Six Feet Deep (Red Apple) by Rose Impey

Six Feet Deep (Red Apple) by Rose Impey
Buy Six Feet Deep (Red Apple) by Rose Impey at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Confident Readers
Reviewer: John Lloyd
Summary: A very interesting and appealing story of a boy with his mother absent for a most unusual reason. It's an emotionally astute and entertaining story, which we liked a lot.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 192	Date: December 2008
Publisher: Orchard
ISBN: 978-1846162855
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What is getting Jordan's life in a flat spin? Clearly it is the fact that his lovely and loving mother is spending her life buried alive for a world record attempt at the longest time spent in a perspex box underground. His older sister has already moved out to live with their gran (who thinks the whole lark is disrespectful to her own late husband), his aunt's pick-your-own farm where the stunt is being held is home to a media circus (and special gift shop). Jordan's gained a dog out of it all as extra company, but his school colleagues' taunts, his eczema, and his laziness are all providing problems. So much so that his mother would spin in her grave - if she wasn't having a more fun time there already.

From the unusual start of a boy and mother separated in such a unique way we actually get a book firmly grounded in the everyday. We realistically see Jordan's school life, his outlet in angling just as his grandad taught him, and his delaying all housework while there's only his older brother, his workaholic father and what gossip his mother hears to inspire him to change his bedding.

Jordan in fact is very different from much fiction for this age range - eight to twelve, at a guess - in that he is very much true to life. He has his skin problems, nightmares, his idle-itis, his natural weakness when facing other people (none of which, we see, are helped by mother's absence), and they all go to show his life very well. All characters are fully-rounded, in fact, even including the cameos of his mother stuck at the end of a pair of tubes as she is.

That record attempt has itself been thought about - from her iPod and simple exercises, to the fact she needs a second tube to ventilate her accommodation to keep it cool enough. There is also the obvious school-child questions picked over - how is she going to the loo down there?!

The spirit of the book is so concerned in the humanity of its people in the face of one instance of well-sustained oddity that I found the book very akin to what I've read of Louis Sachar. The readability, audience, and the way simple text gives us not-so-simple emotions, events, connections and consequences so well, all add to that feeling.

If anything there might be a twinge of regret that this book is not less mundane. One of Jordan's best friends has an impossible dream of being a player for Leicester City Football Club - how humdrum can you get? Perhaps there should be more of Jordan home alone without dad and his brother being brought in so often, possibly a little more of mother where she is.

That aside, there is no reason for me to suspect the right audience will not find this lively and fun book rich, deep and entertaining in fine measure. With the concentration on emotions it would appear to appeal to both genders equally - and hopefully strongly. It has a cleverness and novelty I found most enjoyable, and can easily recommend it.

I must thank Orchard Books for the Bookbag's review copy.

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