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katykelly's review against another edition
4.0
Such a sad thought, that Mal Peet died in the middle of writing, but also how lovely that fellow writer and friend, Meg Rosoff was able to complete this for him. Very moving idea, and as someone who's read both authors before, I couldn't see a point at which one took over from the other. I hope Peet would be proud of his final work.
It's quite different to books by both I've read. Historical, and it doesn't hold back from some of the worst human acts that have happened to mixed race, poor young people with no family.
Born to a prostitute after an amorous encounter with a black sailor, Beck's life in Liverpool may be poor but he is loved. Until his mother dies and he ends up being sent to the New World with other children, to a far-from-genial religious institution. And soon after, sent to work on a filthy farm, under slave-like conditions and with just as much dignity and affection.
With nobody to care for him, treated cruelly or with prejudice for his skin colour, Beck grows into a distrustful young man, living off his wiles. We will him to find love, companionship, to learn how to make friends and find some good luck.
But will he? Is he his own worst enemy?
With some graphic scenes of abuse and violence (making this not suitable for primary school readers), it is quite upsetting, but a rather illuminating look at a time of dog-eat-dog, of blatant racism and institutionalized child abuse, around the era of Prohibition in America.
Beck is sympathetic, and his luck seems to grow ever worse, in a continent of such size, he seems so alone and friendless.
The book eventually allows a hopeful future to come as Beck comes of age emotionally and allows himself to open himself up to others.
It's quite a sad read, and with an unusual protagonist in the mixed race emigrant, on his own at so young an age in a rather cold world. I was so pleased to see the tide turn for him in the third act.
This is one I'll recommend to KS4 students, I think, it feels well-cemented in its historical context and would be of interest to students of history. Some lovely writing, some powerful minor characters as well, and a rather moving swansong for the writer.
It's quite different to books by both I've read. Historical, and it doesn't hold back from some of the worst human acts that have happened to mixed race, poor young people with no family.
Born to a prostitute after an amorous encounter with a black sailor, Beck's life in Liverpool may be poor but he is loved. Until his mother dies and he ends up being sent to the New World with other children, to a far-from-genial religious institution. And soon after, sent to work on a filthy farm, under slave-like conditions and with just as much dignity and affection.
With nobody to care for him, treated cruelly or with prejudice for his skin colour, Beck grows into a distrustful young man, living off his wiles. We will him to find love, companionship, to learn how to make friends and find some good luck.
But will he? Is he his own worst enemy?
With some graphic scenes of abuse and violence (making this not suitable for primary school readers), it is quite upsetting, but a rather illuminating look at a time of dog-eat-dog, of blatant racism and institutionalized child abuse, around the era of Prohibition in America.
Beck is sympathetic, and his luck seems to grow ever worse, in a continent of such size, he seems so alone and friendless.
The book eventually allows a hopeful future to come as Beck comes of age emotionally and allows himself to open himself up to others.
It's quite a sad read, and with an unusual protagonist in the mixed race emigrant, on his own at so young an age in a rather cold world. I was so pleased to see the tide turn for him in the third act.
This is one I'll recommend to KS4 students, I think, it feels well-cemented in its historical context and would be of interest to students of history. Some lovely writing, some powerful minor characters as well, and a rather moving swansong for the writer.
ali_w15's review against another edition
5.0
Poignant, heartfelt and beautifully written. This book tells a tale of overcoming hardship and challenges our notion of home and family. This story is well worth a read and is very different in comparison to many books for young adults at the moment. A word of warning however- this book contains a number of very harrowing moments.
hayleybeale's review against another edition
4.0
Set in the early 20th century, this powerful, spare novel, written by Mal Peet and completed by Meg Rosoff after his death, centers on Beck who, with a long gone African father and dead white mother, finds himself at the mercy of a cruel system. Best suited for older teen and adult readers. See my full review here.
kingarooski's review against another edition
4.0
Heart-breaking at times, the story of a mixed-race orphan from Liverpool, who ends up in Canada. Beck sees little kindness and a lot of mistreatment and abuse but eventually finds Bone and then Grace. But will he settle happily?
I loved the frequent mentions of Winnipeg and Canadian wide open spaces. Not recommended for anybody under 16, despite its YA classification.
I loved the frequent mentions of Winnipeg and Canadian wide open spaces. Not recommended for anybody under 16, despite its YA classification.
libreroaming's review against another edition
2.0
"Beck" starts off with a lean Jack London or John Steinbeck like prose detailing the horrific abuses of a mixed race orphan, within the first fifty pages he has been shipped off, beaten, raped and sent on the run. It reads more like an adult novel than for children.
Later in the story seems to morph and mellow into more typical YA where Beck seeks out odd jobs in an attempt to make his way through life. The last part of the book focused on the raw sexual desire he has with a Blackfoot woman named Grace, who saved him after he showed up naked by a burning tree.
While there is frequently good writing in the novel, the character of Beck is defined by what trauma is visited upon him. Also, the change of writing style no longer keeps the reader at an arm's length in its brutality so to have earlier atrocities written matter of factly and later ones given a softer parring makes it inconsistent and the message muddled.
Later in the story seems to morph and mellow into more typical YA where Beck seeks out odd jobs in an attempt to make his way through life. The last part of the book focused on the raw sexual desire he has with a Blackfoot woman named Grace, who saved him after he showed up naked by a burning tree.
While there is frequently good writing in the novel, the character of Beck is defined by what trauma is visited upon him. Also, the change of writing style no longer keeps the reader at an arm's length in its brutality so to have earlier atrocities written matter of factly and later ones given a softer parring makes it inconsistent and the message muddled.
carolineroche's review against another edition
4.0
This book was hard to get in to, and it contains some harrowing material. But I don't know, although I found it hard to put down because I wanted to know the story, I really didn't think it was good enough to be on the shortlist this year. And it tried to tackle too many subjects, a bit like Lies we tell ourselves last year. Either deal with child abuse by priests OR the rights of native Americans to their ancestral lands, but not both together. Disappointed - I expected better of a Carnegie shortlisted book
alice_digest's review against another edition
3.0
So, this is on the 2017 Shortlist for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. I'm quite annoyed about this because, although this may be a beautifully written book, I really do not think it is a "children's book." It's interest and content are not geared towards the vast majority of 16 years olds (which really is the top tier of what you could consider the audience for the Carnegie.. I mean we write "children's books" for children/teenagers right?!). It's an adult book.
It has to come with a major WARNING about the first 60 pages. It is bad enough if you have some idea of what it is to come.. I can't imagine stumbling into this not knowing. There is child abuse, sexual child abuse by Catholic priests.. and it is not easy to read. Peet does not shy away from any details. I felt physically sick for the first 60 pages of reading. There is nothing more of that type past then.. but it's a hell of way to start the novel. Be aware of this! especially if you're giving this book to anybody under 18.
Beck is clearly based on real historical events. He was a orphan in the 1920s, taken from Liverpool to a Catholic orphanage in Canada to "start a new life." Going from cruel "Sisters of Mercy" to super creepy peadophile Catholic Priests. Knowing that this stuff really happened makes it even more difficult to read. He is mixed race and his dark skin also plays a major role in the story and how various characters treat him. After page 60 he goes get away from this and suffers a lot more cruelty and hardship, but eventually there is a hopeful ending.
I'm giving it three stars because I felt like there was something lacking... I cannot put my finger on what exactly but I wanted a lot more from this book, especially given what Beck (and the reader) goes through at the start of the story. I also have a really hard time buying the ending and I really don't know what to make of the relationship with Grace (who is a much older woman, and herself mixed race white-Native America).. I just needed more.. of something. Beck is - quite understandably given the life he has lead - is almost silent through a lot of the book, he hardly speaks and even from his point of view I guess I felt like I didn't really know him. He feels so passive it was hard to connect. I don't feel like I will remember Beck as a character.. what I will remember is how horrified I was reading the bathtub scene.. and feeling sick every time they called him "Chocolate." *shudders*
This book was started by Mal Peet and finished by Meg Rosoff after his death, and I didn't notice any break or change in tone or writing which is great. I have never read Mal Peet before and I will definitely check out his other books now.. I do like the very direct and unflinching style that is apparently his trademark.
Ultimately I wanted more than what this book gave me. It is wasn't satisfying, especially given how traumatic the first 50 pages are.. I needed much more of pay off for that, or at least a more realistic hopeful ending (it's just a bit too good to be true). I also really don't have a clue who the intended audience for this book is. Everything about it is adult.
It has to come with a major WARNING about the first 60 pages. It is bad enough if you have some idea of what it is to come.. I can't imagine stumbling into this not knowing. There is child abuse, sexual child abuse by Catholic priests.. and it is not easy to read. Peet does not shy away from any details. I felt physically sick for the first 60 pages of reading. There is nothing more of that type past then.. but it's a hell of way to start the novel. Be aware of this! especially if you're giving this book to anybody under 18.
Beck is clearly based on real historical events. He was a orphan in the 1920s, taken from Liverpool to a Catholic orphanage in Canada to "start a new life." Going from cruel "Sisters of Mercy" to super creepy peadophile Catholic Priests. Knowing that this stuff really happened makes it even more difficult to read. He is mixed race and his dark skin also plays a major role in the story and how various characters treat him. After page 60 he goes get away from this and suffers a lot more cruelty and hardship, but eventually there is a hopeful ending.
I'm giving it three stars because I felt like there was something lacking... I cannot put my finger on what exactly but I wanted a lot more from this book, especially given what Beck (and the reader) goes through at the start of the story. I also have a really hard time buying the ending and I really don't know what to make of the relationship with Grace (who is a much older woman, and herself mixed race white-Native America).. I just needed more.. of something. Beck is - quite understandably given the life he has lead - is almost silent through a lot of the book, he hardly speaks and even from his point of view I guess I felt like I didn't really know him. He feels so passive it was hard to connect. I don't feel like I will remember Beck as a character.. what I will remember is how horrified I was reading the bathtub scene.. and feeling sick every time they called him "Chocolate." *shudders*
This book was started by Mal Peet and finished by Meg Rosoff after his death, and I didn't notice any break or change in tone or writing which is great. I have never read Mal Peet before and I will definitely check out his other books now.. I do like the very direct and unflinching style that is apparently his trademark.
Ultimately I wanted more than what this book gave me. It is wasn't satisfying, especially given how traumatic the first 50 pages are.. I needed much more of pay off for that, or at least a more realistic hopeful ending (it's just a bit too good to be true). I also really don't have a clue who the intended audience for this book is. Everything about it is adult.
peritract's review against another edition
2.0
Beck is the story of an eponymous mixed-race orphan in an uncaring world. After the death of his mother, Beck is shipped off to Canada, where he deals with abusive priests, abusive farmers, and violent mobsters (plus more) while he searches for a place to belong.
This is a book that desperately wants to have an important message. It’s just not clear what that message is. Every event drips with unused significance. He is neglected and abused as an orphan, but it ends there – any larger point about man’s inhumanity to man or poverty fizzle out as he pushed the memories behind him and wanders on. Instead of an exploration of society or identity or anything else, each plot point is simply another event in a series of them with no real purpose.
The plot is repetitive, running along the same basic cycle again and again. Beck meets new people – they generally give him food and new clothes – and he stays with him for a while before they do something that shows the innate awfulness of humanity. Then he leaves. Sometimes, to be fair, the characters don’t do anything bad directly – society itself is what sends Beck out into the world again.
Beck is a book of near-unrelenting misery. Everyone is awful, all of the time. By my count, there are five relatively significant characters who aren’t monsters, and all of those make (at best) extremely questionable decisions. Every other character is actively evil, exploiting Beck in countless ways. There’s very little in the book that suggests any kind of hope or positivity.
It’s fine to have miserable books. Anguish is an important component of art, and I can’t think of any story worth telling that doesn’t contain some sort of pain. But the pain has to serve a purpose – there has to be a reason to share it with the reader. Beck doesn’t have that. And that’s not because there aren’t any possible reasons; as above, it would be so easy to take his pain and make it significant. But the book doesn’t do that – it presents the misery, but doesn’t comment on it. Misery (and violence, and sex) without purpose is gratuitous. It doesn’t strengthen the book, it weakens it. From the first page, Beck hammers you over the head with how gritty and terrible everything is, and that’s only okay if a book justifies it. By the time you get to the slow and descriptive “child abuse in a bathtub” scene, it’s clear that no justification is coming.
The aforementioned scene was definitely a low point. Child abuse is a difficult topic to handle well – that much should be obvious. Authors who do tackle the issue tend to do so either extremely poorly, or extremely carefully. One thing you don’t do, pretty much ever, is linger on the actual event in what is supposed to be a children’s book. You don’t even do that in an adult book, because why would you? The specific mechanics don’t actually help or add anything; they just make your reader uncomfortable. Perhaps the worst thing about the handling of this scene in Beck is that the bathtub scene is the most lovingly described and detailed scene. Beck’s positive moments don’t get anything like this level of time and focus, and that’s a bizarre choice. I found myself deeply confused as to why the scene needed so much space on the page.
I could go on for a while about the flaws in Beck. It’s a book that’s at least partially about racism in which all the Native American characters are stereotypes. It’s a book that doesn’t mention the main character’s guiding philosophy until the final few chapters. It’s a book that doesn’t know what it is doing half the time, and shouldn’t be doing it the other half.
Perhaps these problems are too do with the unconventional authorship. Beck was started by Mal Peet – an author I’m unfamiliar with – but finished by Meg Rosoff, who I’ve always rather liked. Authors picking up other author’s books doesn’t always go well, and I think it’s a problem here. There are shifts in tone all over the place and plot hooks are dropped never to be picked up again. The final section of the book reads like it belongs in a completely different (and much better) novel. Suddenly, there’s a theme and a purpose and a focus on change, not just repeated horrors. And then, in the final big scene, all of that goes away again, and we’re back with stereotypes and needless confusion.
I think that the problem with Beck is that it tries too hard to be powerful and important – the sort of text people will study for years and talk about its unflinching honesty. But in the struggle to be that book, it ends up losing the plot and the themes and everything else that would actually make it important. It’s definitely unflinching and gritty – often too gritty – but it isn’t actually saying very much.
This is a book that desperately wants to have an important message. It’s just not clear what that message is. Every event drips with unused significance. He is neglected and abused as an orphan, but it ends there – any larger point about man’s inhumanity to man or poverty fizzle out as he pushed the memories behind him and wanders on. Instead of an exploration of society or identity or anything else, each plot point is simply another event in a series of them with no real purpose.
The plot is repetitive, running along the same basic cycle again and again. Beck meets new people – they generally give him food and new clothes – and he stays with him for a while before they do something that shows the innate awfulness of humanity. Then he leaves. Sometimes, to be fair, the characters don’t do anything bad directly – society itself is what sends Beck out into the world again.
Beck is a book of near-unrelenting misery. Everyone is awful, all of the time. By my count, there are five relatively significant characters who aren’t monsters, and all of those make (at best) extremely questionable decisions. Every other character is actively evil, exploiting Beck in countless ways. There’s very little in the book that suggests any kind of hope or positivity.
It’s fine to have miserable books. Anguish is an important component of art, and I can’t think of any story worth telling that doesn’t contain some sort of pain. But the pain has to serve a purpose – there has to be a reason to share it with the reader. Beck doesn’t have that. And that’s not because there aren’t any possible reasons; as above, it would be so easy to take his pain and make it significant. But the book doesn’t do that – it presents the misery, but doesn’t comment on it. Misery (and violence, and sex) without purpose is gratuitous. It doesn’t strengthen the book, it weakens it. From the first page, Beck hammers you over the head with how gritty and terrible everything is, and that’s only okay if a book justifies it. By the time you get to the slow and descriptive “child abuse in a bathtub” scene, it’s clear that no justification is coming.
The aforementioned scene was definitely a low point. Child abuse is a difficult topic to handle well – that much should be obvious. Authors who do tackle the issue tend to do so either extremely poorly, or extremely carefully. One thing you don’t do, pretty much ever, is linger on the actual event in what is supposed to be a children’s book. You don’t even do that in an adult book, because why would you? The specific mechanics don’t actually help or add anything; they just make your reader uncomfortable. Perhaps the worst thing about the handling of this scene in Beck is that the bathtub scene is the most lovingly described and detailed scene. Beck’s positive moments don’t get anything like this level of time and focus, and that’s a bizarre choice. I found myself deeply confused as to why the scene needed so much space on the page.
I could go on for a while about the flaws in Beck. It’s a book that’s at least partially about racism in which all the Native American characters are stereotypes. It’s a book that doesn’t mention the main character’s guiding philosophy until the final few chapters. It’s a book that doesn’t know what it is doing half the time, and shouldn’t be doing it the other half.
Perhaps these problems are too do with the unconventional authorship. Beck was started by Mal Peet – an author I’m unfamiliar with – but finished by Meg Rosoff, who I’ve always rather liked. Authors picking up other author’s books doesn’t always go well, and I think it’s a problem here. There are shifts in tone all over the place and plot hooks are dropped never to be picked up again. The final section of the book reads like it belongs in a completely different (and much better) novel. Suddenly, there’s a theme and a purpose and a focus on change, not just repeated horrors. And then, in the final big scene, all of that goes away again, and we’re back with stereotypes and needless confusion.
I think that the problem with Beck is that it tries too hard to be powerful and important – the sort of text people will study for years and talk about its unflinching honesty. But in the struggle to be that book, it ends up losing the plot and the themes and everything else that would actually make it important. It’s definitely unflinching and gritty – often too gritty – but it isn’t actually saying very much.
kricketa's review against another edition
3.0
Mal Peet's last novel, finished after his death by Meg Rosoff, about a black-skinned, green-eyed orphan named Beck searching for a place to call home.
Sidenote: I really enjoy Peet's writing but I've always felt that it was kind of arbitrarily assigned to "teen fiction. I especially feel that to be the case about "Beck" which is a rather sweeping coming-of-age story that includes some really mature topics. I know there are older teens who would enjoy this book, but I do feel that it's more likely to be enjoyed by adults, and teens at my library are more likely to dip into the adult section than the other way around.
Sidenote: I really enjoy Peet's writing but I've always felt that it was kind of arbitrarily assigned to "teen fiction. I especially feel that to be the case about "Beck" which is a rather sweeping coming-of-age story that includes some really mature topics. I know there are older teens who would enjoy this book, but I do feel that it's more likely to be enjoyed by adults, and teens at my library are more likely to dip into the adult section than the other way around.