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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Finished this yesterday. A look at late 70s British suburbia. I felt there were a few too many characters in this book that are easy to muddle as you read. I can easily imagine this as a BBC series.
#ubercutereads #thetroublewithgoatsandsheep #joannacannon #fiction #1970s #justread #novel #suburbia #neighbours
#ubercutereads #thetroublewithgoatsandsheep #joannacannon #fiction #1970s #justread #novel #suburbia #neighbours
I loved this book, simply because I could be Grace. I was the same age in the summer of 1976. I was a bit of a misfit with a best friend who I had my adventures with. We had a close neighbourhood, a housefire, an Asian family move in, in fact the only thing missing was the supposed pervert, missing baby and missing wife. I even remember the heat of the summer of 1976 and the plans for the street party for 1977. So, this book was incredibly nostalgic for me, but beyond all that it was a really interesting look at people's behaviour.
Two 10 year old friends are looking for God in their neighborhood and uncover secrets, discover the importance of friendship and family and in the process help uncover the mysterious reason why a neighbor went missing.
For some reason when I added this to my list I thought the story was based in a farm. :D
But its a coming of age/ mystery. It was a bit slow initially and then picks up. Its based in the seventies, UK. It does well to create a sense of the neighbourhood but drags in parts. Like what was the purpose of that story about the Indian family moving in? The ending is left open there are hints as to what happened, but I had to check Goodreads to confirm what I thought happened.
But its a coming of age/ mystery. It was a bit slow initially and then picks up. Its based in the seventies, UK. It does well to create a sense of the neighbourhood but drags in parts. Like what was the purpose of that story about the Indian family moving in? The ending is left open there are hints as to what happened, but I had to check Goodreads to confirm what I thought happened.
An excellent study of character and mob mentality with a mystery on the side. Really, just my cup of tea.
mysterious
medium-paced
It is the long hot summer of 1976, when it seemed that it would never rain again.
Mrs Creasy has gone missing from The Avenue and rumours abound.
Why did she leave?
Where has she gone?
Has she been murdered?
Ten year-olds Grace and Tilly decide to become amateur detectives to try to find out what happened to Mrs Creasy and become convinced that if they can find God on The Avenue then all will be well. Can they separate out the goats from the sheep?
As their search gets underway, Grace and Tilly uncover the deep, dark secrets of the residents of The Avenue.....all the secrets that Mrs Creasy knew....
Joanna Cannon's The Trouble With Goats And Sheep is quite simply marvellous!
What I thought was going to be a story of the domestic dramas behind the doors of The Avenue, as glimpsed by two ten year-old girls, turned out to be something all together darker and more sinister than I was expecting.
How I love a story of secrets and lies in a small community! It turns out that The Avenue has plenty of dark secrets behind its front doors, which Joanna Cannon slowly reveals over the course of the story, and the many truths which are uncovered will leave you reeling. These are heavy truths indeed. Every resident has a story to tell and many have something they desperately want to hide - some you will certainly sympatise with and others will totally horrify you. You will not truly know any of the characters you meet in the course of the story until the very end.
The light relief is mostly provided by the antics of Grace and Tilly in their search for God among their neighbours. Many a truth is spoken out of the mouths of babes and their simple way of looking at the goings on of the adults around them is often hilarious - it is often a stab in the heart too.
I well remember the long, hot summer of 1976, when I was just a tad younger than Grace and Tilly, so it was very nostalgic looking at things through their eyes. I think that you can only truly appreciate this story if you remember the heady days of the 1970's too - when collecting Whimsies was a preoccupation and the Kays catalogue, with its weekly installment plans, was the retail outlet for many a home. I remember them both so well! I wonder what happened to all those Whimsies? I was never convinced that my mum prized them as much as I did, although she did try to look happy when I saved up enough pocket money to present her with another one!
I cannot recommend this one highly enough and I wonder how I managed to miss this when it first came out. No spoliers, but once you start this one you will be unable to stop until the truth in all its gut-wrenching, heart-stopping detail has been revealed. Outstanding!
Mrs Creasy has gone missing from The Avenue and rumours abound.
Why did she leave?
Where has she gone?
Has she been murdered?
Ten year-olds Grace and Tilly decide to become amateur detectives to try to find out what happened to Mrs Creasy and become convinced that if they can find God on The Avenue then all will be well. Can they separate out the goats from the sheep?
As their search gets underway, Grace and Tilly uncover the deep, dark secrets of the residents of The Avenue.....all the secrets that Mrs Creasy knew....
Joanna Cannon's The Trouble With Goats And Sheep is quite simply marvellous!
What I thought was going to be a story of the domestic dramas behind the doors of The Avenue, as glimpsed by two ten year-old girls, turned out to be something all together darker and more sinister than I was expecting.
How I love a story of secrets and lies in a small community! It turns out that The Avenue has plenty of dark secrets behind its front doors, which Joanna Cannon slowly reveals over the course of the story, and the many truths which are uncovered will leave you reeling. These are heavy truths indeed. Every resident has a story to tell and many have something they desperately want to hide - some you will certainly sympatise with and others will totally horrify you. You will not truly know any of the characters you meet in the course of the story until the very end.
The light relief is mostly provided by the antics of Grace and Tilly in their search for God among their neighbours. Many a truth is spoken out of the mouths of babes and their simple way of looking at the goings on of the adults around them is often hilarious - it is often a stab in the heart too.
I well remember the long, hot summer of 1976, when I was just a tad younger than Grace and Tilly, so it was very nostalgic looking at things through their eyes. I think that you can only truly appreciate this story if you remember the heady days of the 1970's too - when collecting Whimsies was a preoccupation and the Kays catalogue, with its weekly installment plans, was the retail outlet for many a home. I remember them both so well! I wonder what happened to all those Whimsies? I was never convinced that my mum prized them as much as I did, although she did try to look happy when I saved up enough pocket money to present her with another one!
I cannot recommend this one highly enough and I wonder how I managed to miss this when it first came out. No spoliers, but once you start this one you will be unable to stop until the truth in all its gut-wrenching, heart-stopping detail has been revealed. Outstanding!
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Good read, youthful, curious, and you definitely get more invested .. not a fan of the ending