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A review by knittyreader
The Other Mother by Matthew Dicks
3.0
'The Other Mother' tells the story of Michael, a boy with a lot on his plate, and how he views his mother in a different light and makes friends along the way.
The story in itself is exactly what I wanted when I requested this book. It is a raw and in a way beautiful coming of age-story. I do find that the writing style kept me from truly loving it though. While the short, child-like sentences fit a child, they distracted me from how raw and harsh Michael's life could be. I also think that in understanding and comprehension with words there is quite a difference between f.i. a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old, and with the shortness and simplicity of the text itself I regularly had to remind myself that I was reading Michael's story, and not f.i. his younger siblings' story.
I also found some parts lagging a bit, like the whole chapter about fishing at the start. Especially for someone who is not into fishing per sé, it was a chapter that made the story take too long to get going. On the other hand I do realise it did provide some useful information about Michael's life.
All in all I am struggling. I did like this book, I love reading stories like this, but I did not love this book. So it's somewhere in between: a 'good, but not amazing' three stars.
The story in itself is exactly what I wanted when I requested this book. It is a raw and in a way beautiful coming of age-story. I do find that the writing style kept me from truly loving it though. While the short, child-like sentences fit a child, they distracted me from how raw and harsh Michael's life could be. I also think that in understanding and comprehension with words there is quite a difference between f.i. a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old, and with the shortness and simplicity of the text itself I regularly had to remind myself that I was reading Michael's story, and not f.i. his younger siblings' story.
I also found some parts lagging a bit, like the whole chapter about fishing at the start. Especially for someone who is not into fishing per sé, it was a chapter that made the story take too long to get going. On the other hand I do realise it did provide some useful information about Michael's life.
All in all I am struggling. I did like this book, I love reading stories like this, but I did not love this book. So it's somewhere in between: a 'good, but not amazing' three stars.