Changes

How un-ordinary is this? As Jess gently leads us by the hand through lilting language we notice the recipes are oddly worded and Maya doesn't seem to have been born by any purely physical happenstance. As in ''Snake Ropes,'' this is a society that clings to ritual, in this case , the collection of food from some doorsteps to be deposited elsewhere. Also , we're once again shown a community that is disrupted by tragedy and watch its efforts to come to terms with the fall-out.

Please don't assume that strange is odd or unwelcoming though. Here it's intriguing and subtly scattered amongst the normal. For instance , Kip may be a villager but Kip's also a wonderfully typical child in many ways: charming, funny and a counterpoint of light against the darkness endured by the sisters. I felt guilty laughing aloud when Kip developed a disability but I still laughed because Kip has a wonderful naïve logic separating childhood from the later onset of adolescence. Indeed as each of the three young people speak speaks to us via alternating chapters they demonstrate the author's ability to translate on to paper minds that are still being formed.

This is normally the bit of the review in which I interpret some of the deeper meanings and undercurrents of a novel like this but to be honest at the moment I'm still working them out. Having read episodes like that between Maya and the passing teacher and having witnessed the interplay between the adults in the village, I know the philosophical nuggets are there waiting to be extracted from a story that works even without the deeper understanding I'm looking for. However , this does give me an excuse, if one were needed, to return to the surreal world that I enjoyed visiting so much the first time and to be subsumed by it once again.

If this appeals to you then so will [[Snake Ropes by Jess Richards|Snake Ropes]]. If you've already read it and are looking for something as lyrically satisfying, try [[Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett]]. You might also like to have a look at [[City of Circles by Jess Richards|City of Circles]] by Jess Richards.