A review by emma_naomi
My Name Is Yip: A Novel by Paddy Crewe
4.0
3.70
A really solid good yarn! Let's face it, I've read a lot of Westerns, and this isn't up there with the very best of them, but it's a cracking read with some great characters. There's no doubt Paddy Crewe has a bright writing future ahead of him, there are some beautiful sentences in this, so much so that I would find myself re-reading lines in admiration.
I do think some of the stylistic choices were unnecessary and will likely deter some readers at the very beginning (as it almost did with me) - for example the use of the ampersand in replacement for the word 'and' throughout the whole book, the strange use of capital letters at the beginning of some words. But you could tell a lot of heart has gone into the making of this novel.
The novel as a whole has an almost Forrest Gump/Good Lord Bird kind of narrative and characterisation about it, which ultimately makes Yip and particularly his friend Dud Carter leap off the page, and I really warmed to it. My big criticism of the book is the way it went down the travelling show route with Yip being a mute - I feel it's been done to death and it was a little too obvious. Plus it leads to the separation of Yip and Dud which for any reader I'm sure, is the highlight of the book! I so loved the journey they were on together and it was a such a shame to see them separated. My enjoyment of the book dipped in that section, but then Crewe totally pulls it back together (perhaps a little too neatly and predictably at times) for the last 70 pages.
Overall a really promising debut with a lot of heart and soul, and some superb writing. I look forward to seeing what Paddy Crewe does next!
A really solid good yarn! Let's face it, I've read a lot of Westerns, and this isn't up there with the very best of them, but it's a cracking read with some great characters. There's no doubt Paddy Crewe has a bright writing future ahead of him, there are some beautiful sentences in this, so much so that I would find myself re-reading lines in admiration.
I do think some of the stylistic choices were unnecessary and will likely deter some readers at the very beginning (as it almost did with me) - for example the use of the ampersand in replacement for the word 'and' throughout the whole book, the strange use of capital letters at the beginning of some words. But you could tell a lot of heart has gone into the making of this novel.
The novel as a whole has an almost Forrest Gump/Good Lord Bird kind of narrative and characterisation about it, which ultimately makes Yip and particularly his friend Dud Carter leap off the page, and I really warmed to it. My big criticism of the book is the way it went down the travelling show route with Yip being a mute - I feel it's been done to death and it was a little too obvious. Plus it leads to the separation of Yip and Dud which for any reader I'm sure, is the highlight of the book! I so loved the journey they were on together and it was a such a shame to see them separated. My enjoyment of the book dipped in that section, but then Crewe totally pulls it back together (perhaps a little too neatly and predictably at times) for the last 70 pages.
Overall a really promising debut with a lot of heart and soul, and some superb writing. I look forward to seeing what Paddy Crewe does next!