Rhik Samadder has written a remarkable book. What a lavishly talented writer he is, packing more hilarity and insight into a few sentences than many authors manage in an entire book. Those who are familiar with his journalism, and particularly his Guardian column reviewing kitchen gadgets, will know he has a talent for turning base metal into gold. We mistakenly assumed this was a fluke, a happy accident, that he should be so entertaining about such an unpromising subject. The reason that his piece on a device for cooking eggs went viral, however is that he is an astonishingly original writer, no matter what the topic. And we should all be grateful that he has now turned his attention to the serious matter of mental health.
It doesn’t seem quite right that a book so moving should also be so funny at the same time but this is the case with his memoir I Never Said I Loved You.