The two of us by Andy Jones

Simon and Schuster, 2015. ISBN 9781471142444
(Age: Adult) Sex scenes and drug references. The two of us is a story of one year told exclusively through the eyes of William Fisher. At the beginning Fisher, as he likes to called, meets Ivy and so begins a nineteen day passionate affair which results in Ivy's pregnancy. The two settle down to face the ensuing nine months, passion being replaced by aching backs, morning sickness and all the other accoutrements of gestation. While Ivy is the one to be enduring these, Fisher, as he so insistently tells the reader, tries to be understanding: a supportive modern man.
The details of 'their' pregnancy are graphically explained and only occasionally interrupted by Fisher's shallow descriptions of his work as a film director primarily making advertisements for such scintillating products as toilet paper and cheese. His weekly visits to his friends El and Phil add some distraction and Jones does elicit some sympathy for these characters as El is dying from Huntington's disease and the degenerative effects are described vividly although not without a touch of black humour.
While Ivy is naturally central to this story the reader gains very little insight into her character. What we do see is merely what Fisher tells us as a reflection of his own feelings toward her. We have little opportunity to develop our own thoughts and opinions.
While the concept of a novel such as this has some merit, it fails to deliver to any great depth and would have appeal to a limited audience.
Barb Rye