A review by ohnoflora
Beck by Mal Peet
2.0
As far as suitability goes, I would be happy giving this to S3 (14/15 years old) and up - with a content warning. We teach The Color Purple to that age group and while parts of Beck are distressing, I don't think it is unsuitable with appropriate guidance.
Whether or not that age group would be interested in reading Beck is another thing - frankly, I don't think they would. The style is sparse, we get very little characterisation and vast chunks of time (whole years) are elided. I found it very hard to empathise with Beck and I wasn't very interested in what happened to him.
I find myself baffled by this book. Who, exactly is it for? Younger readers will be bored by the style and alienated by Beck's sexual relationship with an older woman. Older readers will be frustrated by the lack of character development and unsatisfyingly neat ending.
Frustrating: I'm looking forward to tackling the other books on the Carnegie shortlist instead.
Whether or not that age group would be interested in reading Beck is another thing - frankly, I don't think they would. The style is sparse, we get very little characterisation and vast chunks of time (whole years) are elided. I found it very hard to empathise with Beck and I wasn't very interested in what happened to him.
I find myself baffled by this book. Who, exactly is it for? Younger readers will be bored by the style and alienated by Beck's sexual relationship with an older woman. Older readers will be frustrated by the lack of character development and unsatisfyingly neat ending.
Frustrating: I'm looking forward to tackling the other books on the Carnegie shortlist instead.