Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting

April 15, 2022
Seven people's lives intersect as they commute to and from London each day. Iona, at 57, is a one-time it girl and current eccentric lesbian who's an advice columnist for the staid Modern Woman magazine. Piers is a middle-aged mansplainer, manspreader, and impeccably tailored futures trader. Sanjay is a young, empathetic--yet anxious--nurse on the oncology ward at a London hospital. Emmie is a pretty, red-haired bookworm in her late 20s who works in digital advertising and feels underwhelmed with her career arc. Martha is a teenager dealing with all the angst, drama, bullying, and social ostracization that runs rife in school. Jake is a personal trainer who owns the coolest gym around. And David, a lawyer in his late 60s, is the kind of nondescript commuter no one really ever notices or remembers. All seven travel back and forth on the same train; over the years, they've noticed, nicknamed, and studiously avoided talking to one another. But when Piers chokes on a grape one morning, his seatmate Emmie doesn't know what to do, Iona calls for help, and Sanjay swoops in to the rescue. They begin talking to one another, and eventually others enter their circle. As she did in The Authenticity Project (2020), author Pooley has created a cast of individual characters whose lives intersect around a focal point. As the story unfolds, readers learn about the complexities that make each character tick: their hopes, dreams, fears, and flaws. Job struggles and loss, money problems, panic attacks, and love all have their places in this story, as do the problems of dealing with homophobia, ageism, poison-pen missives, divorced parents, a nude picture accidentally becoming public, and an emotionally abusive relationship. But each character still triumphs by the end. A soothing story where bad things happen yet are overcome, and friendship leads the way to personal acceptance and rebirth.

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May 16, 2022
A man’s near-death experience brings a group of commuters out of their shells in the fleet-footed latest from Pooley (The Authenticity Project). Iona Iverson, an uptight advice columnist being pushed out of her longtime job, lives by strict rules that include never giving up a seat or talking to other riders on her morning commute into London’s Waterloo Station. But when Piers, another commuter Iona has long assumed to be an obnoxious businessman, chokes on a grape, Iona and the other riders spring into action to save him. With the ice broken, the passengers get to know each other and look to Iona for guidance on their personal problems. There’s Emmie, a young professional facing harassment from a stalker; Sanjay, the nurse who saved Piers and has a crush on Emmie; David, a nondescript suit whose wife wants to separate; Martha, a teenager whose boyfriend leaked a nude picture of her; and Piers, whose bluster disguises his failing career and marriage. While helping them, Iona, in turn, learns how she might modernize her column. The commuters’ judgmental attitudes at the story’s start are a bit overdone (Iona identifies Piers as “Smart-but-Sexist-Manspreader” before she learns his name), but the heartwarming tale of overcoming the atomization of modern life strikes a chord. Readers looking for a breezy and rewarding story will find much to love.

Starred review from April 1, 2022
Pooley's second novel, following The Authenticity Project (2020), is another joyous tale about serendipitous friendship and seizing each day with vigor. The epitome of a feel-good book that is also laugh-out-loud hilarious, it centers on the titular Iona, an indomitable middle-aged woman, and the eclectic cast of characters she encounters each day on the train. Her fellow travelers range from an awkward teenage girl to an obnoxious manspreader in a suit, but they all have one thing in common, they're strangers who never, ever speak. But that changes the day the manspreader chokes on a grape, bringing this ragtag group together. The chapters shift among various points of view, providing a look into each commuter's life and thoughts and a reminder that there is so much more to each of us than our outward appearance. Each person's history is slowly unraveled as the bonds between the unlikely intergenerational group grow stronger. In a time when our differences so often divide us, Pooley's novel is like a reassuring hug, assuring readers that our differences can strengthen relationships and should be embraced and celebrated. A not-to-be-missed read in the mode of Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (2017).

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