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A review by beate251
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Wow, that's one hell of a book. It takes place between 1979 and 1981, when all of Yorkshire was afraid of the Yorkshire Ripper. 12 year old Miv and her best friend Sharon try to find him by starting with their neighbours and writing down everything that is suspicious about them. Turns out it's a lot.
I thought this might be a nice coming-of-age story but it is only partly that. This is a multi POV story about friendship, first love and heartbreak against the backdrop of the Ripper years.
But this is also a story full of misogyny and racism - people being accused of things simply because they have the wrong skin colour or accent or are in any other way different. Kind of ironic if you know that Peter Sutcliffe was a pure Yorkshire man!
It's hard to read about some of the victims being described as "just prostitutes" and the public only getting interested when "respectable" women get attacked.
There are an incredible number of terrible men in this book, terrible for a multitude of reasons. Men with two faces or just one horrible one. You think the Yorkshire Ripper needs to be caught but you find the horrors in your neighbourhood instead, the wife beaters, racists, pedophiles, drunkards, liers and cheats. That will make you grow up fast - if you make it that far that is.
But there were also wonderful characters - Miv, Sharon, Ishtiaq and his Dad Omar, Paul, Helen and Dad Arthur, Jim...
I loved reading about them all.
A few niggles:
It felt strange that after children who were raising concerns about the "tickling uncle" were just being dismissed, there was nevertheless such a speedy conclusion to it.
Also, the book has 450 pages, and the last 50 are almost unbearable. Everything happens at once, tragedy ensues and things are suddenly dealt with within a few pages - I almost got whiplash.
For a debut novel this is astoundingly assured writing. It's absolutely unputdownable - I read this in one Saturday.
I thought this might be a nice coming-of-age story but it is only partly that. This is a multi POV story about friendship, first love and heartbreak against the backdrop of the Ripper years.
But this is also a story full of misogyny and racism - people being accused of things simply because they have the wrong skin colour or accent or are in any other way different. Kind of ironic if you know that Peter Sutcliffe was a pure Yorkshire man!
It's hard to read about some of the victims being described as "just prostitutes" and the public only getting interested when "respectable" women get attacked.
There are an incredible number of terrible men in this book, terrible for a multitude of reasons. Men with two faces or just one horrible one. You think the Yorkshire Ripper needs to be caught but you find the horrors in your neighbourhood instead, the wife beaters, racists, pedophiles, drunkards, liers and cheats. That will make you grow up fast - if you make it that far that is.
But there were also wonderful characters - Miv, Sharon, Ishtiaq and his Dad Omar, Paul, Helen and Dad Arthur, Jim...
I loved reading about them all.
A few niggles:
It felt strange that after children who were raising concerns about the "tickling uncle" were just being dismissed, there was nevertheless such a speedy conclusion to it.
Also, the book has 450 pages, and the last 50 are almost unbearable. Everything happens at once, tragedy ensues and things are suddenly dealt with within a few pages - I almost got whiplash.
For a debut novel this is astoundingly assured writing. It's absolutely unputdownable - I read this in one Saturday.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Mental illness, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Sexism, Vomit, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Violence, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism