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bookph1le 's review for:
Odd Child Out
by Gilly Macmillan
I like what this author does with her mysteries. I really enjoy a good literary thriller, and by telling her thrillers from the perspective of not only Clemo, her main character, but the people involved in the crime, the reader gets a glimpse at many different angles on what happened.
Of particular interest to me here is how Macmillan taps into the current times, using this mystery to examine racial tensions between native UK residents and immigrants, in this case Somali. I thought she did a deft job of creating subtle racism in several characters, as well as asking hard questions about the effects of Western journalists going into war zones, and how those stories are presented to Western audiences.
The other thing I really admired about this novel was her nuanced portrayal of Noah. Cancer kids tend to be very beatific and brave in a lot of books, but this book takes pains to show that, though Noah certainly doesn't deserve his suffering, that suffering hasn't made him angelic.
There's also an interesting strain here about parent/child bonding, and how illness affects and amplifies those bonds.
I look forward to more from this author.
Of particular interest to me here is how Macmillan taps into the current times, using this mystery to examine racial tensions between native UK residents and immigrants, in this case Somali. I thought she did a deft job of creating subtle racism in several characters, as well as asking hard questions about the effects of Western journalists going into war zones, and how those stories are presented to Western audiences.
The other thing I really admired about this novel was her nuanced portrayal of Noah. Cancer kids tend to be very beatific and brave in a lot of books, but this book takes pains to show that, though Noah certainly doesn't deserve his suffering, that suffering hasn't made him angelic.
There's also an interesting strain here about parent/child bonding, and how illness affects and amplifies those bonds.
I look forward to more from this author.