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A review by wynnie_reads
The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff
3.0
Although I enjoyed reading this book there were a few elements that puzzled me.
The first being that we are never fully introduced to the main character/narrator. Neither their name, age or gender is revealed. This confused me for a lot of the book. Had I forgotten their name? I actually had to flick back to the start where each of the other siblings are introduced to make sure I hadn’t missed it. For me the character was female and the oldest of her siblings. I have read reviews where others read this character as male or non binary. They will have had a completely different experience reading this book than I did which I guess is very clever of the author, but a little infuriating for the reader. I couldn’t stop wondering who the character was or if/when we would find out, which I found that quite distracting.
I felt the plot went through peaks and troughs of pace which made it a bit stilted at times and rushed at others. The climax of the story was surprising but again felt a little rushed and came completely out of the blue so left me feeling a bit confused again. Family life was depicted fairly well, everyone off doing what they wanted for the summer.
Overall it was a pleasant enough read full of teenage emotion with a couple of twists and turns. If you can brush away the confusion then it’s an enjoyable beach book.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of the book for an open and honest review.
The first being that we are never fully introduced to the main character/narrator. Neither their name, age or gender is revealed. This confused me for a lot of the book. Had I forgotten their name? I actually had to flick back to the start where each of the other siblings are introduced to make sure I hadn’t missed it. For me the character was female and the oldest of her siblings. I have read reviews where others read this character as male or non binary. They will have had a completely different experience reading this book than I did which I guess is very clever of the author, but a little infuriating for the reader. I couldn’t stop wondering who the character was or if/when we would find out, which I found that quite distracting.
I felt the plot went through peaks and troughs of pace which made it a bit stilted at times and rushed at others. The climax of the story was surprising but again felt a little rushed and came completely out of the blue so left me feeling a bit confused again. Family life was depicted fairly well, everyone off doing what they wanted for the summer.
Overall it was a pleasant enough read full of teenage emotion with a couple of twists and turns. If you can brush away the confusion then it’s an enjoyable beach book.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of the book for an open and honest review.