This is j-lit at it's best. 100% perspective. Author, Natale Ghent has jumped into the body of 12-year-old Nathanial, a strikingly honest character whose passion is heartwrenching. His sickening feeling of guilt, his hot tears and is tender kindness make the innocence of childhood just come flooding back..."Sometimes, something as small as an ad in the daily newspaper can change your whole life. That's what happened to Cid, Queenie and me one summer. It was 1977, the year of broken things. Star Wars opened and broke the record at the Eastview theatre by running for thirteen weeks in a row. Queenie broke her collarbone. And Cheryl Hanson broke my heart."
Other less notable books I've read over the past two weeks:
Flower: A Novel by Irene N. Watts - chapters alternate between thirteen-year-old Kate in Halifax visiting her grandparents and getting to know a ghost, and the life of a British orphan sent to Canada during wartime. A little predictable? Magical, haunting, mysterious? No. Incredibly cheesy ending? Yes...even for a ten-year-old ....
Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce - yes the screenplay turned novel. Absolutely no setting or descriptive elements of course. A few things made absolutely no sense due to a complete lack of character development and obsessive repetition of key character traits. Kind of like listening to radio drama...still a fun draw for kids who don't like to read, it's simple and has a few funny moments...
A Million Little Pieces by Jame Fry - yeah, yeah, yeah. Drugs are terrible. Addictions really suck. So many bodily fluids. I've never spent so much time reading about vomit. Never again. The recently popularized phrase " I don't know 'ow I'm gonna quit you" comes to mind. I tried quitting the book several times, it was really oppressing me. I kept coming back, and in the end I stayed up half the night just to get the darn thing over with and find out if he can beat the devil. The prose was extremely irritating - the endless use of capitalization was contrived. I had a Moment of Clarity as I walked towards the Clearing where Lily was waiting for me, type of thing....
4 comments:
Hey! I thought it was just me who was annoyed by the Random Capitalization of words in the James Frey book. Glad to hear I am not the only one...
Hi and thank you for posting such a kind review of my book, No Small Thing. I'm touched by your words.
Good luck in your career and your cycling pursuit (does that constitute a pun?)
This is so great, and absolutely made my day - a real author read my blog! That's amazing! I'm buying a copy of this book right away!
Hey I'm a real author and I read your comment too! Does this mean you'll buy my next book!
Frank Cottrell Boyce.
PS I thought it was an interesting comment.
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