Review of The Accidental Accountant

[Diana Lowery]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Accidental Accountant" by Keith Westmacott.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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M​any professions evoke images of excitement and adventure; accounting is not one of them. The fact that Keith Westmacott, an accountant, led such an event-filled life is purely accidental. Are his stories fleshed out with a bit of Irish embellishment? It is possible the truth might have been stretched, but his tales are still delightfully entertaining. I recommend The Accidental Accountant to lovers of memoirs and travel logs. I also recommend this book to anyone struggling in a boring job who needs to vicariously escape.

T​hanks to Europe’s strict confinement rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, Westmacott decided to pass the time writing about his life. Readers can follow him from his teenage puppy love stage to marriage, divorce, and remarriage. His travels for employment begin as an Irish lad relocating to London during the summer to work a variety of manual labor jobs. This wandering trend continues and takes him to locations such as Paris, Denmark, Switzerland, and Brazil.

T​he writing style is neither boastful nor apologetic like some memoirs. The 277 pages are mostly chronological and are broken into 30 chapters. There was just enough suspense to keep me motivated, but it was not so thrilling that I couldn't set it aside. Westmacott enjoys making up his own rules regarding the use of italics and dashes, which adds to the creativity of the reading experience. Other grammatical errors earned a star deduction, so my rating is 4 out of 5 stars
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Another feature of the author's writing style is how he occasionally addresses the reader in the second person. Because of his age, many of his references to people and places would be unfamiliar to a younger generation. Westmacott chooses to insert a "Look it up!" or "Ask your grandpa!" after these allusions.

I​ was attracted to this book by the classic red car on the cover. I knew there had to be a good story behind it and there is. Subtle philosophical messages can be discovered as this 74-year-old accountant imparts the life lessons that he learned, but those elements are not forced upon the reader. Instead, they occur naturally as a result of witnessing the successes and failures of the author.

I like memoirs, I like travel, I like sporty red cars, and I like this book. I have a son who is an accountant, and I originally just chose this book because I thought it would look good on his office coffee table. In my case, judging a book by its cover turned out to be a good thing.

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The Accidental Accountant
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[Kendal Low]

This sounds like a great read. I, too, like sporty red cars and memoirs! I would love to give this book a try and read about Keith's life for myself. Great review!