to be a new favourite. Then, surely but slowly, my interest waned.

This book feels like a checklist of the Fleabag-esque disaster woman genre – bad relationship, fraught friendship, career going to shit, life going to shit, protagonist makes mistakes that initially seem irrevocable – and, contrary to lots of readers, I didn't really feel like A Very Nice Girl was saying anything new or adding anything to the genre.

Still, I gave this book four stars on Goodreads – because with the exception of its predictability, I can't really fault A Very Nice Girl. Great writing, plausible character development, strong characterisation, and nothing that struck me as jarring or out-of-place. I just didn't have much of an emotional connection to it, and that's fine. (Also: I worked at a conservatoire for a year and hated it, so the setting did not appeal!) Thanks to Bloomsbury for the gifted ebook, which provided a much-needed distraction on the train from Glasgow to London 🌟

Unfortunately this book was not for me. Other readers may enjoy it more, but I could not get into it and ultimately did not finish it.

A Very Nice Girl has been cropping up in a lot of Most Anticipated for 2022 lists, including mine, so I was really excited to read it and it did not disappoint! The story follows Anna, an opera student who becomes romantically involved with an enigmatic older man she meets in a bar. As time progresses this relationship takes over Anna’s life and puts her passion for opera and singing in jeopardy.

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I couldn’t put this book down. I think it’s superbly written with a candour and a kind of unflinching realism that completely drew me in to Anna’s world. The narrative takes the reader totally into Anna’s psyche and because of this, events and other characters are very much seen only through the lens of Anna’s expectations and insecurities. It makes her a somewhat unreliable narrator but in a way which works for the intimate nature of the story. Anna is flawed yet also eminently relatable in my view. I found everything related to Anna’s vocation of opera singing fascinating and the skilled way Crimp evokes the experience of being a performer is so effective and a huge reason that the book is so addictive. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say the ending threw me slightly but at the same time felt almost inevitable. A stunning book by a super talented writer, definitely an new auto-buy author for me!

REVIEW: A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp

Anna is a struggling opera student who has recently moved to London on scholarship at the London Conservatory. She meets an older man, Max, at the bar she sings in for money. From here an intense relationship ensues, with Anna desperate to hold Max’s attention but ignoring the red flags.

This is one of the classic books that gets my attention when the synopsis is released, and I add it to my TBR immediately. A 20 something woman, slightly sad, and their toxic relationship. This was a great debut, with an added layer of the life of an opera student. We see the process that Anna goes through, auditions, rehearsal and rejections, and how both her dream of being an opera singer and Max are both fighting for her attention in her life.

Anna and Max couldn’t be more different. Max works in finance, is 10+ years older and is very financially secure. Anna is driven by passion, and she has little money. We see the differences clearly in this novel, and how Max never understands the life Anna lives and subtly manipulates Anna, as she slowly loses herself in the relationship and she is easily led astray.

I did find that this novel is a slower one, especially in the first half.

Overall, a really great debut. I will be looking out for whatever Crimp writes next.

I loved this so much! I think it misrepresents it to emphasise the relationship over the opera singing - it’s more the story of how a relationship with a wealthy man affects this singer’s life and art. It’s a very difficult thing to do, to pull off a story about an artist/performer and actually make the reader root for the character, so I’m very impressed! My only complaint is that the ending wasn’t exactly what I’d have liked - I appreciated it technically as it was certainly very neat, but as I wasn’t such a fan of Max I was keen to have more of a sense of life beyond him!