The Weirds have always been a little peculiar, but not one of them suspected that theyd been cursed by their grandmother. This reviewer has long been a fan of Andrew Kauffman’s previous works; the short novellas All My Friends Are Superhero’s and The Tiny Wife. Kauffman has a level of skill in weaving the supernatural with the everyday that few budding novelists have and this is amply showed in his latest and longest tale to date, Born Weird.
Born Weird is set in Kauffman’s home country of Canada and focuses on a family of five children; Angie, Kent, Lucy, Abba and Richard. Each at the moment of their birth were gifted with blessings to help them through life by their grandmother; from strength to the ability to forgive. However, these blessings became double edged swords and each sibling struggles to live a normal life as adults, often failing.The narrative is centred around the second youngest Angie who forgives anyone anything which is why she willing goes to her grandmother’s hospital bed and is tasked by the person her ‘blessed’ her to gather her far flung siblings and bring them back to her bedside so their grandmother can lift the blessings at the moment of her death. This leads to a race against time as Angie must travel across countries and continents to collect all of her siblings before their grandmother dies at the time she predicted herself.
Kauffman weaves sentiment and gentle humour through his tale as each sibling needs to come to terms with the blessing they’ve been given and remember what it is to be a family. The plot never falters and each character is instantly likeable and unique. This a book that you will want to re-read again and again and is a perfect Mother’s day gift or a lazy Sunday read.
by Rhiannon Emery