BfK 14+Secondary/Adult continued Needlework
Deidre Sullivan, Little Island Books, 210pp, 978-1-9104-1150-6, £7.99, pbk
‘Zeus was rotten. Turned in to a swan to rape a woman. I’d rather fuck a man than fuck a swan. Even non- consensually. I mean, a swan. You’d never see it coming.’ Narrator Ces doesn’t mess about. The implicit contract with readers here – you might infer – is that they must make vocabulary. No easy comedy, no no slick-witted teenland where fun is never far away. How could there be, given Ces’s
revealed? Here, it’s not so much that
of a new school and her essential is guarded about entrusting herself door avoids intimacies beyond the physical. What we initially suspect and eventually are told is that her Mam’s been violently and habitually abused by her husband, leaving her resorting to bottle and bed for long periods. Understandably – but still devastatingly – Mam had little energy to notice, never mind intervene, as Ces’s Dad repeatedly abused and, from the age of 12, raped his daughter. Why Needlework? Because Ces’s passion and, it seems, her path to escape and maybe restoration, is to become a highly-skilled tattoo narrative
passages about the techniques, coupled with Ces’s own ambitions; ‘I would like to make things beautiful, but a tawdry and repulsive kind of beauty... sort of thing’. These sections feel as though they are charged with metaphor and psychological insights beyond Ces’s own understanding; they may well be, but I confess they were often beyond mine too. For the young reader who is ready
for it, Needlework could very well be a landmark book – memorable, disturbing and moving. Others might, for the time being, be overwhelmed, GF
The Scent of Other People’s Houses
Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, Faber, 254pp, 978-0-5713-1495-9, £799 pbk
stuff happens (which, in terms of events, it mostly doesn’t); more than enough stuff has already happened, shaping a relentless present demanding all of Ces’s resources if she is to survive. Her narrative – which asks a lot of readers – is one of techniques; it is not linear, since it under constant pressure, darting sideways, backwards, forwards, making or not making connections or conventional sense. For Ces often thinks and writes (or maybe writes in order to think) through images, both visual and verbal. Perhaps a little like Sullivan’s countryman, James Joyce, in Portrait of the Artist, the form lies somewhere between poetry
prose. We don’t feel, as with so much we are overhearing a mind in free disordered mind, then Ces has much to be disordered about. She is now 16. With her Mam, she has recently moved house, to make a new, safer start, it seems. Ces is the one who makes the greater effort to keep the place tidy, to get some food on the table, despite the pressures
and
How to describe the homes of other people or places you remember? For Ruth it is by their scent. The home she remembers before her father’s death is rich and warm, her Gran’s house in Birch Park ‘smelled like an old person’s home’. For Dora, home is cigarette smoke and alcohol; Alyce is surrounded by the smell of a fresh his father’s aftershave. These four teenagers living in 1970’s Alaska tell way through the complications of life as they move towards adulthood Each of the protagonists speak directly to the reader. This might have resulted in a very bland narrative with little distinction between the four. However,
without adopting
author succeeds in creating subtle differences between the voices. And their characters are very
again cleverly conveyed through their attitudes and comments. Originally written as short stories and here Hitchcock has kept the concise approach of the originals. There are the reader discovers background, histories, connections through the eyes of whichever teen is talking. One is drawn into their lives, approaching
30 Books for Keeps No.217 March 2016 distinct; are frequent italicised
incidents from different angles. And each, as they speak, step off the page to draw one into their life. As distinct and beguiling – or terrifying – is the Alaskan setting of the 1970s – wide spaces and a beautiful but unforgiving landscape with very cultures, staunch friendships and important as the characters. This is one to recommend highly
Underwater
Marisa Reichardt, Macmillan Children’s Books, 288pp, 978-1-4472-8736-0, £7.99 pbk
to any reader who wants to meet but recognisable situations while allowing one to hope. A great – and FH
Crongton Knight
Alex Wheatle, Atom, 304pp, 978-0-3490-0232-3, £6.99 pbk
Liccle Bit are in for a treat – this sequel is even better. Seen this time from the eyes of amiable, chubby fourteen-year old McKay living in a bleak estate, its descriptions of gang warfare and urban riot have the ring of uncomfortable truth. But what makes an often grim picture also entertaining is the distinctive, all characters. ‘Words’ are ‘lyrics, ‘doors’ are ‘drawbridges’, ‘rooms’ are is to anticipate ‘the logs spilling over the toilet seat.’ Continual banter is nearly 300 pages. Hard swearing, though, is not an issue, with ‘freaking’ standing in for its better known, still less acceptable counterpart. Behind the vocabulary there is also a gripping story where group loyalty is put to the severest test when McKay and his young friends take on an older boy from a rival gang. He is about to go public with some highly damaging photographs of Venetia, a beautiful from a disastrous relationship. Much of the plot revolves around their of wresting the mobile phone in question back before any harm is done. There is also the problem of older brother who is in serious trouble of his own. Assorted parents, some more sympathetic than others, must also be appeased. Things threaten to get nasty for the
terrifying gang-master villains, intent on proving hard and pitiless when they think the occasion demands. Some useful addresses of where to of the personal or social problems on a back page. But young readers could also learn plenty of useful lessons about survival from this story alone, which never lets up and has much of value to say.
NT
seventeen year old. She used to be active in school and social events. But now Morgan is a recluse. She stays in does her school work remotely on line. She has not left the apartment in four months. Apart from her mother only person Morgan sees is Brenda, a counsellor who visits her twice weekly. At this stage the reader knows nothing of Morgan’s father, save that he is absent.
Morgan is obsessive about food, times.
The puzzling question posed for the reader is why and how Morgan reached this isolated condition. The answer to this question emerges from pain which it describes. This critic will not reveal the underlying cause of Morgan’s malaise. But when it emerges into the daylight it deals a savage blow to contemporary American society.
Morgan Grant is an American
reservation about this impressive and compulsively readable book. From what I know of counsellor/ client relations (knowledge gleaned relationship between Morgan and Brenda possibly unrealistic and ethically dubious. They become friends, walking together and taking coffee together. Counsellors are supposed to maintain an arm’s length, Brenda seems not only to allow the client/counsellor transference but even to engineer it. Apart from this concern, Reichardt’s book engages with an issue which strikes at the very
American society and with which young people not only in the USA but everywhere are mercilessly confronted. This book should be added to the General Studies curriculum for A-Level.
RB Maladapted
Richard Kurti, Walker Books, 320pp, 978-1-4063-4629-9, £6.99 pbk
Set in a near future where high-tech, digitally run cities drain the life and resources from surrounding areas, this skilfully written political thriller will draw readers into a world where shocking opening scenes in which Cillian is the sole survivor of a terrorist attack on a metro train, through to his meeting with Tess, planter of the religious group Revelation, and their subsequent battles for survival,
pace of this novel is relentless. After his contact with Tess, Cillian learns of the shadowy organisation P8 and the sinister Gilgamesh Hospital where engineering to create mutant humans
the foundations of
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