A breezy but infuriating read about a freelancer who moved from the UK to the Netherlands with her partner who works 9-5. The novel spans from autumn to summer and she struggles with isolation and loneliness from being in a new country. She befriended Colette and got closer to her as time passed despite her disliking Colette and complaining about her all the time. This toxic friendship is basically the whole plot of the book and it really infuriated me. I enjoyed the pacing though and I find the writing really lovely, I just feel that the book needs a little more... kick.

A quick, all-consuming read perfect for anyone who feels untethered. Readers who are unsure of their path and unsure of themselves will find comfort in Phoebe Walker’s novella about an unnamed woman who has recently moved to the Netherlands and is struggling with her mental health. Temper concerns itself with dissecting human emotion, and anyone expecting a gripping narrative will likely be disappointed. Walker’s work is a nice little addition to a literary canon where the feeling of loneliness connects the reader and the narrative voice.

For any fans of The Bell Jar, A Year of Rest and Relaxation, or Pizza Girl. This is a glorious story of an unhinged woman who is struggling with mental health and the writing style is a glorious mix of dry and deafening. Beautiful.

This was a bit of a disappointing book. The author writes well and astutely about modern life, and captures lovely details. But the storyline is lacking, and it never really takes off. The main character could honestly be Walker just writing about her own life as a very well-written diary.

thank you NetGalley and Fairlight Books for sending me my very first arc!

in temper we follow a young woman and her move to the netherlands for her boyfriend’s job. as someone who lives in the netherlands, it was very interesting to see the main character struggling to navigate her way in this country and her troubles in making real connections as a foreigner who doesn’t speak the language.

at times Walker has managed to perfectly capture the way i feel and put it down in words i couldn’t describe for myself. but overall, the plot was lacking a bit too much for me. i generally love books with “no plot”, but with temper i also found it difficult to get to know the characters which made a lot of pages, despite the good writing, feel unnecessary. temper is a short book, not longer than 200 pages, but because there aren’t a lot of interesting moments happening, it took me quite long to finish.

👩🏻‍💼 REVIEW 👩🏻‍💼

Temper by Phoebe Walker

Publication Date: 13th April

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Temper follows a woman’s life as she moves from the UK to The Netherlands with her partner. She is self-employed and has very few connections in the country, creating a sense of isolation and boredom. She meets Colette, a woman who she dislikes from first meeting, but continues to agree to or suggest meeting, despite complaints about her afterwards. Temper follows her interactions with the people and the world around her, as she struggles with feelings of disconnect and loneliness.

This is very much a no-plot book. Coming in at less than 200 pages, it follows the protagonist’s stream of consciousness through four seasons as she tries to figure out how and where she might fit in this new country. I really enjoyed the writing, and felt quite connected to the character, and could relate to some of her feelings of disconnectedness and anxiety. However, I felt like the book was trying to get at something I couldn’t quite pinpoint, and so I felt a bit unsure at what I was supposed to take from it. This might be on purpose due to the theme of disconnectedness and detachment throughout, but for me it just felt a bit off.

I think others may enjoy the book more than me, so I do recommend to anyone who enjoys a very character-based read, and isn’t too fussed about big storylines or conflicts.

Temper by Phoebe Walker, documents the innermost thoughts of a nameless young woman who has moved to the Netherlands to support her partner’s career. Whilst her partner goes to work, the narrator works from home as a freelancer, she finds herself with a lot of free time, which leads to her feeling lonely, disconnected and uprooted. In an attempt to counteract these feelings, she joins a choir, where she meets Colette. The narrator strikes up an unusual relationship with Colette; a woman who she doesn’t particularly like and who initially bombards her with so many messages that it feels unwholesome. As the story progresses the narrator finds herself obsessing over Colette and analysing their interactions, this coincides with the narrator’s growing anxieties about her own place and purpose.

I really enjoyed Walker's exploration of loneliness, by using a stream of consciousness narrative she was able to convey the suffocation and disconnection that the narrator shifts between. I also found Walker’s writing to be very astute and I found myself relating to the experience of loneliness and the awkwardness of trying to build new friendships as an adult. In fact the book is peppered with so many sharp observations about modern life.

Although the meandering thoughts of the narrator are part of the plot, I did sometimes struggle to keep up with them and found myself rereading parts, to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.

Temper is a well written and relatable book, it is definitely worth a read, especially if you enjoy books about female outsiders, trying to find their place in the world.

Thank-you NetGalley and Fairlight Books for providing me with this ARC.

This was a hard book to review. The writing, the prose , was beautiful and brilliant. The plot, characters, and pace just didn't do it for me. This book reminded me of someone who would be brilliant at poetry, but needs to work on storytelling.

Temper by Phoebe Walker

This debut novella is about a young woman and her mundane year in The Netherlands. The unnamed narrator relocates from the UK with her boyfriend and lives the most boring and socially awkward existence I have ever read. She does not speak the language and has no desire to learn. Her social anxieties prevent her from forming any real attachments. Her obsession with spending time with a woman she does not like only increases the reader’s frustration. I may never recover from my on temper while reading this one. Definitely a hard pass. I would not recommend.

A woman who moves to the Netherlands and experiences displacement loneliness and language barriers. The story is very introspective, The reader gets to explore the narrators intimate feelings and thoughts as she navigates living in a new place. A beautiful series of vignettes written in stream of consciousness prose. A quick but intense read.

Temper by Phoebe Walker is quite a short read, but a very thoughtful one touching the topic of loneliness.

After moving to the Netherlands with her partner a woman struggles with feelings of isolation and loneliness. She works remote as a freelancer which only fills a small part her days so she tries to fill them with various activities such as choir practice. After her first visit she becomes attached to a woman named Colette that she met there. While others try to warn her about Colette she tries to make a friend with this cold and toxic woman.

While the book does not have much plot the beautiful writing is what keeps you interested in the relationship between the protagonist and Colette. Reading from the narrators perspective makes the book relatable and really shows the impact feeling isolated can have, amplified with every chapter passing. If you get your hands on this book you should give it a read!

Temper follows a young woman who moves to the Netherlands for her partner's job. Whilst there, she keeps a record of her burgeoning sense of loneliness, her inability to make real connections there, and her ongoing sense of dislocation and placelessness. The only "friendship" she has managed to curate is with an unendingly strange woman named Collette, whom the narrator suspects is a prolific liar. Written as a chaotic stream of consciousness and underlying feminine rage, Temper addresses the malleability of self-identity and the everyday trials of living with yourself in a bingeable and relatable way.

It's clear from reading this novel that Walker is a poet. Her sentences are lyrical and loaded with a tactile imagery that is rare in literature. Reading this book was a rich experience, and I felt myself getting lost in the narrator's head. I also adored the narrator's relationship with her boyfriend, Robin. Even while she is struggling not to fall into the housewife stereotype that is being pressed upon her due to the free time afforded by her freelancing business, she is supportive of Robin's endeavors. In turn, he is supportive of her, and sweetly grabs her hand in public whenever he senses she needs reassurance (a detail I thought was very cute). When everything around her seems to come into question, her relationship with Robin doesn't.

This book was a little too "no plot just vibes" for me, and there's really no other way for me to put it. I liked reading it, but some paragraphs would just wind endlessly towards nowhere and I found my faith wavering that it would be worth finishing. Even now that I have finished it, I know it isn't the kind of book I would recommend to everyone. While it's short (under 200 pages) it reads slowly, and requires an attention that it doesn't always warrant.

Altogether though, I loved the cerebral, esoteric feel of this novel. The parts I found drawn out constituted only small portions of the book as a whole, which I genuinely enjoyed. If you enjoy character studies of unreliable narrators and stories about unhinged women, this novel is a gripping and unique take!

My review is available on my Instagram and Goodreads both @blondeandabook

*I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Temper follows a woman who moves to the Netherlands with her partner and struggles with feelings of isolation and loneliness. After a choir class she attends only once, she becomes obsessed with a woman named Colette and tries to make a friendship out of a cold and toxic acquaintance.

This book didn’t have much of a plot, but the beautiful writing and the tense relationship between the narrator and Colette made this incredibly addictive to read. Being inside the narrator’s head turned the everyday minutiae of ordinary life into something intensely thrilling and unforgettable. It’s painfully relatable and really shows the impact feeling isolated can have, with the passing of time from chapter to chapter amplifying this.

Such an amazing novel and one I’ll definitely be recommending!

Temper is an introspective novella about an english woman that moves to the Netherlands after her partner’s job transfers over there. There’s a lot of exploration surrounding the choice between loneliness and friends for convenience, and to what extent we’re innately social creatures or making connections for the sake of keeping up appearances and comparison. The narrator tends to be quite heavy on the judgement side and she’s a bit all over the place at times which makes her an interesting perspective to read from. I’m not sure if i was ever necessarily rooting for her but i was invested in her decisions. The writing style in this one was lyrical and contemplative so it’s a good choice if you’re looking for a quiet read, and it fits nicely into my current favourite sub-genre which is books about women feeling lost in their twenties with a very loose plot.

wow, just wow. this book was just so beautiful and insightful and relatable and timely. the feeling of being alone, despite trying so hard to find your place, the dissatisfaction with your life than you just can't find the source of, the fragility and superficiality of friendship and interactions with other people, life under capitalism, self-esteem and (social) anxiety, not knowing what you're doing with your life, overthinking and over-introspection, feeling like you're constantly in stagnation, trying so hard to be liked, thinking too much about what others think of you...this novella had literally everything.

This book is effectively a series of vignettes which document the unnamed narrator’s internal monologue and her fairly inconsequential outings in the Dutch city she has recently moved to with her boyfriend. She is very isolated and has a sense of general detachment and malaise throughout almost the entire book which occasionally made it quite hard to get through. The narrator frequently laments her difficulty forming connections with other people and she reflects upon instances in her past which echo this. She develops a sort-of obsession with a woman she dislikes called Collette and this aspect of the story was interesting though I wish this had been fleshed out a little more.

Some aspects of this book felt very relatable and there were passages which I adored but other parts I found totally uninteresting, so it was a bit of a mixed bag overall. Continuing that theme, at points I thought the writing was absolutely sublime, but at others I found the writing to be a bit laboured. I do think I will check out the author’s poetry as perhaps her writing style will suit me better in a shorter form.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This debut novel is by English poet, Phoebe Walker. It's a short novel, described by Walker as a 'fragmented story about dislocation, purpose, and belonging.' There is no story plot but more an everyday narrative of living in a new city and the isolation that can bring.

While it's a short read I found it an intense read, perhaps because the nameless narrator's experience is one that resonates. I didn't enjoy it but I appreciated the writing and could not ignore the feelings the words evoked. I plan to buy a copy and read it again.

If you enjoy the art of words, you will enjoy this. Walker is able to describe a feeling so acutely, you feel it too.

4⭐️

Thanks to #netgalley and @fairlightbooks for the e-arc in return for an honest review.

A short read about a woman who has left London to move to the Netherlands with her partner. The main theme that runs through the book is isolation and feeling lost, the narrator never seemed to be able to fully throw herself in to this new location and her new life there and instead any attempts that she did make to integrate and settle proved futile. Overall, I found it hard to connect with the main character but I did appreciate the writing and how it was sectioned into the four seasons of one year.
Thank you to NetGalley and Fairlight Books for this advanced copy.

A woman new to the Netherlands observes the intricacies of her day. Spanning over the four seasons, this debut novel does well in reflecting the nuances of our daily lives, what it is like to try and fit in, especially in a foreign country, and the pressures we feel to be significant.

The narrator becomes infatuated with a woman, and although not particularly liking her, finds herself preoccupied with thoughts of her. Desperate for companionship and a sense of belonging in a new country, the narrator makes herself wholly relatable.

Not much really happens in the novel and some parts could have been more fleshed out. Although the novel is over the course of a year, it is very short.

Thank you NetGalley and Fairlight books for sending me a early release of this book!
The book spans a year divide into seasons, the main character has just moved abroad and freelances. The book is very introspective rather than plot heavy, the novel follows the narrators thoughts of loneliness and isolation as she navigates moving and finding her place in a foreign country. The main character is heavily reliant on her partners friends for company, eventually she meets Collette whom she is not particularly fond of but attempts to maintain a "friendship" with. The book reminds me a lot of the works and style of Rachel Cusk, where she is able to take the mundane domesticity of the everyday and make it into something thrilling and easily consumable for the reader.