We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Karen Jay Fowler
London, Serpents Tale, 2013, 308p
Last week, just before the winner of the Man Booker Prize was announced, the OSA staff book club met for ice cream and a discussion about one of the shortlisted books.
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is a very unusual novel. Before reading it, I knew there was a twist, but not what that twist was (I love that avid readers do not share plot spoilers with each other, and will strive to continue that here).
The narrator is Rosemary, who commences her story at the midpoint. Having been a talkative child, she has learnt to start in the middle; but her story jumps back and forth so that it slowly reveals itself over time. As an adult, she confesses to being a lot more thoughtful and quiet than she was as a child, and that may be because she has not seen her brother or her sister for many years. Instead, she has carried the burden of her parent's loss (the details of said "loss" not being immediately explained), and has become an introverted young woman.
Rosemary admits to being a biased and potentially unreliable narrator. She notes that,
"An off-told story is like a photograph in a family album. Eventually it replaces the moment it was meant to capture."
As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that her childhood memories are not the same as her parent's maturer adult experiences. But the profound effect of her upbringing is clear in her adult life.
Parts of this novel reminded me of William Fiennes, who writes autobiographical accounts with extracts of scientific information, about birds or epilepsy. Towards the end of We Are Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Jay Fowler talks increasingly about animal rights; though in our book club, we felt there were a few too many inconsistencies between Rosemary's account of her experiences and her examples of cruelty to animals.
One of our book club members managed to read the book twice, and said it revealed much more on a second reading. I enjoyed the experience of reading We Are Completely Beside Ourselves, but I am not sure if there were too many coincidences for my liking.
Breathe
Sarah Crossan
London, Bloomsbury, 2012, 371p
I have been trying to read this for the last few days, with little success. I am unsure if it is because it is the holidays and I have switched off, or because the book isn't all I wanted it to be, but I have not gotten very far.
One hundred pages in, the characters are introduced and the plot is established, but I am not gripped. Alina, part of a rebel group, is forced to escape the city in which she has always lived. Here, oxygen is a gift, divided according to a strict social divide, which leaves many without enough air to lead a normal life. The state is catching up with the rebel group, and Alina must get away. On the city borders, she is helped by a Premium boy, one of the rich and fortunate, and together they escape into the unknown outside the Pod.
Already, the path of their story seems clear, paralleling many of the tropes of the multitude of other dystopian novels currently available. On reading the blurb, I loved the concept of this novel, but the initial pace felt slow and I could not engage with the characters and their trials.
Perhaps I just need a holiday and will return to it in the future.
The Last Wild
Piers Torbay
London, Quercus, 2013, 326p
Usually, I don't really like books with talking animals - they are very hard to take seriously, especially when they are highlighting an environmental issue such as this novel. But somehow, Piers Torbay has created an original and fascinating dystopia with a true spirit of adventure.
The world of The Last Wild is very different from that which we live in. There are no animals left alive - all have been killed by a disease known as the red-eye. The people are confined to the cities, protected and fed by Factorum, a huge omniscient company that appears to be a little suspect.
Kester doesn't talk. Separated from his father, he is locked up in Spectre Hall where they send kids who are a burden on or embarrassment to society. In his room, he pretends to talk to the cockroaches, which apparently were not affected by the red-eye. Then he discovers he can communicate with animals, of which there are in fact some left alive, and a hoard of pigeons and varmints are plotting to help him escape. They take him north and show him more animals, living in solitude away from the humans, but everyday at risk from infection. They have brought him there because they have a shared dream: they believe Kester is the one who will cure them.
With a stag, a wolf-cub, and a cockroach, Kester sets off to Premuim, the city where he grew up and where he hopes his father still lives. He thinks his father, a vet, might be able to cure the red-eye. Kester is a reluctant hero, never fully believing that he will be the one to save the animals; but he is eager to be reunited with his father so agrees to help.
The Last Wild carries a strong environmental message about the impact of science and the economy on wildlife. I feel guilty about not being a vegetarian after reading about these colourful, loveable animals.
The creatures in this book a beautifully personified, making me wish I knew an adorably eager wolf-cub and a dopey pigeon. In contrast, humans don't come across well, from murderous Facto bullies to misleadingly friendly farmers. Every page of this book presents a new danger to the team, both man-made and natural. And you come away from this read feeling increasingly aware and strangely horrified about the evil we inflict on the animal world.
But the adventure doesn't end here - Kester and his friends still have a long way to go.
Cosmic Disco
Grace Nichols
London, Francis Lincoln, 2013, 79p
I am a huge fan of everything Grace Nichols does. Her poetry is full of imagery that seeps into your subconscious and roots itself there in your dreams. This collection has a variety of themes, focusing on space and the natural world.
Nichols is an observational poet, finding beauty in the world and describing it through simple language and vivid images. She pinpoints details in ways you never thought about before and makes them seem so obvious; for example, her poem Sky Artist looks at the clouds and imagines who is moulding them into shapes.
Elsewhere, she personifies the seasons as if they were people, calling them Lady Winter and Miss Spring. She uses rhythm and rhyme in some, where others are left less structure. Some are short, and some are long, but all bring to mind vibrant images of the world around us.
My only slight issue with Cosmic Disco is the cover. Within the pages are black and white illustraations from Alice Wright, which perfectly match the corresponding poems and add to the power of the imagery. But I think the cover is a little childish, and might put some teenage readers off opening up the book and discovering the amazing writing within.
Tiger Wars (The Falcon Chronicles)
Steve Backshall
London, Orion, 2012, 243p
Saker cannot remember who he is or where he has come from, but he knows he is on the run. In the forests of northern India, he is being tracked by dogs and a dangerous clan of boys, trained to hunt and kill.
Sinter is angry with her father - he is trying to marry her off to a rich doctor with no concern of what Sinter might want for herself. She runs into the forest to get some space, but accidentally finds herself caught up with Saker, on the run from a deadly enemy. Together, travel the length of India into China, slowly uncovering the reason why the clan are on the hunt - the most powerful and valuable predator of all, the tiger.
Tiger Wars is an action-packed adventure that never lets up. Saker is a highly skilled jungle expert, and his survival skills comes in handy at every turn. But Sinter is also a force to be reckoned with, fiery and practical, with a great knowledge of medicine to help them along.
I found this novel a little difficult to get into at the start - the sentences and paragraphs are incredibly long and quite poorly structured, which I think might put off a reluctant reader, even though they are the ideal audience for this story. It was dense to trawl through in places, even when the action was at it's peak, but I did enjoy the journey and characterisation.
Steve Backshall has a unique and fascinating knowledge base (survival, wildlife, georgraphy, medicine, science) that shines through in Tiger Wars. The novel is packed with factual information, but it is presented as part of the story so feels like a natural and beneficial addition to the text. The story is full of exotic locations and strange wildlife, with a strong environmental message in support of endangered species, leaving the reader with a love and respect for the magnificent tiger.
Itch
Simon Mayo
London, Corgi, 2012, 407p
Over the years, my knowledge of the period table of elements has deteriorated somewhat due to lack of revision. But in Itch, the elements come to life, being grounded in everyday objects like toothpaste and earings, and demonstrating unimaginably cool uses.
Itchingham Lofte is not an academic genius or hipster-esque geek. He is not popular or the teacher's pet. He is normal. He gets bored at school and gets into trouble at home. But he is an element collector - gathering materials that contain each of the elements in the periodic table. And sometimes, his experimentations end up causing quite a lot of mess, and sometimes minor fires.
Then, his dealer, Cake, has something new for him - a material that doesn't match the atomic make up of anything Itch has seen before. He's curious, and takes the rock into school to show his teacher in the hope they might shed some light on this strange object. But the rock soon makes it's way into the wrong hands and attracts the attention of some shifty businesses, convinced that this rock is a new element - and a highly radioactive one, at that! Along with his cousin Jack and his sister, Itch has to end what he started, and embarks on an adventure to keep this dangerous material away from anyone who might use it for evil.
Simon Mayo (yes, that Simon Mayo) is an incredible writing talent. He has made science accessible and exciting for someone who had no more than a GCSE-level interest in the subject. I really cannot recommend this enough, and will be forcing it upon my science department as soon as possible!
And in addition to the book itself (which, it is worth noting, is part of a new series), Mayo has made great use of social media and has gone online to link Itch up to the modern world of readers.
Whale Boy
Nicola Davies
London, Corgi, 2013, 260p
Michael dreams of seeing a whale. He has heard stories of times gone by when whales roamed freely around his little island, but now they have all been scared away by hunters. Every day, he works hard to save up for a boat of his own, in the hope he can one day take tours out into the waters and find some of the beautiful mammals. So when the opportunity to have his very own boat comes sooner than expected, he jumps at the chance, but remains suspicious that this might be too good to be true.
Whale Boy reminded me of Saving Finnegan, which uses the issue of a washed up whale as a method of helping a young protagonist come to terms with loss. Here, Nicola Davies creates a scenario to highlight the evils of whale hunting, and challenging the reader to think about the impact of pollution and climate change on habitats and wildlife.
The novel is beautifully written, full of poetic language and vivid descriptions of vast oceans and wonderful creatures. Michael's dream is uplifting and full of hope. But the story takes an unexpected turn as events unfold, swiftly turning into an action-packed thrill in which the lives of humans and animals are at stake.
I couldn't quite work out the target audience for this book. It feels like it should sit somewhere between junior fiction and books for teenagers, but I imagine it would only really be selected by children who already have an interest in environmental issues and animal rights. And yet, as an adult reader, I loved the imagery and the message - perhaps it would work as a book for a family to share.
Saving Finnegan
Sally Grindley
London, Bloomsbury, 2007, 245p
I struggle to find junior fiction texts that I like. I don't really like stories about animals or "funny" books, as my students call them. And I know I am trying to engage with what my students want to read, but if I can't get through it, there isn't much point in trying.
Saving Finnegan is different, though. It is more confidently written than many books for kids about animals, and it has an actual plot, whereas many animal stories are predictable and boring.
Grindley's book is the story of Holly, who finds a fin whale washed up on the beach of her island one day. The fin whale, named Finnegan, is ill, and Holly protests for her community to help save the poor animal.
The main theme here is death. Grindley hints at it all the way through - first Finnegan's arrival, then the threat of foxes to the hens, as well as Holly's aged grandmother. But those around Holly support her through the trial of acceptance; and I feel the novel would help a young reader in the same way.
This is an enjoyable, optimistic story. Holly represents hope - she is always fighting to help those around her, especially the fin whale.
