*spoilers ahead*
Picture Imperfect is the adult sequel to The Illustrated Mum, which followed Dolphin during her childhood, navigating her unusual mother, who has bipolar disorder, alongside her older sister, Star. In Picture Imperfect, we revisit Dolphin, who is 33 and still grappling with the complexities of her mother, while seeking out new possible romances and ventures.
I absolutely love that Wilson is doing adult sequels to her original books. Last year, I adored Think Again, which was a sequel to the Girls series. It’s so interesting to read about these childhood figures grown up whilst experiencing the nostalgia of Wilson’s writing. I also like how Wilson includes snippets from her older books in the sequels, so if you haven’t read the original book or can’t remember all the details, you still have the context for this book.
Similarly to Think Again, it does take some getting used to reading about adult themes such as sex and romance and even the use of swearing, as this is so different to what I used to read when I was younger with Wilson’s books. But it’s refreshing to see these themes explored in Wilson’s writing. In Picture Imperfect, there is a good exploration of mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder, touching on how this affects family members.
I initially really enjoyed reading about Dol and Lee’s early relationship; it reminded me a bit of the neighbour romance in The Love of my Afterlife. I did, however, find the parts with Star and Marigold repetitive. Whilst I appreciated that this book was focusing on Dol and her life, I wish we had more scenes with Marigold outside of the hospital setting or more conversations involving her father. Similarly, I did find Dol’s life debates repetitive throughout the book. We were faced with Dol’s recurring questions about whether she should settle with Lee, indulge her fantasies with Joel, or move to Scotland with her sister and be her nanny.
I did like how we revisited Dol’s childhood friend Oli, especially as he was as I expected as an adult. This helped the pacing in the middle of the book, where I felt it was a little slow. I also found it interesting that Dol’s dyslexia was a big part of the story, as it was surprising to me that Star hadn’t helped her with this, both as a child and adult, seeing as she is a doctor by profession.
Unfortunately for me, the ending was where the book fell flat, as I found it very frustrating to read plot-wise. I could see that the book was leaning towards Dol prioritising herself, but to me, it resulted in Dol focusing on her unborn child and disregarding any sense. The stability and kindness Lee offered would have made him the perfect father, and Dol would have had her family with him and Eva. Although Lee did show his less pleasant side as the book went on, he seemed to have a lot of care and love for Dol, which is what she always wanted.
I did find the quality of Lee’s character to deteriorate a lot in the second half of the book. I wasn’t sure if this was his true self coming out, but it seemed like a big jump in character, especially when we saw Lee make odd references to Dol’s age, comparing her to his young daughter, the controlling behaviour at the party, etc.
As a result of this, I realised that there does seem to be a theme between Wilson’s two adult books where the love interests are problematic in their behaviour. In Think Again, we have Gary, who used to be Ellie’s teacher, and so there were patronising behaviours and comments on age. Then in this book, where Lee is very fatherly, he takes it to the next level, overly caring and territorial over Dol, and again making comments on Dol’s age. The books were also similar in the sense that they both resulted in the main characters ending their relationship with their main love interest.
As Think Again ended with a pregnancy plot twist, I was hoping that the idea of pregnancy would give her the self-perspective she needed, but not actually be pregnant, so she could make decisions that she really needed to and then have a child when she was ready. I don’t think it helped that throughout the book, Dol acts very immaturely, and so the idea of her becoming a mother, alongside her unpredictable life, felt unrealistic to me.
Overall, the book is warm, nostalgic and easy to read; it was just the ending plot-wise that disappointed me. Despite not loving the ending, I did like how this story left things open for another book, as we don’t know who the father is, but this is unlikely to happen. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Wilson writes more adult sequels or writes more books for adults, which would introduce new characters.
3/5 stars
Soph's Library 
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