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A review by purplemuskogee
Common Ground by Naomi Ishiguro
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
To be completely honest I mostly picked this book because I was intrigued by the fact it was written by Kazuo Ishiguro's daughter, Naomi Ishiguro. It's a terrible reason to pick a book, but I am so glad I did - I ended up really enjoying it. I found the start of the book a bit slow and it took me a while to get interested, but I did once Charlie is introduced as he meets 13 year old Stan, alone with a bike he doesn't know how to fix, on the common. Charlie is 16 and is part of the Travellers community, and they become friends - Charlie acting like a big brother to Stan who lives a lonely life, bullied at school, and not having much of a relationship with his mother, having lost his father a year prior. The first part of the book is about this friendship; and the second and third parts of the novel take place 9 years later.
Charlie is the character that makes the book in my opinion - I didn't care much for Stanley,neither as a child nor a grown up, but he was a useful tool to hook readers not familiar with the Travellers community, I suppose - which is also my case. I found that the way the Travellers lives is described was kind, even joyful in a way, despite depicting clearly the discrimination they are victims of - Stanley's mum forbidding Charlie to stay in touch with him, Charlie finding out he was being paid less than his colleagues, the group having to move regularly despite enjoying where they are because the council keeps evicting them... I enjoyed the writing, and I enjoyed its warm and hopeful tone. Definitely recommend.
Free ARC sent by Netgalley.
Charlie is the character that makes the book in my opinion - I didn't care much for Stanley,neither as a child nor a grown up, but he was a useful tool to hook readers not familiar with the Travellers community, I suppose - which is also my case. I found that the way the Travellers lives is described was kind, even joyful in a way, despite depicting clearly the discrimination they are victims of - Stanley's mum forbidding Charlie to stay in touch with him, Charlie finding out he was being paid less than his colleagues, the group having to move regularly despite enjoying where they are because the council keeps evicting them... I enjoyed the writing, and I enjoyed its warm and hopeful tone. Definitely recommend.
Free ARC sent by Netgalley.