I can't find a review of this - if anyone's posted one already then I'm sorry! I would love to hear what previous readers in the swap have thought about this though.
This is a stunning book. I wasn't actually going to read it because I knew from the synopsis it would have me blubbing like a baby but I did, and once I picked it up I quite literally couldn't put it down - I read it in 5 hours flat. And I will carry the feelings it evoked around with me for quite some time.
It's written from the point of view of Harry, a 9 year old whose 5 year old brother Dan goes missing on a school trip, and who feels to blame. It's beautifully written and very carefully observed; the characters are well-rounded and very believable and the pain of loss and of Harry's misplaced guilt is almost palpable.
It put me in mind a bit of Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha in that the narrative puts across some very complex emotions in a child's voice, with both the limitations and freedoms that come with that style of writing. The writing is gorgeous, descriptive and very powerfully emotive - you really do feel that this could so easily be from first-hand experience.
It's very sad, as you'd expect given the subject matter - it moved me to tears which is unusual for a novel, and at one point I bawled my eyes out - but it's also very tender and extremely funny in parts too. It's quite shocking in places; Mo's breakdown and the effect it has on her and the family is gradual but harrowing, and although it seems extreme it's also very believable.
It's also very funny, strangely enough. It relies quite heavily on farting for some of its humour (as you'd expect from a 9 year old protagonist!) but some of the humour is much more subtle and comes quite naturally despite the sadness.
It's a beautiful piece of writing, and I'm really glad that I read it.