31 Aug 2017

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep - by Joanna Cannon

I really enjoyed reading this book. It had almost everything I look for in a novel: a host of well-drawn characters and a sensibly complex story line with numerous interwoven threads. Two timelines is also a way to make the story more intriguing and I clearly remember the hot summer of ‘76. Telling large parts of the story through the eyes of a child is not 100% original, but it works well here, often adding a little humour as well as an interesting perspective.

I really enjoyed some of the language usage; examples:
“smell of scraped plates”
“I watched my mother’s face argue with a smile”
“Mrs Morton sat near the front so God could hear us better”
“rattling like a pebble in a life made for two”
“The front room and the sitting room are both ticking-clock empty”
“a quarrel of sparrows”

I look forward to future books by this author.

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