The Serpent King - Jeff Zentner

Working my way through this year's Carnegie nominations list, The Serpent King wasn't at the top of my to-read list. The first page was good but I wasn't too sure about the plot and its religious themes. Plus, I've tried to approach this year's longest with a blank slate (ie. avoiding reviews etc) and I've done quite well. Except for the The Serpent King. And especially once it won the Morris award. I picked this book up not because it appealed to me but because of the favourable criticism it was receiving.

One of the best things, for me, about The Serpent King, was that it's a novel that I wanted to go and on. I was sad to finish it. At the end, I felt like I knew the characters and I wanted to hear more about their stories. This doesn't happen to me very often anymore (it happened a lot when I was a child/teen reader) so I was quite delighted.

The Serpent King is primarily Dill's story. He's in his last year at high school, he lives with his mother in poverty stricken conditions, and his father is a religious extremist who's in prison. But, Dill's story is very strongly interwoven with his friends Travis and Lydia such that this is also a novel about a friendship trio in rural Tennessee.

All three characters are very likeable and quite different from each other. Some wonderful dynamic tensions are played out. Character and friendship-wise, The Serpent King is reminiscent of the styles and interests of other American authors like John Corey-Whaley, John Green and Pat Schmatz.

What seems particularly distinct, for me, about this novel is the unflinching space the plot gives to an extreme religious faith. Dill's parents are fanatical and, in turn, this has made pariahs of them: not something that's easy to deal especially when you're a teenager. While the narration does not necessarily endorse this way of life, it gives it a very respectable, almost judgment free space. On the other hand, it balances it with Travis' religious family and Lydia's very educated middle class family.

This novel is full of some sincere and some (slightly) overplayed tragedies, a handful or two of good and bad luck, buckets full of dorky vintage love, a spot of glamour, and making tough and brave decisions. Hugely recommended and I'm keeping my copy.

Oh, and it's in third person - if that's the kind of thing that matters to you.


Publication details: Andresen Press, 2016, London, paperback
This copy: received for possible review from the publisher

The Smell of Other People’s Houses – Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

The Smell of Other People's Houses - Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Can you picture flowers in a whisky bottle? I can; Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock did and this conjuring permeates the pages of this novel beautifully. It's her debut and my goodness....

MaddAddam - Margaret Atwood

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

Adult fiction rambles by M

(haha, there’s a short video of Atwood somewhere, cracking a smile about MaddAddam’s dark humour, “parental guidance and all that”!)

 

Thanks to Hatchards Bloomsbury Book Club, my copy of MaddAddam turned up early enough for me to be an advanced reader before any of the mainstream reviews surfaced. So I read it whole, then made some notes, then read some mixed reviews, and then met Margaret Atwood. A couple of other things happened too and now, these are my thoughts-at-this-juncture on MaddAddam. It's a bit uncharacteristically gushy. For a succint overview of the plot, look somewhere else.

Punning satire and parody, MaddAddam is earnestly comical cult fiction. Forget literary salons, guys, the next cosplay is MaddAddam CampGeek at my place via PulpFiction-cum-RockyHorrorPictureShow-cum-BoneyM (and if we can fix the world too, great). And then we can watch Aidan Quinn (sorry Offred) and maybe eat cake (morally disordered, of course). If ever there was an impetus for me doing fan-fiction, MaddAddam is it (wonder what the Toad’s copyright regime is...).

So yes, if you haven’t read any of it, the trilogy’s a Margaret Atwood blast: Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and then MaddAddam. And then read The Blind Assassin: the parallels between her latest offering and her Booker winner are mad! There’s plenty of overlapping pulp fiction in that winner.

Trilogy- and plot-wise, all three overlap but fill gaps and provide alternative perspectives on the same events: the story behind the MaddAddam ARG and organisation, the apocalyptic time and the fallout. But in MaddAddam, Atwood brings storytelling to the forefront as the novel’s form is structured around Toby’s night-time storytelling. This could be be seen as the development of the chapters in a new Crakers’ gospel, much as the God’s Gardener’s from The Year of the Flood had their psalms/songs. Toby even creates the possibility for the addition of new testaments through Blackbeard. Indeed, each of the three novels are a new testament on the same central story.

Comic. Above anything else, for me, MaddAddam is funny; at times it is farcical. Known for her caustically detailed observations about our lived and culturally-enhanced humanities, Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam is nothing if not a moment of let’s-laugh-and-cry at ourselves. Much of the humour feels like it has developed straight from a creative stream-of-consciousness brainstorming session that delights in wordplay. God’s Gardeners, it’s cutting bloody dark fun.

Of wordplay there is plenty and the novel's central themes, for me, are about words and meaning particularly in the context of storytelling, both written and spoken, and with multiple narrators over periods of time. In some ways, this has threaded all through the whole trilogy and were present in The Blind Assassin.

For other readers, eco-political themes will ring loudest. And of course, as with many of her novels, Atwood also grapples with sexual and romantic relationships. Sexual relationships and particularly monogamous versus polygamous relationships, romance versus biological reproduction and consensual acts versus abuse abound in the MaddAddamite trilogy. MaddAddam shows – clearly – how blurred lines really are. An example of this is an “energetic” pun on foreplay which in some ways is a reprehensible bang.

At the same time, despite her matter of fact and non-sentimental style, MaddAdam, like The Handmaid’s Tale, is also a smouldering love story. For the critics who suggest that MaddAddam sacrifices characterisation, in my mind, they’ve missed the point/s. Nowhere are Zeb and Toby more real than in this novel. Shucks, I even shed a tear (note the singularity). And look at the Crakers whom we first meet and the Crakers that we leave.

Singing: this seems to work as some sort of motif or extended metaphor. Zeb sings little ditties when he’s frightened or stressed. Gospel singers sing. The Crakers sing. Adam, Toby, Crake and eventually, Blackbeard, don’t like singing. But Toby also learns that the Crakers’ singing is something that might save them. I even asked Margaret Atwood about it.

In the latter part of the novel, there are strains of Animal Farm.

At first, I couldn’t get into MaddAddam. I wasn’t fond of the ‘storytelling’ form that it was taking, framed by a very thin plot. However, as it develops into a story about Zeb, it becomes much more interesting although there is no real crescendo – though there are some very high and significant ends of chapters towards the end.

I read both of the previous novels a few years ago, and although there is a very extensive ‘the story so far’ at the beginning, and although Atwood provides lots of catch-up details throughout MaddAddam, I couldn’t help wishing that I’d read the three novels in order quite quickly one after the other.

 

At the end, the MaddAddamite left me sorry to say goodbye to some of my favourite Gardeners. It also left me craving to go and read, and re-read more of Atwood’s fiction. So, I did.

 

Publication details: Bloomsbury, 2013, London, hardback

This copy: mine and signed!

 

The Testament of Mary - Colm Toibin

The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin

Review by M

 

The Testament of Mary is a short novella, my edition being only 104 pages. It is shortlisted for this year's Man Booker Prize and I picked it up because it was on a 4 for 3 type offer at our local bookshop. The title itself hadn't appealed to me and I was unfamiliar with Toibin's work so it wasn't at the top of my reading list. I had no idea what it was about, but, being the Booker that often doesn't matter.

The opening pages are extraordinary. A dark, menacing and increasingly brutal mood is created and there was a scene involving rabbits and a bird that I pretty much had to skip. Still, I didn't know what the story was about and it was intriguing.

And then it clicked. This made me smile but then my relationship to the book changed because I knew the story it was based upon. This was a story that had been shoved down my generation's throat time and time again at school. It's not a story I like.

Of course, this is a retelling and from a different perspective: the testament of a mortal woman who experiences pain, fear and love; who explains how some stories turn into slightly different legends. We were often asked to tell this story in school, though I suspect this particular telling might not have met favour with the teachers (today, and in the UK, many of them might be more accommodating).

The opening pages are exquisite and the final pages come close. I didn't feel the middle section was as strong and the characterisation of the son remains very aloof (perhaps unsurprisingly). Mary's voice is strong, whereas perhaps once it was weak, and it is noteworthy how the book feels contemporary yet still recreates an image of a time and society from long, long ago. Overall, I felt it was a bit too drawn out for a character portrait but not long enough to hold my overwhelming interest as a story. I feel slightly ambivalent to it overall and it wouldn't be my choice for this year's winner (though I've only read two on the shortlist).

I would recommend it to other readers though, partly for what it's about, because its short length makes it a quick read and the writing is good. It is a very accessible novella and suitable for all ages.

Publication details: Penguin, 2012, London, paperback
This copy: mine


If you like suprises when you read a story, do not read on......




SPOILER! SPOILER!
The story: Yes, it is the testament of Mary, recounting the time of Jesus' crucifiction: my least favourite of all the Bible stories.

Phoenix - SF Said

Phoenix by SF Said

Review by M

Phoenix is a soaring space quest story packed full of starry action, adventure, science, myth, colourful characters and wowsome illustrated pages. It’s a compelling and beautiful pageturner.

Lucky’s world on Phoenix is falling apart: he doesn’t know his dad, he’s lost his mum in more ways than one, he’s carrying some illegal kit while the sky is splitting apart and discovers that unmentionable things are happening to him when he’s asleep and dreaming. All of this happens in the middle of an ongoing inter-celestial battle between the Humans and the enemy Aliens (horn-headed, hoof-footed Axxa). On top of this, Lucky’s off on a quest to find his dad and the best way it seems to do this is to hitch a rocket ride with a bunch of very frightening Aliens. They eat eyeballs, you know! The ride is very bumpy and there are all sorts of deceptions and revelations along the way. There are numerable sad losses too.

Author SF Said writes Lucky’s space quest adventure in engaging and occasionally mesmerising words that are vividly enhanced by pages of beguiling illustrations (thanks to illustrator Dave McKean). As the quest progresses and we learn more about Lucky and his dangerous power, we also learn that there are twelve ‘gods’ who will be unable to save the celestial world from the wolf that eats the stars. A second quest ensues and yes, some aspects of the plot are a bit contrived and coincidental.



12 doublespreads like this depicting the 'gods'/Astraeus

Skirting the action-adventure of the quest and just beneath its shiny but grimy sci-fi surface, the novel explores themes of race, religion, deception, right and wrong, choice, and war. More than anything, Phoenix is a pacifist’s heaven that rings the peace message loudly: war, war is stupid......but very complicated too. Unexpectedly, the novel also injects some deep-seated and properly bittersweet romantic elements too. A satisfying but heartbreaking resolution becomes beautiful and slightly teary.

Overall, this is an exciting story weaving together multiple sub-plots and sub-texts in a way that should make much of it readily accessible to young readers. There are also many plot elements that point towards the potential for numerous allegorical interpretations. Those that sprung to mind for me were many religious stories, particularly the Age of Aquarius, and also Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. There are plenty of shadows and deceptions in Phoenix! Unravelling and linking all these allegorical clues can be a lot of fun for the readers, and even young ones will spot some of these.

For colourful characters, apart from Lucky, my heart was taken by Bixa Quicksilver, an Astral Martial Arts fighter with glowing needles in her hair; a couple of old-wizened Startalkers; and Bazooka, a phoenix.

Unusually, I’d also highly recommend watching the book trailer before reading: it’s just the opening pages of the book being read aloud but it is completely captivating and sets a beautiful, glowing tone to the novel.

Following the navigational quest theme, I don’t need an astronomer nor a mariner’s astrolabe to know that for me, Phoenix is this year’s A Boy anda Bear in a Boat. My hunch is that it will attract a much broader story loving audience, especially among newly confident readers who hunger for the thrills often housed in whopping big tomes.

  

Publication details: David Fickling Books, August 2013, Oxford, hardback

This copy: received for review from the publisher



This video is made up of the illustrations that appear in the book! Pages and pages of them.....

Half Lives - M's review

Half Lives by Sara Grant

 

Reviewed by M

 

I think my teen self would have devoured Half Lives.

Half Lives is an interweaved apocalyptic story moving between the present and the future. A terrorist virus threatens the world and teenaged Icie’s only hope of survival is an old nuclear-waste bunker in a desert mountain just outside Las Vegas. Skip many years forward and a new community, Forreal, find that their defensive, post-apocalyptic life is under threat.

Half Lives by Sara Grant

The chapters move from Icie’s first person narrative which is written in the present to third person accounts from Forreal, set in the future. Icie’s contemporary teen account reads at first like a ‘get down with the teens’ voice. Soz. But it is the third-person accounts about Forreal that take this even further.

The Forreal community lives on a mountain and worships The Great I AM.  They have a sacred space, rules and sacred texts. They are passive and believe in peace. They have a number of Just Sayings which remind me of the Gods Gardeners’ Hymns in Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood.

At first, the social media references were slightly irritating for me. It sounds like it’s been crafted for a timebound teen audience who will delight in seeing themselves on the pages. But I stuck with it and I’m glad I did. I think it worked (although it would be interesting to re-read in a few years' time).

The lingo is really an essential ‘point’ of the book: how words, culture, symbols and other forms of communication travel across time and place. Have you ever played Chinese Whispers or Broken Telephone? It’s a bit like that. For me, this was the aspect of the novel that stood out most - and the bit that I enjoyed. While being a very serious novel, it also becomes an interesting and fun parody of contemporary teen behaviour and their reliance on social media (adults too, of course!).  At some points, the novel might well be asking whether there is any real depth to contemporary life? This is a question that the plot may raise for individual readers and one that the narrative leaves them free to work out for themselves. There is no right or wrong in this novel.

When I think of Sara Grant, I immediately think of human rights. She’s shared platforms with Amnesty International and her first novel, Dark Parties (which I have not read), has been endorsed by them.  She also helped to set up the Edge authors blog and so I expected that she would most likely be tackling big or controversial issues and that Half Lives would be gritty. Big issues yes. Gritty, in its issues and the plot – yes, but not in the way it is written.

The novel has many other themes which are prominent throughout the plot:

• Nuclear power and waste are central to the plot although it didn’t have as much impact on my thoughts as I thought it would/should.
• Faith, particularly a religious faith: where it comes from, what it does and why we hold on to it.
• How individuals respond to disasters: not natural disasters but human-made disasters. With whom do we bond in these times and against whom do we separate or even attack? How much do we know or understand before we make a decision? Should we act or not? It’s about human agency.
• Who and what are terrorists? Is it anyone who is 'not us'? Anyone who is ‘out there’?

 Characterwise, I didn’t feel any great connections to any of them. I should have because, of course, not everyone in an apocalyptic novel survives...!  Ironically, I sometimes found myself asking: “is this for real?” However, on the whole, the plot is highly believable (although  the possible love triangle storyline confused me and the situation Forreal finds itself in felt a bit too fabricated).

While Half Lives addresses some controversial topics, I finished the book with a warm smile on my face. Fans of Marcus Sedgwick’s Midwinterblood may enjoy this as the ways symbols and stories carry over time are central to both novels. Fans of Saci Lloyd might also enjoy Half Lives as Sara Grant adopts a stylised teen voice to take on very big topical and interesting issues about the world in which we currently live. I would happily recommend this to any teen reader. It is an issues book but it is also an easy and page-turning read combined with an exciting and thought-provoking plot.
  

Publication details: Indigo, May 2013, London, trade paperback

This copy: received for review from the publisher

 

Spoilerish reminders and thoughts:

• The origins of the Great I AM were wonderfully more substantial than my cynically flippant view of teenage selfhood had imagined!
• Have fun spotting the links between the present and the future. Especially name spotting: the names of the Forreal people are all taken from To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper, Finch, Atti, Cal, Dill, (May), and Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett).
• As characters, Greta and Atti seemed little more than plot devices – other readers, especially teens, may view this differently.

 

Life of Pi - joint thoughts

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Our joint thoughts:

M: The main plot in Life of Pi is about a boy who gets shipwrecked and finds himself on a lifeboat with a tiger and some other animals with a sub-plot about religion and stories. This is all very beautifully, humorously and thoughtfully written.  

Little M finished the novel before me. I had only read Part 1 before we saw the film. After seeing the film, I realised I had to make a choice between two stories. And I could only do that if I finished the book. So I did and I’m pleased. Life of Pi has prompted more discussions about fiction between Little M and me than any other novel yet.



Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Little M: I liked that a boy was on a boat with a tiger because it showed that Pi was able to cope with the tiger; and also the fact he was stranded in the middle of the ocean on a life boat.

M: I like books that are meaningful but funny. I liked Pi as a narrator because I found him very funny. That is surprising considering the story he is narrating.

Little M: I think this is a very thought provoking novel, it makes you think about religion and God. I didn't think about this when I was reading the book but when I started talking to M, she got me thinking about the religion and the God part of the book.  

M: It was the aspects about religion that stood out most for me. In the first part of the novel Pi goes into great detail about his relationships and difficulties with a few religions. He questions what is really different about them. And for me that is what Life of Pi is about.

Little M: I agree with some of what you have said but I also think it is about a relationship with an animal too. The main aspect could be to do with God and religion but I think a sub-plot could be to do with a relationship between humans and animals.

M: The thing I liked the most about Life of Pi was that it was all about reliable narration, truths and story creations. Because of this, I could read part1, go and see the wonderful film, have a discussion, conclude multiple possibilities and then rush to finish the book. And then, still have lots and lots of discussion about what happened.

A discussion that started off about which story in the novel is ‘true’ soon became a discussion (and realisation) that authors can play games with their readers. This came about when Little M started to explain why she believed one story more. Yes, it was the story she liked more, but was it also because this story was more detailed? Yes. But why was it more detailed? Perhaps it is more detailed because this is the story that the fictional author, the writer who meets with adult Pi Patel, has chosen to write. Obviously, it was his preferred story too.  In the case of Life of Pi, there is more than one author and narrator. Our discussion moved on to counting how many authors are involved with this piece of fiction. Enter Little M’s first knowing encounter with the unreliable narrator.

Little M: Life of Pi was the most challenging book I have read so far. A few years back, M would never have thought that I would read a Man Booker winner before her (I never knew there was this award). So this read was a great achievement for me and I think I will always remember this book. 

If we had to dress up for World Book Day we would both go as Richard Parker. We will not tell you who Richard Parker is because that would be a bit of a spoiler.

 

Publication details:  2002, Canongate, Edinburgh (first published 2001, Alfred A Knopf, Canada)

This copy: 2009 edition, our own

Amity & Sorrow - Daddy Cool's review

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley

 

reviewed by Daddy Cool

 

Please note: this is an adult fiction review

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley

 

This is my first ever book review so please forgive my (un)literary analysis.....

I took part in We Sat Down’s 24 hour readathon and thought now was the time to try and move away from those fast action packed books that I am so used to reading (by Lee Child, Matthew Reilly etc). I decided to experiment with Amity and Sorrow and what a brilliant book it was.

The book is written around a mother and two daughters who have run away from their father and a religious sect. As you read on you start to understand how disturbed the values of the religious sect were and the affect on the daughters / mother. All along, I wanted to know how and why the family had to run and were so desperate to stay away. I loved the way the reader is leapt backwards and forwards in time to piece the story together.

I would say it’s one of those thought provoking books where you really believe the story could happen if you absorb yourself into a small community cut off from the other ways of living. This book has given me an appetite for more thought proving books rather than just the action packed hero books I am so used to.

 

Publication details: 28 April 2013, Tinderpress, London, hardback

This copy: uncorrected proof (pushed into my hand by M!)

You can read M's review here.

 

Midwinterblood - M's review

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

Midwinterblood has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2013.

Midwinterblood is the only title on this year’s Carnegie shortlist that I have read after its shortlisting was announced. This puts it at an unfair advantage or even disadvantage in the way I’m going to review it, especially since I reviewed some of the others before the longlist was even out.

The cover on my copy

So, Midwinterblood. I didn’t pick it to read from the longlist – mostly because of the cover. Also, from what I’d seen, Marcus Sedgwick was mostly a horror-fantasy author, genres I usually avoid now (although maybe not when I was a teen). If it is horror-fantasy that you’re after, Midwinterblood delivers. However, it offers up something much more than chills or gore (thankfully for me, the latter was not in undue abundance) and I was very pleasantly impressed.

Note the different covers: I think the newer cover (see below), not the one on my copy (see left), fits my interpretation of the novel better.

Midwinterblood is an unusual novel and quite different from anything I remember reading for teens (there is plenty that I have not read though). Quite simply, it tells the story of Eric Seven and Merle and how they know each other. But, it is much more exciting than that and it is also not quite as straightforward as that. Inspired by a real painting (which features in the novel), the story is divided up into eight parts and told in chronological reverse. Each part tells a separate story that can be read on its own. But together, the stories work to weave together what might be seen as something akin to a folkbook.

New cover; I prefer this one.

The novel’s blurb and other reviews have identified strong themes of love and sacrifice in the novel.  Of course yes, they’re there in many guises. After reading Part 1, I thought Midwinterblood might follow similar plotlines to Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler’s Wife – love that builds and endures against the odds against and through time. In some ways, it does, but in many ways it doesn’t and it certainly isn’t as romantic (in my view).

The themes and ideas that stood out for me most were personhood, permanence/longevity and roles. What is a person? If you change one thing, like their sex, are they the same person? The novel certainly delivers many discussion points.

Midwinterblood also defies some of the suggested criteria that we’ve been using for shadowing. This either marks the novels strengths or its weaknesses.

I think it is weak on narrative and feels more like a collection of stories that read like different interpretations of fairytales (or myths) over time and space, enveloped by the original frame story in Part 1 and Part 7. But, the Epilogue belies what I’ve said and indicates that there is a narrative (in my mind, only just a weak one). Although only chronologically reversed, the narrative development is still non-linear – I couldn’t spot real plot or character growth. Did I miss it? However (again!), the narrative and plot structure are also possibly the novel’s key strength.

(Careful: for some people there may be a very small SPOILER in the following paragraph: I don’t think it is but some might.)

Sedgwick’s writing style is sparse. He doesn’t overly describe anything, which I like. But I think this also contributed to weaker characterisation. I didn’t empathise with any of the characters. Perhaps too, this was the point of the novel: we are not just one individual, we are many people. This bit is interesting because the characters take on different relationships with each other throughout the novel and that in itself addresses many taboos about acceptable relationships. The change in narration is also interesting to consider in terms of how that might affect characterisation: the novel is written in the third person, other than Part 6.

(End of small SPOILER. You may proceed without fear.)

Midwinterblood is an allegorical novel. Its inspiration comes from a painting (which is featured in the novel – there’s a whole part centring on it) and there is plenty of symbolism and allegory in the novel that could point curious readers to ideas about philosophy and religion (like Nietzsche and eternal return) as well as literature. When I was reading, there was always a sense that the novel was following, considering, contemplating, pointing me to something else. I’d expect this novel to prompt further questioning and research enquiry by the most curious of readers.

I read Midwinterblood quickly and I wanted to read it. It wasn’t so much that I was absorbed into the story but rather that I was curious to see how it would all pan out. This novel has many talking points, not least of which are its form and readers’ expectations. In my mind, it scores many bonus points for doing that.

For suggested teens reads, Midwinterblood offers a wonderful thought-provoking alternative to Twilight. It is also a quick read. For educators, talk about a novel that is both popularly contemporary yet cuts easily and effortlessly across the curriculum.....history (Vikings, World Wars, cyclical/linear, architecture), art, geography, religion and philosophy, literature, science, citizenship: they’re all there.

 

It is probably more suitable for Year 7 plus although advanced (and interested) readers in Year 6 might enjoy it.

If you enjoy the interlinked his-stories of Midwinterblood, you may well like  Nick Lake's In Darkness (another Carnegie shortlisted title!) or Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (an adult novel with mixed and much more dense writing styles).

 

Publication details: Indigo, 2011, London, paperback

This copy: given to us as a prize.

PS. You can win a copy of Midwinterblood with the new cover over here if you are in the UK and enter before 19 May 2013.

Review - Flip

Flip by Martyn Bedford

Flip by Martyn Bedford

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be somebody else? Are you really happy in your own skin? And if you're not in your own skin....well, where are you? That’s what Flip is all about.

It’s also about Alex. No, Philip.  Actually, it’s Flip. Hmm? Confused?  Yes. So is he.  They. So I’ll just call him Alex.

This award-winning novel kept me on my toes. At first, I thought it’s a comedy. A contemporary comedy.  But, hey, waking up in somebody else’s body.  Uh no, that’s got to be some kind of science fiction – or even fantasy!  But comedy it is as Alex struggles to become Philip who is the complete opposite to him. Philip is good-looking, sporty and has girls drooling all over him. Alex – not so much.  So you see the problem. Not to mention taking a shower in someone else’s body.

As Alex battles with this new body, this new identity, this new life, his mind delves deeper and deeper into his existence. Who Am I? – in both the literal and figurative sense.  Then, thanks to the internet, the novel darkens and typical elements of a thriller emerge. There are some really, really scary bits: I bet a shiver runs down your spine more than once. And at quite a few points, I thought, how on earth is this going to end?  Pretty much what Alex must have been asking himself too.

Flip is a great teen read (and lots of adults will like it too), worthy of all the book award nominations received and won. It is probably more suitable for older teens because of the subject matter and situations in the novel.  But some mature 11 or 12 year olds may be comfortable reading it. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly light start though.  This is a deep and satisfyingly challenging read that raises (and to some extent explores) very controversial questions about life, death, and the choices we make about them.

And how about that cover! Do you know how many people looked at me curiously and said, "You've got the book upside down"?  

Publication details:

Walker Books, 2011, London, paperback

This copy: borrowed from our local public library

Review - Muddle and Win: The Battle of Sally Jones

Muddle and Win: The Battle of Sally Jones by John Dickinson

Muddle and Win is a curious book. It’s also good (or maybe bad) fun. And there are muffins.

I’ve never read anything like it before so this is not a comparative review at all because I don’t have anything previous to draw upon. What I do know is it was originally planned as a graphic novel, so there may well be overlaps with that (but I’ve never read a graphic novel either so I don’t know).

Anyway, what hooked me was the first chapter which leads you down a trapdoor in the back of your head taking you into the dark depths of your mind leading all the way down to Pandemonium. And the second thing was the idea of a Lifetime Deeds Counter (LDC): everything you do may be counted as either a good or bad deed. I really wanted to see how this would play out.  I had a feeling it might be fun.

Muddlespot is from Pandemonium – which is…down there (tucked right away in the dark depths of your head)! There’s a castle with a fire and a devil called Corozin.  Ghastly things happen to people who’re dragged there. Muddlespot is chosen as the Mission Alpha agent. Basically he has to go UP THERE (heavens forbid) and take out the biggest threat to Pandemonium.

But there’s a catch: Sally Jones. Fourteen year old Sally Jones is angelic. She truly is Miss Perfect. Everyone, yes everyone, likes Sally Jones.  She’s just so nice and thoughtful to everyone. To help keep it this way, she has a whole army of Guardian Angels protecting her mind whereas most people only have one. They’re protecting her from the devil’s agents – like Muddlespot. And so the battle begins. And, it is an actual battle with weapons and action, WHACKS! and SPLATS, and a whole lot of squelchy, gristly bits!

This is one of those books that takes figurative meaning literally.  And you end up with a whole lot of light-hearted silly good fun. But parallel to this, Muddle and Win also explores concepts of good, evil, truth, and ideas (just some of life’s itsy-bitsy philosophical questions).

At times, I thought the storyline was aimed at 10 years or younger, but the language structure (and maybe some of the ideas) is aimed at an older reader.  There are bits for everyone in there.

And remember….muffins!

Publication details:

David Fickling Books, Oxford, 30 August 2012

This copy: Proof received for review from the publisher

Review - Secrets of the Henna Girl

Secrets of the Henna Girl by Sufiya Ahmed

Secrets of the Henna Girl -Sufiya Ahmed

Straight off, I’ll say that Secrets of the Henna Girl is a book that I think all teen girls should read.  And then pass it on to their brothers, friends, mothers and fathers.  It’s hardhitting realist fiction without the grit. Charmingly, it reads like a sunshine-laced thriller.

Picture this.  You’re sixteen years old. You’ve finished your GCSEs. You’re having fun with your friends and you’re brimming with anticipation and excitement for what college and your future holds. That is Zeba Khan’s life – and she’s happy.  

But in a flash, without warning, this is all wrenched from her. A family holiday to Pakistan and the announcement of what will be a forced marriage snatches everything from Zeba. And she is scared, scared, scared that her parents are going to let this to happen to her. How could her father do this?!!!

From here on, Secrets of the Henna Girl starts to read like a tense thriller: a couple of teenage girls have been trapped, virtually imprisoned and they’re in real danger if they try to escape. But they’re also in danger of losing their freedom (or even their health) if they don’t escape. And for anyone who tries to help them – well…..!!! This story will have you on tenterhooks the whole way through as Zeba deals with family betrayal, loneliness, entrapment, imprisonment, complicated friendships, honour, death, and guilt.

Amidst the tension, there are also some truly individual and inspirational women characters: Zeba’s Nannyma, Zehar, Farhat and Nusrat-kala. For all the seriousness of the novel, these characters fill the story with the beautiful warmth that the book's cover conveys.  And they will have you quietly chuckling too.

Without a doubt, this is an ‘issues’ novel tackling the problems of forced marriage and honour. The novel makes it clear that forced marriage is illegal in the eyes of Islam and that it is a human’s rights abuse under the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  It also explores the myths that bond religion with tradition and highlights the impossible situation of having to choose between self and family honour. 

Above all, Secrets of the Henna Girl urges people to have courage in standing up for their individual rights and the rights of others – including women and girls!

Publication details:

Puffin, 2012, London, paperback

This copy: uncorrected proof sent by Puffin

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Come back here this Friday 15 June when Sufiya Ahmed answers questions about forced marriages and other important issues that her book raises.