MISS BENSON'S BEETLE by Rachel Joyce

Nothing about this novel is remotely realistic.  Two women, Margery Benson and her assistant, Enid Pretty, set out from England to New Caledonia in the early 1950s in search of a golden beetle, with one passport between the two of them.  See what I mean?  The quest for the beetle is actually Margery’s “vocation;” Enid’s is to bear a child.  These two women are as diametrically opposite as they can possibly be, but they have both had rather tragic lives.  Enid’s history unfolds as the novel progresses, but she is spunky and resourceful.  Margery’s father shot himself after getting word that her brothers had been killed in WWII.  Margery and Enid, despite their vast personality and physical differences, grow to rely on one another, both physically and emotionally.  When Margery becomes despondent, Enid rekindles her motivation, and when Enid becomes incapacitated, Margery rises to the occasion.  Besides the overly whimsical nature of this book, Enid has a dream that foreshadows the ending, and I found that hint to be completely unnecessary.  I felt as though the author was trying to soften the blow, but instead I felt that the ending was a foregone conclusion that slowed down my reading pace significantly; I developed sort of a “why bother” attitude.  I plodded on to the conclusion, but I wasn’t really emotionally vested in the story anymore.  On the plus side, this is a madcap buddy story, and both of the women are completely lovable.  Their foil is a man suffering from apparent PTSD whom Margery rejected as her assistant for the expedition. He surreptitiously and maniacally follows the two women across the globe.  We know that their paths will eventually cross, and his interruption of their adventure will have major consequences.