I love it when I find unconventional books and I Lick My Cheese is certainly one of those. It reminded me a little of Post Secret in terms of the discovery of secrets and providing a small window into another’s life as well as in the way that it’s laid out. However, this book had less of the intensity of the confessional and with Oonagh O’Hagan’s commentary and surmising of each note’s purpose, more of the air of the comedic.
I found it hilarious.
O’Hagan has amalgamated a whole bunch of notes written by people who house or flat share and for each note, has written a postscript, describing what she thought was the purpose, the possible events leading up to each note being written and what happened in the note’s aftermath. Photos of the hand-written notes are juxtaposed against O’Hagan’s discussion, each given their own page or near enough.
The book has been split very kindly by O’Hagan into four distinct sections which I won’t list here but briefly, they cover all aspects of co-habiting with people who may be friends or associates or acquaintances – whoever they are, they share your living space – and show the discord and humour that can arise from the close interaction of human with human: the disputes over food and the cleaning up afterwards; the invasion of privacy and respecting other people’s space; the hygiene issues as varying levels of standards are uncovered; bill payment or not, as the case may be, to name a few.
I loved it. As a snippet into the lives of people who share a home, it was enlightening. In terms of providing a light read that probably reveals more about human nature than most fiction, it was stimulating in the best possible way, making me laugh out loud and relive certain passages because they tickled my ribs so heartily.
Would recommend!
Scuffed Granny 