Scan barcode
A review by andrewspink
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I read this book with great pleasure. For a start, it used such beautiful imagery. The person was " As round and satisfied as a broad bean popped from a pod". "The silver barrage balloons float in the night air like giant tethered fish". The sort of imaginative phrases where you instantly get an strong image of exactly what is meant. Another plus point was the strand of feminism running through it, "Why are all the best characters men?" the girl says, and in the rest of the book Joanna Quinn goes on to show how it doesn't have to be that way.
The book switches between the past and present tense, which on the whole works quite well and also to all sorts of different formats, like letters and newspaper cuttings. There is even an art exhibition catalogue. That works very well, giving interesting different perspectives.
There are essentially two stories. In the first, children are growing up rather wildly and build the whalebone theatre. In the second, the children are young adults, undercover agents in France in the second world war. The connection is not in terms of the narrative, as it really jumps from one to the other, but in that it is the same characters, albeit transformed by their experience. You would think that two such disparate stories wouldn't work, but actually it does precisely because it is the same characters, who the reader has come to care so much about.
There are also some rather less positive aspects. The book is mostly quite uncritical of the immense privilege of the aristocracy in the first part, loveless neglect of the children is presented over positively and post-war society is presented as if all class distinctions had melted away.
Apparently this was Joanna Quinn's debut. Amazing. I hope she also has a second book in her.
The book switches between the past and present tense, which on the whole works quite well and also to all sorts of different formats, like letters and newspaper cuttings. There is even an art exhibition catalogue. That works very well, giving interesting different perspectives.
There are essentially two stories. In the first, children are growing up rather wildly and build the whalebone theatre. In the second, the children are young adults, undercover agents in France in the second world war. The connection is not in terms of the narrative, as it really jumps from one to the other, but in that it is the same characters, albeit transformed by their experience. You would think that two such disparate stories wouldn't work, but actually it does precisely because it is the same characters, who the reader has come to care so much about.
There are also some rather less positive aspects. The book is mostly quite uncritical of the immense privilege of the aristocracy in the first part, loveless neglect of the children is presented over positively and post-war society is presented as if all class distinctions had melted away.
Apparently this was Joanna Quinn's debut. Amazing. I hope she also has a second book in her.