Scan barcode
A review by matthewwester
Click: One Novel, Ten Authors by David Almond
3.0
I feel like I've been a reading a lot of multi-author books lately and they tend to either be one unified story with multiple styles, or a loosely connected bundle of stand-alone stories. Click kinda falls in the middle somewhere, with several of the chapters connecting tightly but others only vaguely related to the main plot.
The chapters didn't seem unified in reading level. The first few chapters seem written for middle school students, with short sentences, simple vocabulary, and G-rated subject matter. Chapter 1, for example, establishes "Grandpa G" as the light-hearted relative who gives his grandchildren a fun, adventurous puzzle/hunt. By the end of the novel, the chapters begin to deal with some more difficult material and seem more suited for older Senior High students; an old man attacks a young girl when she enters his home, there are discussions of extra-marital affairs, and genuine tragedy. It's as if the authors want the reader to grow up while reading the book? Like a subtle Flowers-for-Algernon kind of progression? And if you disagree let me give you a quote from the final chapter, "Her bloodwork was disheartening. Those painful transfusions, two in the last year along, and the implanting of a portal in her naval for the convenient delivery of medication. When she washed, sitting on a plastic stool in the shower stall, she rinsed the aperture with her eyes closed, pretending she was a girl playing doctor. The decontaminant, a local radiation she could apply herself with a silver-nozzled hose, smelled of shallots sizzled too long in the pan until they were dried and caramelized. Or maybe that was her own native smell after all these years. She was caramelized herself, by infirmity and age and sheer stubborn animal endurance." The chapter uses words like simulacrum, vapid, etc., and makes references to Dickens, Magritte, Raphael, "Start spreading the news; I'm leaving today..." etc. Are the first and final chapters of this novel intended for the same reading audience?
I bought this book because I'm trying to read everything Nick Hornby has been a part of, I'll admit. I was also familiar with Gregory Maguire's work, who rewrites fairy tails with an incredibly far-reaching use of vocabulary (both actual and sometimes made-up). But I was also looking forward to getting glimpses of these other YA authors. I have never read any of the Artemis Fowl series, for instance, so I wanted to get a sense of Eoin Colfer's writing. Anyway, my overall review is that the book wasn't bad, it just felt like it wasn't pulled together into one unified project as well as the cover seems to claim, "One Novel Ten Authors."
The chapters didn't seem unified in reading level. The first few chapters seem written for middle school students, with short sentences, simple vocabulary, and G-rated subject matter. Chapter 1, for example, establishes "Grandpa G" as the light-hearted relative who gives his grandchildren a fun, adventurous puzzle/hunt. By the end of the novel, the chapters begin to deal with some more difficult material and seem more suited for older Senior High students; an old man attacks a young girl when she enters his home, there are discussions of extra-marital affairs, and genuine tragedy. It's as if the authors want the reader to grow up while reading the book? Like a subtle Flowers-for-Algernon kind of progression? And if you disagree let me give you a quote from the final chapter, "Her bloodwork was disheartening. Those painful transfusions, two in the last year along, and the implanting of a portal in her naval for the convenient delivery of medication. When she washed, sitting on a plastic stool in the shower stall, she rinsed the aperture with her eyes closed, pretending she was a girl playing doctor. The decontaminant, a local radiation she could apply herself with a silver-nozzled hose, smelled of shallots sizzled too long in the pan until they were dried and caramelized. Or maybe that was her own native smell after all these years. She was caramelized herself, by infirmity and age and sheer stubborn animal endurance." The chapter uses words like simulacrum, vapid, etc., and makes references to Dickens, Magritte, Raphael, "Start spreading the news; I'm leaving today..." etc. Are the first and final chapters of this novel intended for the same reading audience?
I bought this book because I'm trying to read everything Nick Hornby has been a part of, I'll admit. I was also familiar with Gregory Maguire's work, who rewrites fairy tails with an incredibly far-reaching use of vocabulary (both actual and sometimes made-up). But I was also looking forward to getting glimpses of these other YA authors. I have never read any of the Artemis Fowl series, for instance, so I wanted to get a sense of Eoin Colfer's writing. Anyway, my overall review is that the book wasn't bad, it just felt like it wasn't pulled together into one unified project as well as the cover seems to claim, "One Novel Ten Authors."