I Read, Therefore I Blog

The Blurb On The Back:

Mila has a gift.

She can read a room, a person, a situation – and tell if you’re happy, or pregnant, or having an affair.

When her father’s best friend, Matthew, goes missing, Mila joins in the search. She sees clues no one else notices, facts everyone else overlooks.

But the answers refuse to line up and Matthew refuses to be found.

Is there something Mila has missed? Something closer to home than she ever imagined?

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Meg Rosoff’s YA novel is a finely observed story that’s part coming-of-age piece about a 12 year old girl starting her journey to adulthood and part road-trip about a father and daughter getting to know each other better. Mila is a unique character – in some ways older than her years but still young enough to worry about the on-again/off-again friendship he has with the unhappy Cat who’s ditched her for some cooler older kids. I completely believed in Mila’s growing appreciation of the reasons for Cat’s behaviour and I found their text exchanges to be touching. I equally enjoyed the relationship between Mila and her father, the absent-minded translator Gil, through whom she learns about his friendship with Matthew and how this prejudices her against the sharp-tongued Suzanne who’s hiding secrets of her own. Given the age of the protagonist and the focus on grown-up’s secrets, I do question to what extent this fits within the YA category but it’s such a gripping read that I think teenage readers will be as hooked as I was. Ultimately this is another clever, unique and well-written book from the constantly excellent Rosoff and I very much look forward to seeing what she produces next.

The Blurb On The Back:

Shall I tell you about the year I discovered love?

I’d been kicked out of two boarding schools and the last thing I wanted was to be here, on the East Anglian coast in a third.

But without St Oswald’s, I would not have discovered the fisherman’s hut with its roaring fire, its striped blankets, its sea monster stew.

Without St Oswald’s, I would not have met the boy with the beautiful eyes, the flickering half-smile and no past.

Without St Oswald’s. I would not have met Finn.

And without Finn, there would be no story.

Shall we begin?

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Nominated for a Costa Book Award, this is a brave novel that tackles homosexuality and yet doesn’t quite come off – mainly because the narrator needs slightly more fleshing out and Rosoff doesn’t quite delve into the homosexual undertones. Despite this, the quality of writing is excellent and the descriptions evocative.