JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

My Daughter’s Wedding by Gretel Killeen

Nora Fawn’s daughter, Hope, disappeared four years ago. Nora has never known why. Refusing to answer her mother’s calls, emails or texts, Hope maintained contact only with her big sister, Joy. Having once considered her mothering to be the greatest achievement of her life, Nora’s spent these Hope-less years searching, aching, mother-guilting, working for a famous yet talentless artist and avoiding her own emotionally repressed mother, Daphne.

But … last night Hope rang out of the blue to say, ‘I’m coming home, I’m getting married, the wedding is in three weeks and it’s your job to organise it.’ Desperate to prove her worth as a mother and regain her daughter’s love, Nora commits to the task – assisted by her own increasingly dementia’d mother and her two best friends, Soula (an amateur bikini-line waxer) and Thilma (whom they found in a cab in the 1980s).

Contemporary women’s fiction about three generations of mother-daughter love, Gretel Killeen’s My Daughter’s Wedding is a fast-paced exploration into the complex family dynamics between women, and how broken relationships can always be mended.

I liked the structure of the novel, and the premise. My Daughter’s Wedding is formatted as a diary entry, which feels instantly accessible. You’re placed right in the centre of the action, and you’re involved in the journey the entire way. The concept of the estranged daughter allows Nora to reflect on her past mistakes, and we also witness a lot of similarities between Nora and her own mother.

The book is filled with a large cast of eccentric characters, all with interesting backstories and tiny quirks that make them memorable. This definitely feels similar to Gretel’s other fictional works — all quite out-of-this-world, wacky tales.

“Yes, it was after all that, when I was looking for Hope’s birth certificate in preparation for registering her wedding, that I found you, Dear Diary. And it was then that I decided to quietly start writing in you over the forthcoming wedding week as evidence of how perfectly I’ve behaved should anything untoward come to pass and anyone/everyone try to blame me.”

Unfortunately, this book didn’t live up to its potential. Yes, it’s a unique, funky story. No doubt about it. But I felt that the characterisation and the growth that’s required in a novel — even a comedic one — just wasn’t present in this. I think Gretel was going for a mad cap adventure, but the main character is in her 50s and the readership are adults and I’m just not sure that it works. No spoilers, but the entire storyline/premise about Aspen was too over-the-top to be enjoyable.

“I didn’t know what to say. Mum has always been great at winning arguments with me but appalling at confronting what we’re actually arguing about. I can’t blame her, I’m guilty of this too. I obfuscate and pussyfoot and hedge around the subject, for fear in fact of exactly what happened just now, an argument that leaves Mum feeling victorious and me feeling violated.”

Admittedly, I just didn’t find this book as humorous as the blurb suggested. There were a few chuckles, but mainly, I found the voice to be quite impenetrable. Nora is supposed to be in her 50s but she reads like an adolescent — stream of consciousness, scatty, unfocused, and just a little too silly to be believable as a character.

Additionally, the plot gets more absurd as the book goes on. There are commendable moments of depth, and character development, but the absurdity of the storyline seemingly dilutes these profound, notable aspects in the book. And the pacing is so quick, there isn’t really enough time to get to the know the characters, and so you don’t really find yourself warming to them.

“It’s been said that a mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child. I know this to be true. When a woman becomes a mother she loses all emotional independence. And this can never be changed. The umbilical cord is never cut. The scissors just make it invisible.”

A very light read. Recommended as a beach read, or an airport purchase.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

My Daughter’s Wedding
Gretel Killeen
February 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker

What if Juliet Capulet met someone who made her doubt true love? What if Wuthering Heights was a message to a time traveller?

YEAR: 2083. LOCATION: LONDON. MISSION: WAKE ROMEO.

It’s the end of the world. Literally. Time travel is possible, but only forwards. And only a handful of families choose to remain in the ‘now’, living off the scraps that were left behind. Among these are eighteen-year-old Juliet and the love of her life, Romeo. But things are far from rosy for Jules. Romeo is in a coma and she’s estranged from her friends and family, dealing with the very real fallout of their wild romance. Then a handsome time traveller, Ellis, arrives with an important mission that makes Jules question everything she knows about life and love. Can Jules wake Romeo and rewrite her future?

A YA time-travelling saga that pays homage to two literary classics, Kathryn Barker’s latest novel Waking Romeo is an ambitious, sweeping science fiction saga spanning decades.

The beginning of the novel is the same as the well-known Shakespeare story. Jules and Romeo had a passionate love affair and in a moment of misguided communication, both tried to kill themselves. However, Jules survived, and Romeo’s been in a coma for two years.

Waking Romeo is set in a wasteland where most humans have travelled forward into the future. When Jules meets a group of tech-savvy people that have learnt how to travel forwards and backwards, they embark on a mission to wake Romeo.

“I know one thing definitively. Whatever Frogs is really up to, it all started before these past few hours. Lord, it has been taking place since the very beginning, when I was first recruited. My life has been manipulated for years to accomodate Jules and her love story.”

I loved Kathryn’s last book and so was really excited to delve into this one. Waking Romeo is a fresh take on the literary classics that many people have grown to love.It’s certainly a unique read, and very innovative. It’s quite the twisty read, not one for the distracted. Each chapter switches POV between Jules and time traveller Ellis, and focus must be maintained to follow the plot.

Jules’ character development is one of the strengths in the book. She starts out hurt, bitter, and perhaps a little naive to what’s around her. Over time, she becomes smart and resourceful, and sure of herself. She comes to realise her time with Romeo wasn’t what it seemed. She matures into a conscious young woman.

“After the Fall, you couldn’t keep food in a supermarket — that was the first place hungry Travellers checked in, they tell me. So our ancestors stashed books there instead. Chaucer under pet food, Greek myths in the dairy aisle, fairytales in the frozen food section.”

Whilst the book is incredibly well plotted and the scope is impressive, I found the storyline very convoluted and hard to follow. Between the two main characters travelling divergent storylines — with seperate POV chapters — and the constant jumping between future and past, I think I lost my understanding of the plot at around the halfway mark and just kept reading to find out when they’d wake Romeo.

Additionally, there are quite a few sections of the book where Ellis and Jules’ journey seems unclear, and they’re traipsing through a wasteland without clear direction. And whilst Jules and Ellis’ character developments are strong, the book features such a large cast of characters and the other main players felt a little thinly developed. I feel there could’ve been room for more character exploration.

“If there was a pod that could send me back in time, instead of just forwards? It’d take it. It’d rewind the clock. Back, back, back — all the way to the moment that Romeo and I tried to kill ourselves.”

Waking Romeo tackles themes of love, expectation, friendship and family. And expectations placed upon us by others.

Whilst recommended for teenage readers, I’d be hesitant to recommend this book to a reluctant reader. Seasoned young readers only, who you know are going to persevere with the high concept, complex plotting.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Waking Romeo
Kathryn Barker
March 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

Game Changer by Neal Shusterman

Ash is used to taking hits on the field for his high school football team – until he takes one that doesn’t just impact his body, but his whole reality. It starts with one small shift, but with every game, every hit, Ash finds himself pushed through a succession of universes almost-but-not-really like his own, until the small shifts in reality become significant shifts in Ash’s own identity.

As Ash experiences life from other perspectives, he starts to question the world he thought he knew, as well as the ones he finds himself catapulted into. For better or worse, the one thing Ash knows is that he’s got to find a way to put things back. A searing exploration of race, gender, sexuality and the nature of privilege.

Science fiction for young readers, Neal Shusterman’s latest novel Game Changer tackles plenty of social criticism and follows a teenage American footballer who unknowingly becomes the centre of the universe and is forced to live through parallel lives. In each alternate life, he’s faced with a flawed universe.

Initially, Ash is a privileged white boy who doesn’t think too hard about the struggles of those around him. But when a football tackle starts shifting his reality, he soon gains an insight into the world that he hadn’t grasped before.

“You rarely stop to think about how life hinges on the smallest events. Things so small you can’t even really call them events. Looking right instead of left, and missing the person who could have been the love of your life.”

Featuring elements of science fiction and the paranormal, Neal’s writing is always strong. The premise and entire concept of this book is quite fascinating, and Neal does offer a satisfying explanation of Ash’s prediction. Additionally, Ash offers insightful, observant and mature narration, and the first person voice is emotive and evocative. We get a strong sense of who Ash is as a person, even if that personality is a forgettable and narrow-minded (at first).

Each chapter and scene does feel neat and compact, driving the reader to continue with the story. Characters are diverse and marginalisation is explored, and Neal is skilled at capturing realistic, engaging dialogue.

“Either something was very wrong with me, or something was very wrong with the world. Believe it or not, I could deal with something being wrong with me far better than the alternative — and if there was an explanation for this…I would have gleefully jumped on it.”

Unfortunately, Game Changer doesn’t quite live up to its potential. There’s a white saviour complex to it and the book tries a little too hard at its attempt at being earnest. The marginalised characters in the book are there at the expense of Ash’s character development, which just feels a little too icky for the reader. And to be honest, Ash doesn’t really fight for what’s right. He witnesses marginalisation, and is horrified by it, but he just kind of keeps going? Hoping the next parallel universe will be different? I would’ve liked Ash’s character to possess more agency and drive.

Outside of this, the book just isn’t as pacy as Neal’s other works. The changing realities start to feel incredibly repetitive after the first couple, and the pacing slows right down. I got a little bored about three quarters of the way through, and if this book were any longer than it is, I would’ve given up on it.

“We are so limited. As a species. As individuals. Not only can’t we see the future, we can’t even see the present for what it is. We’re too clouded by the things we want and the things we fear. But worse than any other blindness is that we can’t see the consequences of our actions.

Game Changer is a well-intentioned novel that isn’t quite what it promises.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Game Changer
Neal Shusterman
February 2021
Walker Books Australia

The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold

A genre-smashing story of survival, hope and love amid a ravaged earth.

A deadly flu has swept the globe, leaving a shell of the world that once was. Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, who are on a journey devised by Nico’s father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, who knows almost nothing of the world outside the old abandoned cinema he was raised in; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together.

David Arnold’s post-apocalyptic YA novel The Electric Kingdom is an ambitious saga, a unique twist on the frequently-tackled scenario that is the near eradication of humanity. After a swarm of flies, as yet unbeatable, descend on Earth and wipe out most of the population, few remain alive. We meet a cast of characters determined to survive in a barren wasteland, a ravaged world full of danger.

Not your stereotypical fantasy novel about the end-of-the-world, although perhaps a little familiar during current times, The Electric Kingdom is written in third person and switches between three characters — eighteen-year-old Nico, twelve-year-old Kit and the mysterious and unnamed Deliverer, whose role in this story doesn’t become clear until the end.

Readers will find themselves enthralled in the journey until the final pages.

“The room was quiet, the brush of a hand in his hair. Kit debated whether to tell her what he really thought: that when he stood at the open window of his art classroom, held a breeze in his face, he had long ago resigned himself to the reality that he would never know where that breeze came from, or where it was going.”

David’s writing style is quite stripped and minimalistic, which is ironic considering this book is over 400 pages. Dialogue is taut and clipped, and it works. Prose is seamless, with short sentences. David only reveals information that is absolutely necessary, and readers will appreciate it.

There’s a strange sort of atmosphere to this book, like there’s something larger at play and you know you won’t understand it until the end. Characters mention deja vu, like they’ve been through these events before. There are moments of fear and tension, but there are also some really tender, sweet moments between characters. Moments where you get an insight into how their lives might’ve been if the flu never happened.

Above all else, The Electric Kingdom is about taking chances, pursuing risks, the endurance humanity and survival — it’s about how determined some people are to outlast any threats to their safety. The Electric Kingdom is not about how the world ended, it’s about the people left behind as they navigate through this new world.

“When the entirety of one’s universe is an old boarded-up farmhouse, there is no greater treasure than a dusty shoebox full of photographs. All smiles and kisses and travels and meticulously positioned foods on butcher blocks. Nico’s favourites were the ones from her parents’ honeymoon in Italy.”

Admittedly, the secondary cast of characters do blend together in the book. When Kit and Nico’s journeys become embroiled with others, and we meet multiple other characters of a similar age, it was hard to tell them apart. Their voices didn’t feel overly unique, and their experiences were quite similar. When some of them died, I didn’t feel much of an emotional response.

And some of the most heightened moments in the book – particularly the father and son with violent intentions – come incredibly late in the novel. I would’ve preferred if David brought forward some of the bigger moments in the novel so they didn’t all hit right at the end.

“Dead towns galore. Kit was amazed at just how many, small and tucked away. These days, he felt more breeze than human, floating in and through all these little towns, on the lookout for dreamers, Knowers of Things in open windows, observing their little worlds, wondering What (if anything) Lay Beyond.”

Recommended for teenage readers and young adults.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Electric Kingdom
David Arnold
February 2021
Text Publishing

A Crooked Tree by Una Mannion

Rage. That’s the feeling engulfing the car as Ellen’s mother swerves over to the hard-shoulder and orders her daughter out onto the roadside. Ignoring the protests of her other children, she accelerates away, leaving Ellen standing on the gravel verge in her school pinafore and knee socks as the light fades.

What would you do as you watch your little sister getting smaller in the rear view window? How far would you be willing to go to help her? The Gallagher children are going to find out. This moment is the beginning of a summer that will change everything.

Set in the early 1980s over one long hot summer in Pennsylvania, Una Mannion’s A Crooked Tree explores the unintended consequences of an ill-fated, split second decision.

With elements of coming-of-age bleeding throughout the story, but far from a typical YA novel, A Crooked Tree is told from the first-person perspective of Ellen’s fifteen-year-old sister Libby. She’s observant and mature — a little timid, introverted and withdrawn at times — and when Ellen’s sister returns home after being cast aside on the road, Libby helps pick up the pieces. What results is a sequence of events that change their lives forever. None of them will be the same again.

“Why hadn’t I told her? I put my hand on the door to open it and call her back, to say we needed help. But I hated asking people for things. Maybe she would pass Ellen on her way down the mountain. I began to think of all the people that might pass Ellen on their way home.”

A Crooked Tree is about how fast events can spiral out of control, and how powerless you can feel to stop them. After Ellen returns, she reveals she hitchhiked from the road and was molested by a creepy, blonde-haired man. She jumped out of his car and scrambled home before he could find her. When their sister Marie gets local boy Wilson McVay involved, things escalate.

Una balances dark scenes and themes with moments of humour and teenage angst. The secluded woods that surround their home give Libby and her siblings some comfort amidst a tumultuous summer. Their mother, Faye, is quite absent in the story, but we witness enough of her to understand she’s exhausted and stressed. Libby’s father died years earlier and the family were still struggling to comprehend the absence in their dysfunctional family unit.

“Everyone was running to the fence by the woods; some were already halfway up. I panicked, looking for the ladder, trying to orient myself. Then I realised that the surface of the pool was shimmering with red and blue light. The police had pulled the car up across the lawn to the gate. They had another amplified light angled at the pool.”

At times, the plot feels as if it’s on slow motion. Events slow, tension builds, and readers feel a sense of dread as each chapter passes. What did Wilson do to Ellen’s abuser? And what will this man do in retaliation? Una is an incredibly talented writer.

Exceptionally well-written and complex, I adored this book. It was just a nice surprise and an utter delight to experience. Una crafts vivid and three-dimensional characters, drawing us into their plight and ensnaring us in their journeys. A Crooked Tree captures the era of the 1980s incredibly well, and explores the complexities of youth within a compact package.

“The night we left Ellen on the road we were driving north up 252 near where it meets 202 and then crosses the Pennsylvania Turnpike. To the west were open fields, stretches of golden prairie grass and butterfly weed, the final line of sun splintering light through them.”

Tense, evocative and ominous, A Crooked Tree is recommended for readers of literary fiction. Mature young readers may also delight in this tale.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Crooked Tree
Una Mannion
February 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers