©2020 Christie Nieman
This is a tidy and well-written story. It has been a while
since I have read a YA novel that doesn’t have a driving narrative – until now.
Put it this way, I had ten pages to go and I opted for crochet and Le Tour. If you are just looking to read a story
and not be challenged, changed or enthralled, then this is the book for you.
The protagonist is 17-year-old Anna. She is a smart and driven
student who aspires to become a doctor when she finishes school. Easy, right? Sure,
if we overlook a few tiny factors including the fact that her mum is a high
functioning alcoholic, her dad works overseas, and she has just discovered sex.
Oh, and she becomes pregnant despite using contraception. I suggest this novel
will be ‘triggering’ for anyone who can relate to some of the issues raised:
Why hadn’t I been able
to take the pill? Why hadn’t I swallowed it? I would have been done. I could
have been done with this. I could have been in control of my life again.
It wasn’t that I felt
it was wrong in any way. I felt fine that this little clump of DNA was no more
or less than the bacteria that covered every living thing, just as amazing and
astounding and improbable, but also just as oblivious and expendable.
So it wasn’t a moral
problem. It was just… something unexpected. (p.183)
Anna’s decision to leave home to sort herself out is made
for her when her mother, Cathy, has a frightening drunken outburst which culminates
in Cathy smashing a glass that inadvertently cuts Anna’s boyfriend. Anna boards
the next bus bound for the country and the grandparents she has never met. It
is here where most of the story unfolds as Anna discovers her mother’s past.
The chapters which are set in Cathy’s time were, to my mind, the most
intriguing. Have you ever wondered why your parents think and behave as they
do? All the dots are joined as we meet Cathy’s bff, observe her controlling
father, and wonder why the hell Anna was never told she had an uncle.
There are moments of drama when Anna decides to study in the
creepy old abandoned farmhouse – Bromley Cairn – but these are not sustained.
It also becomes increasingly frustrating when there’s no network coverage for
Anna to reply to her oh so loyal and understanding boyfriend Nassim (who is
none the wiser about the pregnancy):
I don’t understand
what’s going on. I don’t want to crowd you, I know I’ve promised not to do
that, but it’s super hard when you just totally disappear like this. You know that
I can leave you alone as much as you want, so long as I know where I stand – I’ve
said that right from the start. But right now I just don’t know where I am with
you, and quite frankly it feels like shit… So feel free to take this as our
break-up if you like. I don’t want to break up. I guess you know that. I still
want to be with you… (pp. 201-3)
Whatever. I think I prefer more definition in a plotline.
That said, the writer provides some engagement via Basil,
the son of her mum’s bff. He is more than happy to fill the gaps in Anna’s understanding
with what he either knows or has heard. This takes a predictable turn when he enlightens
her about the sordid past in terms of the bloody ousting of the land’s first
inhabitants. We can never hear too much about this – just sayin’.
So I did eventually finish
the novel. What happened to the baby, you ask? You tell me!
Miss ^__^
