Second chapter: Andyrobo's book

[mybabysinthegarden]

salutations!

Andy, just realsied I forgot to write my name inside my book, please could you add it for me before you mail it on? Thanks blanki

Oh too late - posted it on Sat! Maybe EachPeachPearMum will do it - I will post on other thead!

andyrobo book #2

I can't say I 'enjoyed' the book but liked it enough to keep reading hoping for a happy ending! I couldn't get into the head of Astrid most of the time so found a lot of her reasoning odd, like her decision not to go with the Greenways.

Please tell me that in real life those foster mothers would never get past the first interview! Great characters but what a bunch!

I tried to google the author to find out about her but there was surprisingly little.

I know I say this every month BUT, again, not something I would have picked myself but a good interesting read. Thanks!

Ha! Ignore me about the author - had completely the wrong name . Off to google correctly....

andyrobo book #1

I was a bit bored to start with as I didn't like the characters and kept getting confused as to who was talking. By the middle I started to like mum (Charlotte and nan were so MEAN to her) and by the end I was rooting for them all!

Andyrobo book 2

I also found Astrid difficult to understand, so was a bit detached when reading this one.
It was still a good book, though.

Also hoping it was really fiction, and those people could not actually be left with children like that!!

Andyrobo Book1

I've read this one before, and it was ok, but not so great that I could read it again.

I think Astrid didn't go with the Greenaways because she was conditioned by that point to believe that anything that looked good was going to be taken away/go wrong... I felt like that too; by the time she went to Claire's I was thinking, oh god, what's going to go wrong with this one.

I enjoyed it though I did find the grimness a bit relentless... "I was put into foster care and then I got shot and then I got savaged by wild dogs and then my foster mother topped herself..." reads a bit like a parody of one of those mis lit books. But the writing elevated it above that... except for Ingrid's awful poetry! Writing about your daughter's 'cowrie shell' should be grounds for taking her into care by itself!

andyrobo book 1 (BMH)

I found myself identifying most with Charlotte, despite the fact I'm older than Karen! I've had the exact experience she had on her birthday--when her mum took the baby to let her have a lie-in I thought, Oh I know what's going to happen here.

One thing I liked about it was that it destroys the notion that modern childhood is treacherous and the old days were so much better--some of the scenes from Nan's past
(and the truth about Karen's mother) were horrific.