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Grief, loss and guilt are enormous burdens for a whole family to carry.
A tern will fly to the moon, to live its life in summer � I suppose I'd like to have a little bit of that.
It's boom time in sixteen-year-old Kenno's coastal holiday town. Tourists are buying and building and developing property, and easy money seems to be everywhere. Even birds flock there to nest on the sand and on the cliffs, out to the islands. But for those who live in the holiday town all year round, there is bleakness too, and Kenno's family, haunted by a terrible loss, struggle to get by.
When the family is evicted from their home, Kenno figures they're entitled to a little easy money of their own, and that it's his job to makes things right. Believing it could go a long way to healing them in all their separate ways.
Kenno finds a beautiful house and forms a plan to get the money for it. But the closer he gets to the money, the more complicated things become, and when he involves his sister in his plan, who likes to test the world and goes looking for danger, things move quickly beyond his control �
A tern will fly to the moon, to live its life in summer � I suppose I'd like to have a little bit of that.
It's boom time in sixteen-year-old Kenno's coastal holiday town. Tourists are buying and building and developing property, and easy money seems to be everywhere. Even birds flock there to nest on the sand and on the cliffs, out to the islands. But for those who live in the holiday town all year round, there is bleakness too, and Kenno's family, haunted by a terrible loss, struggle to get by.
When the family is evicted from their home, Kenno figures they're entitled to a little easy money of their own, and that it's his job to makes things right. Believing it could go a long way to healing them in all their separate ways.
Kenno finds a beautiful house and forms a plan to get the money for it. But the closer he gets to the money, the more complicated things become, and when he involves his sister in his plan, who likes to test the world and goes looking for danger, things move quickly beyond his control �
304 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2013
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 2, 2013
This is a really well written book about a difficult subject - and it delivers exactly what it sets out to do. It matches the story with a style of writing that illustrates how grief can destroy a family, and the way it can scramble the connections of meaning and memory around the thing that has gone missing. Unfortunately I hated the style with a reaction that verged on the allergic - I lost count of how many times I almost threw this book across the room in boiling irritation and frustration. But don't let me turn you off reading it - that is probably the reaction you are supposed to have - the only trouble is that you won't know till the last page. This for some will be a five star read.
For me, the heart of the problem was with the protagonist - the book is written in first person, so he could be a very unreliable narrator - but by a couple of pages in, I was asking - what is wrong with this kid? Is he brain damaged? Of course the problem here is that he well might be..... the childhood accident that the entire narrative orbits could well have left him cognitively impaired. On the other hand- it could just be bad writing - and there is no way of telling until the big reveal ....which dangles and dangles just out of reach manipulating our emotions like a B grade suspense movie.
Seventeen year old Kenno observes the actions it takes to make a coffee or cheap pasta with such excruciating detail it takes a page to describe every step of the process. He observes surface details with an intensity that is autistic and he has the emotional intelligence of a two year - maybe not even that, as there are a number of times his persona fails the theory of mind test. Once again this could be a really accurate description of how someone with localized brain damage thinks and feels - but at the same time it could just be the writer playing tricks with style - drip feeding us essential information at a pace guaranteed to result in frustration.
With the benefit of hindsight, it's a bit of both, but more in service of a stylistic aim than an accurate psychological profile of a member of a traumatized family. If it is realistic, Kenno is as thick as two planks.
I also found the sexuality in this book disturbing - there is something cloyingly incestuous about the relationships, probably quite realistic depictions for such damaged goods - but to be honest, the sensual homoerotic observations read like they were written by a lesbian trying to imagine what a closeted adolescent gay man thought and felt like- and getting it completely wrong. I actually had a friend who read this book - and she said she was startled when a gender pronoun turned up indicating that Kenno was a boy ..... she had assumed from the writing Kenno was a girl.
I should really give this one five stars for manipulating an emotional response in me that was way bigger than a lot of books I've read this year. I just really hate that particular emotion!
For me, the heart of the problem was with the protagonist - the book is written in first person, so he could be a very unreliable narrator - but by a couple of pages in, I was asking - what is wrong with this kid? Is he brain damaged? Of course the problem here is that he well might be..... the childhood accident that the entire narrative orbits could well have left him cognitively impaired. On the other hand- it could just be bad writing - and there is no way of telling until the big reveal ....which dangles and dangles just out of reach manipulating our emotions like a B grade suspense movie.
Seventeen year old Kenno observes the actions it takes to make a coffee or cheap pasta with such excruciating detail it takes a page to describe every step of the process. He observes surface details with an intensity that is autistic and he has the emotional intelligence of a two year - maybe not even that, as there are a number of times his persona fails the theory of mind test. Once again this could be a really accurate description of how someone with localized brain damage thinks and feels - but at the same time it could just be the writer playing tricks with style - drip feeding us essential information at a pace guaranteed to result in frustration.
With the benefit of hindsight, it's a bit of both, but more in service of a stylistic aim than an accurate psychological profile of a member of a traumatized family. If it is realistic, Kenno is as thick as two planks.
I also found the sexuality in this book disturbing - there is something cloyingly incestuous about the relationships, probably quite realistic depictions for such damaged goods - but to be honest, the sensual homoerotic observations read like they were written by a lesbian trying to imagine what a closeted adolescent gay man thought and felt like- and getting it completely wrong. I actually had a friend who read this book - and she said she was startled when a gender pronoun turned up indicating that Kenno was a boy ..... she had assumed from the writing Kenno was a girl.
I should really give this one five stars for manipulating an emotional response in me that was way bigger than a lot of books I've read this year. I just really hate that particular emotion!
March 25, 2013
I read this book in under a week which is unusual for me, it was like a car crash (I think I mentioned that about her first book Desert Fish). You don't want to look but you do anyway. I had to keep reading to see where it was going. It's a sad book telling of how Kenno wants to get compensation for his family for a tragedy that affected them all. It's written from the point of view of Kenno who is 17 and trying to find his way, he appears very confused in a lot of ways but focused on getting compensation to help his family. There are hints all through the book about what the tragedy was and in the end it all becomes clear but its not really what Kenno was looking for or hoping for. Most books I read have a definite beginning, middle and end but this book just sort of flatlined all the way through. It was easy to read and interesting. I look forward to more of her books and reading more reviews.
July 30, 2013
Despite the only physical description of the characters being the occasional scar or tattoo, the reader is left with a wonderfully drawn personality description of each player in this drama. They come to life before your mind's eye in the same way that you can hear the birds screeching and calling as the water laps against the shore and the wind picks up your hair.
This book is certainly not uplifting or schmaltzy, feeling more real than other novels.
Poor old Kenno tries his best to make his family's life better but there's always someone to put a spanner in his works. He seems to lurch from one problem to fix to another, all the while likening his existence to that of the birds that fill the islands and shore of his town.
I enjoyed Desert Fish, but I enjoyed this more.
This book is certainly not uplifting or schmaltzy, feeling more real than other novels.
Poor old Kenno tries his best to make his family's life better but there's always someone to put a spanner in his works. He seems to lurch from one problem to fix to another, all the while likening his existence to that of the birds that fill the islands and shore of his town.
I enjoyed Desert Fish, but I enjoyed this more.
June 8, 2015
I had high hopes for this book. Blurb is good and cover is attractive, however, sadly it didn't quite meet them. Overall the story is good and you don't want to keep reading but I found the protagonist incredibly annoying. I found it hard to believe that a 17 year old boy would want to keep touching his older sister and often his thoughts seem very immature. I guess holding out the full story until the final pages works, but for this story it was very obvious. There was also some story lines that seemed rushed and unnecessary, such as the narrators love interest. All in all its not the kind of book I will read a second time.
February 14, 2014
I had high hopes for this, being both a bird-nerd and a fan of depressing literary fiction, but it was a bit of a let-down. The main character is clearly meant to be a bit off, but I found him incredibly frustrating - he spends three-quarters of the book not articulating a couple of simple questions that eventually resolve the whole plot. It really felt like a short story that had been stretched out to a novel length - the mood of the area is captured nicely and the grim depression of dysfunction and poverty is well rendered, but the book just lacked a bit of spark to maintain my interest.
March 30, 2013
An intriguing, taut and fascinating story about a teenage boy living in an English coastal village popular for bird watching tourism. The boy's family suffer a range of problems as a result of an "accident" when he was very young and therefore doesn't remember. The story is how he decides to solve a financial problem for the family by finding out what happened and seeking compensation. What he uncovers about himself, his family and the accident is quite shocking and creates a gripping climax.
A beautifully written book with believable and authentic characters, tinged with the social and emotional pains of growing into adulthood and accepting all the truths that come with it. Highly recommended.
A beautifully written book with believable and authentic characters, tinged with the social and emotional pains of growing into adulthood and accepting all the truths that come with it. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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