The Last Days of Archie Maxwell - Annabel Pitcher

Annabel Pitcher has a track record of awards and praise, and I can understand why. I read and enjoyed her first three books, with Silence is Goldfish being particularly powerful. It was clear that The Last Days of Archie Maxwell would be a slightly different reading experience due to its narrator and probable intended audience; while Pitcher’s protagonists tend to be girls, this book tells us the story of Archie, a teenage boy who is facing a lot of confusion about his life, friends and family.

The book was designed to be physically easy to read, as many people have trouble reading for various reasons. As a result, the novel is short and manageable and the font is large and clear. The pretty rain-themed headers at the start of each chapter are helpful as they break up the text and allow the reader to track their progress through the book.

As for the plot, the premise is interesting: Archie’s father reveals he is gay and leaves his family. Archie and his sisters are in shock at first, but soon Maisy and Amy seem to recover and accept the situation, with Archie sensing that he is the only one still struggling. There is so much potential to this plotline, which evokes so many complex emotions and questions about identity and relationships. What we see is promising, but it could do with being discussed in far greater depth.

The other main plotline is about the suicide of Tathum, the brother of Archie’s crush, Tia. Tathum was hit by a train close to Archie’s house and Tia wants to know what Archie can tell her about the event. In order to try and keep her happy, Archie invents some lies, which soon spin out of control. Again, this is a heavy but important topic to discuss, and could have had a whole book devoted to it rather than having to share the space with the story of Archie’s father.

I enjoyed the glimpses of life in a small community, Archie’s relationship with his surroundings and with nature, and the sibling bonds we see. There is some strong poetic imagery, with the theme of roses being a constant and the revelation about them at the end a poignant surprise. For me, the main issue with the story was the copious amount of homophobic and misogynistic language used by the “bad boy” characters. I know it will have been intended to make them seem more realistic, but I worry that readers may not have previously heard the words and insults used, and it would be a shame for them to learn them here.

Overall, this book was unlike anything else I’ve read recently, and I found the choices regarding the plotline to be daring. I think there was a bit too much going on, and some more breathing space would have been good, but there were some very striking moments that I won’t forget.


*This review was originally written for Cuckoo Review (New Writing North) and is reprinted with permission*

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Girl of Glass - Holly Webb

Image
Holly Webb has written a number of series for children – the Puppies and Kittens series, the Rose and Lily stories – and when a novel is part of a larger series it is tempting to suspect it may lack individuality. Indeed, having read some of Webb’s animal stories when I was younger I can confirm that they tend to be very alike, though well-written. Her Venice series, however, is something else. I reviewed its first instalment, The Water Horse , for Cuckoo back in 2015 and I was impressed by how Webb succeeded in making the setting of historical Venice – with some magic thrown in – seem so appealing to young readers. The writer’s passion for the city shone from the pages and the sights, sounds and smells of the palaces and canals transported me back in time. The Girl of Glass is the fourth book in the series, and I was hoping it would match the quality of The Water Horse while also covering new territory. It did – quite literally. We are taken out of Venice proper and instea
Read more

Run - Kody Keplinger

Image
Kody Keplinger is known for her excellently gritty high-school mean-girl novels, including The DUFF , which was recently made into a film. So my thoughts on beginning Run were that it would probably read along the same lines. However, to say it surprised me is an understatement. Run genuinely blew me away. Set in a small town in Kentucky, it transports the reader to an intense, beautiful but very flawed world which, as the book covers a year, we see in every season. Issues tied to the US South such as religion, family loyalty and the want for education versus a simple life are all held up to the light. Keplinger is clearly proud of being a southerner and has huge affection for her own small hometown, yet she also captures perfectly the frustration of the protagonists who just want to “get out of Mursey” and see something else of the world. Who are our protagonists? The narrative is split between Agnes, who tells the past, and Bo who brings us the present. Agnes is a kind, gentl
Read more

Songs About Us - Chris Russell

Image
From Westlife and Take That to The Vamps and One Direction, boybands will be a familiar part of life for most millennials. Even though I am personally more interested in folk and indie music than pop, the phenomenon of boybands and how they are so deeply adored does fascinate me. I was looking forward to finding out what Chris Russell had to say on the subject in Songs About Us . The sequel to Songs About a Girl , Songs About Us centres on Charlie Bloom, a gifted teen photographer who is asked to take backstage photos for the popular fictional boyband Fire&Lights. Charlie finds herself the object of two members’ affections, and is faced with the decision of whether to stick with misunderstood Gabe or take a chance on gentle Olly. If that all sounds cheesy and fan-fiction-esque, it is. However, fortunately there is much more to this novel than the romance, and it is the other layers of plot that make Songs About Us a success. Firstly, there is an emphasis on family, and how
Read more