thereadingmum's reviews
810 reviews

This is not a book to read when you have a lot going on. It's a bit like those artworks where you have to adjust your vision to see the image through the haze of graphics. 

The prose for one is fluid and lyrical but not standard in format so can be jarring and might require more attention than other writing.

The subject matter isn't easy to digest either. 

I may be biased but the author was my teacher and I always felt his writing was so beautiful but misunderstood. I really want to reread this but am scared both because I know it will need to be savoured slowly and because of the sadness of knowing he has passed. 

Based on Dicken's Oliver Twist, from the POV of Nancy, one of the supporting characters. I had forgot what happened to her but about a quarter through my memory started creaking and I got more and more anxious for her. 

If you haven't read Oliver, I'll spare you the details but essentially my fears were justified. 

However, I felt that because we had followed Nancy and got a much fuller picture of her, it didn't seem as sad at the end. 

What I didn't like was her justification for Bill's behaviour, though I suppose it's typical of abuse victims, I still didn't like it. I also found the idea of a man having relations with a woman who looks like his dear mother in his mother's old room just a tad icky. However, I hope his later observation that she was nothing like his mum was realised before the "relations". 

I think George was trying to capture Dicken's style but make it more modern.  So that some may find the prose odd. 

I gobbled this one up in a few days genuinely enjoyed it despite the dark themes. 

Something was lost in the translation.