Published: 20 April 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Genre: Fiction
★ – 1.5 Stars
Four friends. Twelve years. One Eurovision . . .
Eurovision is always the highlight of Millie’s year. So when she and her best friend James get the chance to see the final live in Oslo, it’s a dream come true – until they get swept up the excitement and try to break backstage, along with carefree German singer Ingrid and charismatic Australian backpacker, Noah.
Getting thrown out of the stadium wasn’t exactly the plan, but it might just spark the friendship – and the pact – of a lifetime. The four of them are going to reunite for every final, every year, every Eurovision.
Over the years, the unlikely four celebrate iconic Eurovision moments all across Europe – and, most importantly, are there for each other during all their highs and lows, heartaches and triumphs. But real life takes them down increasingly different paths, their promise becomes harder and harder to keep. Can the magic of Eurovision bring them together one last time…?
A joyous and uplifting novel inspired by the iconic song contest, about friendship, love and finding where you belong
I picked this up initially because the cover caught my eye and then I realised it was about Eurovision and it sounded great. Unfortunately, it didn’t really turn out that way. Looking at the ratings afterwards it is a clear hit or miss, either 1-2 stars or 4-5 stars. I felt generous at 1.5.
The main problem was it was boring. I couldn’t stick with the character after a while. They were fine, the premise was fine, but there was nothing to keep me engaged. I skimmed the rest of the book, establishing I’d made the right decision as it didn’t really improve. I came back in properly at the end, the final few chapters, but it was the same. I hadn’t missed anything, not much had actually happened, and that was fine.
Eurovision is the pull but it is not the focus. Either they couldn’t mention anything actually happening for legal reasons? Or maybe being at Eurovision was the meeting point, but it isn’t actually about Eurovision itself, despite the claim. Even if they couldn’t mention the concert, surely the whole city wasn’t void of something interesting to explore or mention. From that angle there is no reason to include Eurovision at all, they could all agree to meet at a park once a year. I meant to check if it was based on a real year, with a few fake acts thrown in, but by the end I didn’t care much either way.
The friendship group never made sense either, it did feel this minor connection to a single year at Eurovision was the thing holding them all together. Perhaps if they didn’t meet at Eurovision there would be no common factor to keep these people in contact.
In terms of actual story, the book follows four friends as they live their lives after meeting one year at the Eurovision Song Contest. From there we see snippets of the rest of their year, from relationships to jobs, and other life events. Then they come together once more and have another Eurovision adjacent experience. The characters are flat and while seem interesting feel undeveloped on the page, there is certainly no reason to invest in them.
The scope of the book is twelve years, so a lot of life events happen. Which is why it’s fascinating to me how it can be so unengaging. It is also a fascinating inside to these four people’s lives where they can actually traverse Europe and meet up once a year, from what I picked up everyone is living nomadic and simple lives where spur of the moment decisions are frequent as are decisions to change countries on a whim. Which is perfectly fine, except I kept thinking about the cost of doing all of this versus the lives I’ve been shown.
It might be a book that speaks to you, if you love Eurovision you could be in the 4-5 star range, but if you’re concerned you’re at the opposite end, maybe skip this on and find another book that has a story around the annual celebration.
You can purchase Somewhere in the Crowd via the following
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