Paper Cup

Whitley Bay Book Group discussed Paper Cup in December 2023.

Kelly is homeless and an alcoholic, living rough on the streets of Glasgow. Accidentally coming into possession of a lost engagement ring, she goes on a road trip to try to reunite the ring with the bride before the wedding, meeting a variety of characters who help or hinder her, and stealing a friendly dog.

We found the book readable – perhaps too easy a read - tempered with homelessness and alcoholism to make it more gritty. Those of us who know and love Galloway in south west Scotland where the book is mostly set were more positive about it than some of the others, as we appreciated the description of the area, and the second appearance this year of the Wigtown Book Festival.

We liked the contrast between the opening pages of the book where we see Kelly from the point of view of the bride as an almost invisible homeless person, and the majority of the book which is from Kelly’s point of view told in a sometimes humorous inner monologue.

The storyline was rather heavy on coincidences, the biggest being that the wedding was to take place in the town where Kelly herself grew up, giving her the opportunity to revisit her own past and reach some measure of redemption. We disagreed about the extent to which the coincidences detracted from the overall story. Most but not all of us thought the description of Kelly’s homelessness and alcoholism came across as authentic. We also felt that the story was on the border of being whimsical – disagreeing of course as to which side of the border it ultimately fell - and the word “twee” was mentioned several times.

We had a good discussion though, and all but one of us liked the dog.

We gave the book between 0.5 and 3.5 stars with an average of 3.