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Heart-shaped by Siobhan Parkinson (view source)
Revision as of 08:19, 14 September 2020
, 08:19, 14 September 2020no edit summary
And, at fourteen and a bit mixed up, Annie isn't the most reliable narrator. We can see that her story is intimately connected to Jono's but it takes a while to realise how and why. And we can see that it's also about Annie's mother but this also takes a while to realise how and why. The heartbreaker in it all is that Annie herself takes a longer while to see the how and the why. She has a true and sincere voice, this sad, confused little girl, and she makes you love her. She's having to learn some of life's hardest lessons much too early. But through it all, she's brave and funny and original.
Parkinson tells this story with a great deal of deadpan humour. You have to laugh, you see, otherwise you'd cry. But even sad stories can be uplifting and ''Heart-shaped'' is uplifting. It's all about the nitty -gritty of life and that old truism - if you don't know sadness, how will you recognise joy when it comes along? And she's peopled it with a wonderful supporting cast from the wisecracking Lulu Fortycoats (who is actually funnier for being beyond the grave) through eccentric Emma to the glorious awful Keith Butler, school bully.
Seriously. I loved, loved, loved this book. And I can't recommend it highly enough. We also have a review of [[Miraculous Miranda by Siobhan Parkinson]].
I think you'd also enjoy [[How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff]], [[Dying to Know You by Aidan Chambers]], [[The Ant Colony by Jenny Valentine]] or [[Carnaby by Cate Sampson]].