Thursday, August 12, 2010
Review: Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood
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Release Date: August 1, 2010
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Genre: Realistic/Contemporary Fiction
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 244
Source: Bought
Blurb (from Publisher)
Fourteen year old nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a reversal of family fortune, moving house, new school hell, a mother with a failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and an impossible crush on Estelle, the girl next door. His life is a mess, but for now he's narrowed it down to just six impossible things...
The Quickie Review
Congratulations are in order for Fiona Wood she has written a thoroughly entertaining debut YA novel which I devoured in only a couple of days. Six Impossible Things is a funny and poignant coming of age novel with a nerdy yet loveable protagonist who I have to say I have a bit of a soft spot for.
The Full Blown Review
Dan’s had a bad couple of months, his mother is broke due to his fathers bankruptcy, his father just ‘came out of the closet’, he’s moved with his mother into an old house that’s cold and smells like urine, his mother’s new wedding cake business is not going too well especially when she’s talking all the brides out of marriage and to top it off Dan’s had to move from his private school to the local secondary school. It’s during this upheaval when Dan meets Estelle, does some morally questionable activities in her attic and comes up with his list of Six Impossible Things, but are they really impossible?
I just have to say that I adored this book, Dan was such a loveable character. It was really amazing seeing his transformation throughout the novel from a socially awkward teenage boy trying to make sense of his current situation to a confident and happy teenager. Dan never felt sorry for himself and he cared for the people around him, when he realised the financial black hole his mother was in he took it on himself to find a part time job, when his mother wanted him to hand flyers out at school for her cake business he did even though he knew it would be social suicide if he got caught. I found myself laughing out loud a number of times throughout the book at many of the things Dan did or said. My personal favourite was when walking to school for his first day, Jayzo, the school bully who takes a particular shine to Dan, calls out dickhead to get Dan’s attention and big mistake Dan responds by turning around, hmm now that I’m writing this down it doesn’t sound as funny but trust me it is I’m just not conveying it very well.
Whilst we only get Dan’s point of view we were introduced to a fabulous cast of supporting characters, who I loved just as much as Dan, including Estelle, Dan’s dream girl, Jazyo the school bully, Fred, Dan’s best friend and my particular favourite Howard, the dog who came with the house. I loved Dan and Howard’s interactions, it put a smile on my face when Dan would talk to him this really endeared Dan to me, I’ll admit I too talk to my dog sometimes.
Also, I just have to say that I loved that this book was set in Melbourne, my home town, I actually knew where some of the places were.
The Good
* Dan’s voice, caring and self deprecating with a really sharp wit = hilarious
* Supporting characters
* The setting, go Melbourne
The Not So Good
* Too short!
Rating
4 out of 5
Goodies
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3 comments:
Sounds like a good book. I've read books set in Sydney but not in Melbourne, :) sounds like it'll be interesting.
i really need to get my hands on this!
sounds exactly like my kind of book, and you cant go wrong setting a book in melbourne :)
I really want to read this book and have been eyeing it off since it arrived in store. It might be time to spend some more money!
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