"I read this in one sitting and then had to mop my brow; this is an extraordinary book. The writing sizzles.
Either the author is writing from experience and has collected their tattered medal ribbons as their kids have torn and yelled their way through adolescence, or they have the uncanny ability to channel, but the characterisation is perfect. If you've ever sat on the top deck of a London Bus, transfixed as I have, listening to a cabal of very excited, late teenage girls declaim to all and sundry their thoughts and adventures, real, (or more likely, imagined), then Katie's apparent narcissism, self-absorption, her shrieks and stage whispers, and that door-slamming, finger flipping flippancy she revels in and that seems exclusively reserved for this period of growing up, rings absolutely true.
Don't think of her as a wilful, saucy Fanny Hill, or indeed self-destructive, she's no shoe gazing goth; far from it. Underneath that sarcastic, vinegary tongue, and carpet bombing approach to seeking parental approval, Katie's heart is probably that of most young women; one who is disappointed, who feels misunderstood and unappreciated, and who dejectedly knows there's not that much she can do about it. Katie's real world therefore is her blog; everything there is on her terms - that's where she can change things.
If there is a parental alert required, it's this: wherever you are, sit up straight,and pay attention - learn from Katie's woefully inattentive and odiously self-obsessed parental figures, who I'm convinced are more than representative of too many parents world wide. How do you expect them to grow up if you don't make the requisite emotional investments. Not going to happen through wishful thinking.
A powerful, passionate novel, that Jane Austen, the expert in the misunderstood, passionate, and spirited woman, might have come up with had she lived in the today of blogs, tweets, and mobile phones.
I expect Undiscovered Gryl, deservedly, to be the talk of the town."
No comments:
Post a Comment