Inizio: 10 aprile
Finito: 13 aprile

 

Voto: 4/5

 

Consigliato: Si

 

Non sapevo cosa aspettarmi da questo libro, mi ispirava un sacco ma allo stesso tempo non mi convinceva la scelta di associare un tema delicato come la pena di morte a un romanzo pensato per gli adolescenti e quindi circondato dai soliti problemi adolescenziali (amore non ricambiato, litigi, amicizia tradita, fidanzati ecc), non perchè reputi gli adolescenti imbecilli ma perchè certi argomenti scottanti sono a mio avviso da trattare con la dovuta cura e attenzione rivolgendosi a un pubblico più adulto e che possa essersi fatto una idea sull'argomento nel corso del tempo e non rivolgendosi a un ragazzo che forse ha sentito solo parlare di pena di morte nei videogame... ero quindi abbastanza scettica e non mi aspettavo di rimanere stupita, nonostante il libro sia palesemente per ragazzini riesce senza essere banale a trasmettere emozioni, raccontare amori, rivalità di una generazione e con una scrittura poetica e una protagonista che mi ha colpito riesce a tira in ballo un tema sociale bollente senza ridicolizzarlo o semplificarlo troppo o senza voler fare una filippica pro o contro. Posso dire quindi che è stata una bella lettura, scorrevole e sicuramente consigliata sia ai teenager che ai più grandicelli.

Originally I was only going to give this four stars, but when a book can drive me to tears it automatically becomes a five star read.

 

Assorted thoughts:
1. The ending's very open ended and leaves some things unresolved. I'm not sure how I feel about that
2. I really like Jamie, I think he's so sweet and adorable and I like the damn honesty in his voice. Kids are always so honest and I liked that in the narration.
3. Jamie's relationship with his sister Jas is really cute.
4. I like how all the characters are really complex and no one's simply evil or simply good. Jamie's nice but sometimes says/does things that hurts his friend Sunya. Jamie's mum loves him but isn't always there for him and his sister. Jamie's father is grieving for his dead daughter, consumed with anger towards Muslims, and becomes alcoholic- but at the same time there's some really tender moments between him and his son. I really liked the complexity of the characters

5. 

It's weird, Rose died and I didn't feel all that sad. But Roger the cat died and I was sobbing. I have a soft spot when it comes to animals

(spoiler show)

6. I hated Jamie's teacher. She is very preachy and always talking about Jesus and God and stuff like that. And this stunned me, because surely there's rules about religious education in public schools in the UK? But more than that, I was just disgusted that the teacher is well aware Sunya is Muslim and yet continues to shove her religion down her impressionable young students' throats, showing no consideration for how alienated and isolated Sunya must feel, being Muslim in a room full of Christians and non Muslims. The preachiness in and of itself would have simply annoyed me, but what made me truly angry is that the teacher showed absolutely no concern for Sunya's feelings. 

 

Probably not gonna write a full review, because I'm damn lazy. If you have any questions on my thoughts, feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment! :)

Silence is Goldfish - Annabel Pitcher I enjoyed this book and flew through it. It wasn't a confusing, complex storyline but one that made you feel sad but also made you laugh. I picked up this book after it was recommended to me and I think it's fair to say it was a rollercoaster ride.

So, we have this girl called Tess who finds out her dad is not her dad. But that's not the worst part, she finds out her dad loathes her (through a blog). She then begins to or should I say stop talking to anyone but Mr Goldfish (a torch who can talk to Tess telepathically) and then she finds out that her best friend Isabell has no interest in her whatsoever after her unexpected silence and that her worst enemy who bullies her, Anna, may have a soft spot for her.

She also believes that her new teacher, Mr Richardson, is her real dad and goes to all lengths, from stealing his driving licence to sneaking to his house, to prove to herself that he is. In the end, we find out Mr Richardosn is a nasty, rude liar and not at all Tess' dad.

She also begins to get bullied (even more than before) by the whole school. There is a rumor going round that #sheisahe and that Tess stopped talking because she had developed a deep voice and didn't want her secret to get out.

So Tess's world turn upside down and the only person who can help this little pluto is her Goldfish Torch who 'shines' the light and shows Tess the truth and the lies.

So they all live happily ever after. Jack did write that blog about how he loathed her when she was born but explains that he had grown to love her as her Dad and was sorry.

So, what are my thoughts on this book?
Firstly, I had a few problems...
She never finds her real dad...
The bullying problem is never solved and...
Who becomes their new teacher?....

But, the aspects such as...
The character's personalities
The plot
The Goldfish Torch
The happily ever after

did make up for the questions circling my brain after having coming off the rollercoaster and they were a great addition to the story!

All in all, the book was good and not too lengthy. She does break her silence in the end and is no longer Pluto- all alone.

Silence is Goldfish - Annabel Pitcher

I wandered familiar streets feeling lost in the darkness, too scared of the stuff inside my head to be afraid of anything outside it. And now here I am with a plan that involves a goldfish, who looks shocked because this is not at all what he thought was going to happen when he woke up this morning next to the bottles of de-icer at the Texaco Garage that is the only home he’s ever known.

Tess has just read something shocking. Six hundred and seventeen words in which her father revealed that he wasn’t actually her father, and that his first feeling when she was born was one of disgust.

Tess wasn’t meant to read this, and her father… no, not her father, Jack, doesn’t know she saw it, doesn’t know why she’s suddenly stopped talking and is refusing to follow instructions. She’s defiant, she’s distant, she’s possibly lost it.



There were a lot of interesting themes within this novel, and it had the building blocks to make something amazing, but it came together as a rather uneven story.

Multiple things within this novel suggested that, perhaps, the main character might have started out as a lot younger, and been aged to fit slightly more adult themes.


The rest of this review can be found here!



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Before Reading

There must be a list on the Internet of what to buy when you're running away, but my phone is typically dead, like I swear it just passes out whenever things get stressful. It's unconscious in my pocket so I can't look up a list of essential items for life on the road, but a children's torch in the shape of a goldfish seems a very sensible choice.



Yeah, I think I'm going to enjoy this one!

Title: My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece

Author: Annabel Pitcher

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for The Young Readers

Publication Date: Aug 14th 2012

Page Number: 225 pages

Blurb:

 

Ten-year-old Jamie hasn't cried since it happened. He knows he should have - Jasmine cried, Mum cried, Dad still cries. Roger didn't, but then he is just a cat and didn't know Rose that well, really.

Everyone kept saying it would get better with time, but that's just one of those lies that grown-ups tell in awkward situations. Five years on, it's worse than ever: Dad drinks, Mum's gone and Jamie's left with questions that he must answer for himself.

This is his story, an unflinchingly real yet heart-warming account of a young boy's struggle to make sense of the loss that tore his family apart.

 

What I Thought:

 

This book is so sad. How a family could be broken because of the seems-like-forever grieving of their dead child. They ignored Jamie, and also Jasmine, just because the father can't accepted his dead little girl. The worst of all was the mother. I have no idea, what kind of mother who dare to abandoned her children for an affair. Because she was sick of her former spouse. Because they never stopped blaming each other for Rose's death. I hate when other children felt invincible because of the gone of one child. I hate this kind of parents which focus on the lost, not what left.

 

But the great things of this book is it teach about tolerance, especially for people who has different kind of faith. I know (from some news and convos with my abroad Muslim friends) that it's not easy become a Muslim in the place that still have bad perspective to Muslim people. I think I understand about how Sunya wanted to be a "normal". This book is wonderful. I can say, I adore this book so much! Recommended for those who open minded, about everything.

 

Opening Lines:

My sister Rose lives on the mantelpiece. Well, some of her does. Three of her fingers, her right elbow and her kneecap are buried in a graveyard in London.