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A review by ellenannmary
The Writing on the Wall by Jenny Eclair
3.0
Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
2.5 stars.
My initial interest in this book was piqued by the author herself being local (or formerly local?) to the area of London I live in - I was curious to see if her YA offering had any local interest, since there is such a density of secondary schools in this part of the city. It does, just a little, but most of this book is set in t’ North, where our Londoner protagonist, Hermione, is forced to move when her mother takes up with a new beau. When the new boyfriend, as an olive branch, encourages Hermione to redecorate her room, she discovers a message from a girl named Helena, to whom the room belonged in the mid-seventies.
What follows is a lengthy passage (I think it takes up roughly a third of the book?) from the perspective of said girl, Helena. Helena is a sort of Georgia Nicholson type - in fact, the resemblance is quite uncanny, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find that it’s a conscious homage to Rennison’s work. Helena’s a teenager who’s flaws manifest in predictable ways - her friends are too childish, so she treats them with disdain, abandoning them for the cool kids and the attention of a boy, any boy. Her parents are even disappointed when she lifts a box of Milk Tray from the local off license, and receives a tepid school report. So, as Helena’s segment ends the reader is left wondering how she is finally going to realise her behaviour is shallow and make amends with the people she truly loves.
Instead, we get a strange time travel narrative where Hermione goes back in time and befriends Helena, becoming the summer friend she wants, though I am not convinced that she is the friend Helena truly needs. They go on a few excursions mostly of the “Ooh wasn’t the past strange and alien” variety, with Hermione being the shining beacon of the feminist movement and sexual liberation. Helena finally gets the summer she wants with a cool friend and the conviction that she can get the guy.
However, it feels like nothing is seen through to its satisfying conclusion, as if Eclair has tried to do the working out to fashion a satisfying twist or resolution, but when it came to writing it simply couldn’t bring herself to do it, for whatever reason. The ending falls entirely flat, with us not fully understanding what Hermione learned from the experience.
This just didn’t quite do it for me. It’s not badly written and is extremely readable - I managed the lion’s share in one day. I’m just not sure this will play as well with teenagers as it will with their parents, with the nostalgia factor promising rapidly diminishing returns.
*n.b. I almost took a whole star clean off this book for use of the expression “front bottom” to describe the vulva. No fifteen year old has ever.
2.5 stars.
My initial interest in this book was piqued by the author herself being local (or formerly local?) to the area of London I live in - I was curious to see if her YA offering had any local interest, since there is such a density of secondary schools in this part of the city. It does, just a little, but most of this book is set in t’ North, where our Londoner protagonist, Hermione, is forced to move when her mother takes up with a new beau. When the new boyfriend, as an olive branch, encourages Hermione to redecorate her room, she discovers a message from a girl named Helena, to whom the room belonged in the mid-seventies.
What follows is a lengthy passage (I think it takes up roughly a third of the book?) from the perspective of said girl, Helena. Helena is a sort of Georgia Nicholson type - in fact, the resemblance is quite uncanny, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find that it’s a conscious homage to Rennison’s work. Helena’s a teenager who’s flaws manifest in predictable ways - her friends are too childish, so she treats them with disdain, abandoning them for the cool kids and the attention of a boy, any boy. Her parents are even disappointed when she lifts a box of Milk Tray from the local off license, and receives a tepid school report. So, as Helena’s segment ends the reader is left wondering how she is finally going to realise her behaviour is shallow and make amends with the people she truly loves.
Instead, we get a strange time travel narrative where Hermione goes back in time and befriends Helena, becoming the summer friend she wants, though I am not convinced that she is the friend Helena truly needs. They go on a few excursions mostly of the “Ooh wasn’t the past strange and alien” variety, with Hermione being the shining beacon of the feminist movement and sexual liberation. Helena finally gets the summer she wants with a cool friend and the conviction that she can get the guy.
However, it feels like nothing is seen through to its satisfying conclusion, as if Eclair has tried to do the working out to fashion a satisfying twist or resolution, but when it came to writing it simply couldn’t bring herself to do it, for whatever reason. The ending falls entirely flat, with us not fully understanding what Hermione learned from the experience.
This just didn’t quite do it for me. It’s not badly written and is extremely readable - I managed the lion’s share in one day. I’m just not sure this will play as well with teenagers as it will with their parents, with the nostalgia factor promising rapidly diminishing returns.
*n.b. I almost took a whole star clean off this book for use of the expression “front bottom” to describe the vulva. No fifteen year old has ever.