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katykelly's review against another edition
5.0
I recently read Terry Pratchett's Dragons at Crumbling Castle and was impressed with the promise he showed as a teenage writer. Caitlin blows him out of the water! If you didn't know this piece of writing was conceived by a teenage girl, you would be hard-pressed to guess it.
This is funny, witty, snide, with regular references to high- and low-brow culture, Caitlin uses her own family as a basis for some hilarious anecdotal stories from her teenage life in a large and eccentric family.
The maturity of the writing is astonishing. I laughed out loud several times, and just loved the whole family, from devious yet angelic baby Poppy to overwrought dad Bill.
There is a running joke about Morag's bread that is very funny, some Christmas and Easter tales, holidays, home school inspectors, and Morag as eldest child of five doubles as Caitlin's alter-ego, the slightly-overweight wannabe writer with a chaotic family life living in the back end of nowhere (my home town) living form one child benefit payment to the next.
In one scene, Morag's younger brother gets upset, and gave "a high-pitched wail that sent several devout Muslims to prayer."
In another, a queue waiting for a jumble sale to start "resembled a Chinese dragon made of bobble hats and blue rinses."
Just brilliant, varied, vivid writing.
So so jealous of her talent. I want this to be more widely known, and in schools as well - teenagers should know what others their age can achieve.
Please give this a try. You'll thank me.
This is funny, witty, snide, with regular references to high- and low-brow culture, Caitlin uses her own family as a basis for some hilarious anecdotal stories from her teenage life in a large and eccentric family.
The maturity of the writing is astonishing. I laughed out loud several times, and just loved the whole family, from devious yet angelic baby Poppy to overwrought dad Bill.
There is a running joke about Morag's bread that is very funny, some Christmas and Easter tales, holidays, home school inspectors, and Morag as eldest child of five doubles as Caitlin's alter-ego, the slightly-overweight wannabe writer with a chaotic family life living in the back end of nowhere (my home town) living form one child benefit payment to the next.
In one scene, Morag's younger brother gets upset, and gave "a high-pitched wail that sent several devout Muslims to prayer."
In another, a queue waiting for a jumble sale to start "resembled a Chinese dragon made of bobble hats and blue rinses."
Just brilliant, varied, vivid writing.
So so jealous of her talent. I want this to be more widely known, and in schools as well - teenagers should know what others their age can achieve.
Please give this a try. You'll thank me.
vickksx's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
fros86's review
3.0
Very funny. unbelievable that she wrote this at 15, it made me laugh out loud on numerous occasions!
lizziea229's review against another edition
4.0
People need to lighten up about this book. A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD wrote it. Alright, compared to your average chart-topper, Moran is no Dickens, but she's got a more sophisticated sense of humour and grasp of language that the majority of sixteen year olds have. AND. SHE. WROTE. A. NOVEL.
It's a little book to read when you're bored. It's not a hardcore read, it's just something to pick up and enjoy. Lighten up!
Now, Moran's OTHER books.. they're f***ing fabulous
It's a little book to read when you're bored. It's not a hardcore read, it's just something to pick up and enjoy. Lighten up!
Now, Moran's OTHER books.. they're f***ing fabulous
narflet's review
3.0
All of Caitlin Moran's fiction (this, [b:How to Build a Girl|20525628|How to Build a Girl|Caitlin Moran|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410131752s/20525628.jpg|37105995], Raised by Wolves) have the same groundwork: large, working-class, family in Wolverhampton, with a central character that is appears to be semi-autobiographically based on CatMo at that age. I make that sound like it's a bad thing, but it's not. It does mean that things get rather repetitive, although How to Build a Girl suffered most from this as it also seemed to have whole incidents lifted wholesale from CatMo's actual life which I'd already read in [b:How to Be a Woman|10600242|How to Be a Woman|Caitlin Moran|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405909800s/10600242.jpg|15507935].
This book doesn't have a plot, as such, and is more a series of episodes in the life of the Narmo family, with Morag as a focus. At the start, I thought this might focus on the kids becoming homeschooled, but after a couple of mentions this basically seems to be forgotten; they appear to get little structured education at home.
This is a fun book, it's a quick and easy read, and what sets it apart from CatMo's successive works is the Pratchettesque asides where inanimate objects are anthropomorphised; I'd like to see more writing like this from Caitlin Moran.
This book doesn't have a plot, as such, and is more a series of episodes in the life of the Narmo family, with Morag as a focus. At the start, I thought this might focus on the kids becoming homeschooled, but after a couple of mentions this basically seems to be forgotten; they appear to get little structured education at home.
This is a fun book, it's a quick and easy read, and what sets it apart from CatMo's successive works is the Pratchettesque asides where inanimate objects are anthropomorphised; I'd like to see more writing like this from Caitlin Moran.
miramanga's review against another edition
2.0
I waited so long to read this and was very pleased when it was reprinted recently. Unbelievable to think that Moran wrote this when she was so young.
nicklawrence83's review
3.0
Morag is bored...and doesn't want to return to school after the Chirstmas holidays to be surrounded by "thirty-one potential chicken pluckers". After a brief conversation about totalitarian authoritariansim, her mother decides to home school all the children. A year of insanity ensues!
For me, Moran's writing style is reminiscent of Terry Pratchett. She is able to capture the chaos of a family as they navigate a year of visiting educational inspectors, missing Easter Eggs, family holidays and a father who refuses to get rid of his broken down car.
For me, Moran's writing style is reminiscent of Terry Pratchett. She is able to capture the chaos of a family as they navigate a year of visiting educational inspectors, missing Easter Eggs, family holidays and a father who refuses to get rid of his broken down car.
rinn's review
3.0
I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.
Having first read Caitlin Moran’s How To Be A Woman a few years ago, I was definitely intrigued to read something that she had written at the age of only sixteen. Her previous writing showed that she is one incredibly funny woman, and as The Chronicles of Narmo shows, she was also an incredibly funny teenager.
A semi-autobiographical look at the life of the ‘Narmo’ family, there isn’t much of a plot to the story – just that Morag’s mother decides to take her and her siblings out of school and educate them at home, which leads to much tomfoolery and many shenanigans. There is no clear plotline and it is more like a series of events patched together, but that didn’t really matter when I considered the writing. I just cannot believe that Caitlin was only fifteen/sixteen when she wrote this – the descriptions are vivid, wonderful, odd and just so unique. Take this one for example:
“Bill smiled a smile last seen on a piranha with toothache that has just eaten the last dentist in the Amazon.” The Chronicles of Narmo, 32%
I just can’t imagine writing like Caitlin did at the age of sixteen as I am now, in my twenties. She has clearly always had a great talent. This is the kind of book that you can’t really compare to many others due to the author’s age at the time, and it is really very astounding all things considered – I mean just look at the quote from Terry Pratchett on the front cover! Her view on the world and her environment are, for a teenager, actually incredibly mature, and she is not afraid to really make fun of herself.
If you’re a fan of Caitlin Moran, definitely give this one a try for more of her wonderful wit and humour.
Having first read Caitlin Moran’s How To Be A Woman a few years ago, I was definitely intrigued to read something that she had written at the age of only sixteen. Her previous writing showed that she is one incredibly funny woman, and as The Chronicles of Narmo shows, she was also an incredibly funny teenager.
A semi-autobiographical look at the life of the ‘Narmo’ family, there isn’t much of a plot to the story – just that Morag’s mother decides to take her and her siblings out of school and educate them at home, which leads to much tomfoolery and many shenanigans. There is no clear plotline and it is more like a series of events patched together, but that didn’t really matter when I considered the writing. I just cannot believe that Caitlin was only fifteen/sixteen when she wrote this – the descriptions are vivid, wonderful, odd and just so unique. Take this one for example:
“Bill smiled a smile last seen on a piranha with toothache that has just eaten the last dentist in the Amazon.” The Chronicles of Narmo, 32%
I just can’t imagine writing like Caitlin did at the age of sixteen as I am now, in my twenties. She has clearly always had a great talent. This is the kind of book that you can’t really compare to many others due to the author’s age at the time, and it is really very astounding all things considered – I mean just look at the quote from Terry Pratchett on the front cover! Her view on the world and her environment are, for a teenager, actually incredibly mature, and she is not afraid to really make fun of herself.
If you’re a fan of Caitlin Moran, definitely give this one a try for more of her wonderful wit and humour.
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