Rating: 5/5
Review:
A cracking read
I thought this was a really good book. I found it exciting, gripping and thought-provoking, and it has some real intellectual content, too.
The story concerns sixteen-year-old Laureth who, perhaps slightly implausibly, runs off to New York to look for her father with her seven-year-old brother Benjamin (and his toy raven) in tow. I say "in tow," but that's not really accurate; I hadn't read the blurb on this page before reading the book, so the reason why Laureth needs to take Benjamin with her emerged, brilliantly I thought, from the story. You may already know, but for me it would have been a spoiler and, just in case, I won't say more. Their adventures and discoveries over the couple of days that follow are very well told by Laureth herself who makes a thoroughly believable and engaging narrator and they held me gripped throughout.
As well as being a cracking story, this book has important things to say about disability and people's attitudes to it, how families interact and their importance and - subtly, just once but very tellingly - about race. There is also some very good, thoughtful and intelligent stuff about the nature of coincidences and what they mean or don't. It is genuinely funny in places, too. One passage about how Laureth and Stan the toy raven got their names, for example, made me smile throughout and laugh out loud at its end.
This book is for "young adults" and I am sure any intelligent young adult would love it, but this not-young-at-all adult thought it was terrific, too. I read it in a couple of sittings, I really didn't want to put it down and it has left me with things to think about, too. It's a really enjoyable, intelligent read and I recommend it very warmly.
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