I finally got another book read! I’ve been in a bit of a funk just lately – it’s not been going well. I’ve been up and down mood wise and very busy otherwise so it’s not been easy to sit and chill out with a book. However, I’m on Easter holidays this week and have been sitting with my face in a book as soon as my toddler goes to bed. As per Lisa’s other two books, i got through this one pretty quickly!
I am a huge fan of Lisa’s other books – The Art of Being Normal was devoured in one night and I am the proud owner of that book, signed, in Norwegian. Totally useless to me but a talking point nonetheless! I also read All About Mia this time last year while on holiday so it was great to finally get my hands on this one.
We have the story of Ro Snow; a girl who never lets anyone close due to her feelings of shame about her Mum. Bonnie, as she calls her, is a cabaret singer, who I for some reason visualised as like Jessica Rabbit, and is also a huge hoarder. Mainly paper. The house is full of piles of paper and cards and magazines. It is stacked everywhere and Ro has to navigate her way through the maze which is growing ever larger. The stress of anyone finding out this is where she lives leads Ro to keep everyone at arms’ length – never letting anyone close or become her friend. It’s just easier that way. Ro’s father is not present and in fact the story thread that follows her father is so sad – he has moved on with his new family and is living his happy Kodak moment life. Ro is someone he sees once a month and sadly his new family comes first in everything. Reading these parts was tough – it’s just horribly unfair yet something that is more common than people know.
All this changes when Tanvi Shah comes back into school; the girl everyone thought was dead. Tanvi has had cancer and has not been at school for some time. Tanvi becomes someone Ro cannot shake off – for all the right reasons – and is someone who I want as my friend! Fun, kind, generous and caring, Tanvi encourages Ro to join in, to take part and to make friends. In forcing Ro to join the choir, Tanvi does manage to unlock Ro’s talents and skills – giving her a new lease of life and forcing her to come out of her shell just that little but more. Ro tries as much as she can to chase her off but she can’t; but soon finds she actually doesn’t want to. The only problem is: how long can she keep her away from the house of horrors?
This was a good read yet again but I will say I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as The Art of Being Normal. That may be down to that book being a league of its own, it really is that good, but I do think that some story threads weren’t as tidied up as much as I would like. We have the love interest next door neighbour who isn’t in it all that much and Ro’s father doesn’t redeem himself in any way whatsoever – in fact he just gets worse. I like the fact that this shows Ro, and indeed Bonnie, in a better light but I did wonder whether it would have affected the story at all if he just wasn’t there in the first place. Ro doesn’t get the chance to get out of the situation she lives in and her father just seems to reject her over and over; he never does a thing to help and I was just left thinking “What an utter pillock” all the way through!
I liked Ro very much and I want a friend like Tanvi if I’m honest. She was awesome – just a really kind and caring person and not someone who is just Miss Popular and trying to be nice. She genuinely took an interest in Ro and wanted to be her friend – and that was so refreshing.
A great read and will be donating my copy to the school library.