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A review by janeyjacks
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was a lesson to me in a) don't go for a title simply based on reviews and b) don't go for a book just Coz you like the narrator (although that's usually a sure bet for me, and Joanne Frogatt is generally ace).
I found this book meandering and overlong, several hours in l came back and checked the blurb in case I'd mistakenly purchased a memoir rather than a novel, so light it was on plot.
Whilst l could warm to a few of the characters (Mr Bashir, Ishtiak, Helen Andrews and the old Rag and Bone man), I found Miv herself to be pretty unsympathetic. | know kids are childish and self obsessed by their very nature, but she seems especially so, and heedless of the damage her actions might cause to others.
And most of her plans are just plain stupid. She's supposed to be a bright kid yet thinks it's a good idea to go and lurk about Chapeltown putting herself in the path of mass murderer that the police can't catch...? Daft though kids are,I don't remember having any Comparable ideas at that age!
I guess there is a kind of tying up of ends in the last few chapters, but by then, I barely cared about them and just wanted the book to be over However, I realise everyone else loved this one so chacon à son goût!
TLDR: not for me!!!
I found this book meandering and overlong, several hours in l came back and checked the blurb in case I'd mistakenly purchased a memoir rather than a novel, so light it was on plot.
Whilst l could warm to a few of the characters (Mr Bashir, Ishtiak, Helen Andrews and the old Rag and Bone man), I found Miv herself to be pretty unsympathetic. | know kids are childish and self obsessed by their very nature, but she seems especially so, and heedless of the damage her actions might cause to others.
And most of her plans are just plain stupid. She's supposed to be a bright kid yet thinks it's a good idea to go and lurk about Chapeltown putting herself in the path of mass murderer that the police can't catch...? Daft though kids are,I don't remember having any Comparable ideas at that age!
I guess there is a kind of tying up of ends in the last few chapters, but by then, I barely cared about them and just wanted the book to be over However, I realise everyone else loved this one so chacon à son goût!
TLDR: not for me!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Murder