4:38 pm 9 April 2016
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece - Annabel Pitcher

Originally I was only going to give this four stars, but when a book can drive me to tears it automatically becomes a five star read.

 

Assorted thoughts:
1. The ending's very open ended and leaves some things unresolved. I'm not sure how I feel about that
2. I really like Jamie, I think he's so sweet and adorable and I like the damn honesty in his voice. Kids are always so honest and I liked that in the narration.
3. Jamie's relationship with his sister Jas is really cute.
4. I like how all the characters are really complex and no one's simply evil or simply good. Jamie's nice but sometimes says/does things that hurts his friend Sunya. Jamie's mum loves him but isn't always there for him and his sister. Jamie's father is grieving for his dead daughter, consumed with anger towards Muslims, and becomes alcoholic- but at the same time there's some really tender moments between him and his son. I really liked the complexity of the characters

5. 

It's weird, Rose died and I didn't feel all that sad. But Roger the cat died and I was sobbing. I have a soft spot when it comes to animals

(show spoiler)

6. I hated Jamie's teacher. She is very preachy and always talking about Jesus and God and stuff like that. And this stunned me, because surely there's rules about religious education in public schools in the UK? But more than that, I was just disgusted that the teacher is well aware Sunya is Muslim and yet continues to shove her religion down her impressionable young students' throats, showing no consideration for how alienated and isolated Sunya must feel, being Muslim in a room full of Christians and non Muslims. The preachiness in and of itself would have simply annoyed me, but what made me truly angry is that the teacher showed absolutely no concern for Sunya's feelings. 

 

Probably not gonna write a full review, because I'm damn lazy. If you have any questions on my thoughts, feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment! :)