Mal Peet

In 1960s Norfolk, England, seventeen-year-old Clem Ackroyd lives with his mother and grandmother in a tiny cottage, but his life is transformed when he falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy farmer in this tale that flashes back through the storiesof three generations.

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Life

Laura

I actually bought this book a couple months ago, when I thought I was on a Cold War kick after reading Sekret, but that didn't last very long and my thriller obsession took over. I finally, and rather reluctantly, started this book after I wasn't sure what else to read. And I ended up absolutely loving it.

This is barely a fiction book. It reads more like a memoir. More specifically, it reads like a Bill Bryson book, especially The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. The way this book was written and the mature narrator and the blend of nonfiction with fiction made me think it was meant for a much older audience than it was published for. While I wasn't entirely thrilled with the odd first person to third person POV transitions, I still loved the innovative method Peet chose to tell the story, to the point where I had to keep reminding myself it was in fact fiction. It is a welcome stand out in the sea of YA historical fiction, a genre plagued by sameness in subject content, storytelling, and character diversity. 

It was so easy to fall in love with this book. Clem was a wonderful narrator, funny in a very British way. He is an unapologetic sentimentalist, and is an unreliable narrator as a result. Yet I happened to like his sentimental view of youth and young love and surprised myself by cheering him on in his quest to get laid by the lovely Frankie in the face of impending nuclear destruction. There are shades of Cameron Wolfe in his character and view of his homelife. While the book didn't hit me as hard emotionally as the Underdogs books did, I did find myself getting a little choked up at some points, and as a whole I think Clem holds the same appeal for me as Cameron did, being a funny, sentimental dreamer. 

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Life An Exploded Diagram

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