Reviews

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

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scholastic_squid's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

O Caledonia - a witty novel about a young woman named Janet that dies within the first sentence. How? One must read the book and follow Janet’s life as a young child into her mid-teenage years to find out.
Janet loathes her boring name, finds peace and love from the natural world and is always misunderstood by her family. Books become her one true passion and thanks to her father, she is highly educated and can speak several languages. (French, English, and? I forget now.) Her mom is frustrating but understandable as it is of an age when women were bred for one thing only - to have children and to raise them. Vera, the mom, loves babies but hates children and when she finally starts to try to establish a relationship with Janet (around 15), Janet is entering her gothic teenage angst phase. She’s always been angsty and hates anything remotely feminine and doesn’t have a sporty bone in her body unless it’s riding her pony however, her mother decided to redecorate her bedroom w floral wallpaper and white flowing fabrics and pink stuff. Janet excepts this after a time but gravitates to the gothic attire and aesthetic for example she’s been trying to teach her Jack daw bird to say ‘Nevermore’ for months.. and her brother took three weeks to train it to say ‘Never mind’.. her childhood though is fraught w misunderstanding and misery and her fervent desire towards anything else that avoid pregnancy and allows her to spend more time w animals. Many times this book made me laugh and cringe and there’s so many references to classical literature and poetry my goodness.

krsprin's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

moeljo's review against another edition

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dark funny inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

The siblings travelling down the beach to the sea:

‘There was the delight of powdery sand on the soles of their feet, then, as they ran to the sea, a sudden cool firmness, then the mirror-bright sand filmed in water and the thrill and chill of the first sparkling waves which snatched breath away into the breeze so that for a moment they were nothing but a part of air and light and water, abandoned to the elements.’

itsmandaaa's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

amazingracerose's review against another edition

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5.0

This is a beautifully written story with elements from so many genres its difficult yo pin down and any ;able feels reductive. Janet'd unhappiness within her family yet joy about her home and the creatures around her was a felight 3ngen

cranberry__sauce's review against another edition

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2.0

this book was compared to shirley jackson—possibly my favorite author of all time—and i just have to apologize to shirley for this comparison because this book was not it