The Space Between Trees - Katie Williams

61%

23.05.25

Katie Williams is an inexplicably overlooked author: she sure knows how to string a sentence together. She also knows how to reach into the mysterious, awkward core of teenagers. There's a murder but it's not a murder mystery; this strange, beautiful, ugly story gets out its magnifying glass to examine - and to burn - that difficult age from all angles. 

For an actual murder mystery, see Williams' My Murder, and for more teenage angst, see Absent.

Whistle in the Dark - Emma Healey

52%
26.12.18

I loved Healey's previous book, Elizabeth is Missing, but this - not so much. It seemed very confused, with unconvincing characters and situations, and a 'so what?' resolution.

Hot Milk - Deborah Levy

45%
17.12.18

The cover says beautiful, clever, powerful, shortlisted for the Man Booker prize. I say badly written, incoherent, pretentious and full of wooden characters it's impossible to care about. But each to their own. I have a couple of other Levy novels I've not yet read, but I don't think I'll bother now.

The Financial Lives of the Poets - Jess Walter

60%
03.01.14

I wasn't planning on reading another Jess Walter book so soon after Beautiful Ruins but, since my friendly librarian found this for me, how could I resist? This was quite different, simpler, though just as cleverly constructed. It's reasonably funny and incisive but, I suspect, won't be memorable.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

49%
06.12.13

And this is a much-hyped YA classic? Rarely has a narrator been more irritating or a book more cynical. It's weird without being quirky, and introverted without being clever. Even Grease handles teenage angst more effectively.