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A review by katykelly
The Chronicles of Narmo by Caitlin Moran
5.0
I recently read Terry Pratchett's Dragons at Crumbling Castle and was impressed with the promise he showed as a teenage writer. Caitlin blows him out of the water! If you didn't know this piece of writing was conceived by a teenage girl, you would be hard-pressed to guess it.
This is funny, witty, snide, with regular references to high- and low-brow culture, Caitlin uses her own family as a basis for some hilarious anecdotal stories from her teenage life in a large and eccentric family.
The maturity of the writing is astonishing. I laughed out loud several times, and just loved the whole family, from devious yet angelic baby Poppy to overwrought dad Bill.
There is a running joke about Morag's bread that is very funny, some Christmas and Easter tales, holidays, home school inspectors, and Morag as eldest child of five doubles as Caitlin's alter-ego, the slightly-overweight wannabe writer with a chaotic family life living in the back end of nowhere (my home town) living form one child benefit payment to the next.
In one scene, Morag's younger brother gets upset, and gave "a high-pitched wail that sent several devout Muslims to prayer."
In another, a queue waiting for a jumble sale to start "resembled a Chinese dragon made of bobble hats and blue rinses."
Just brilliant, varied, vivid writing.
So so jealous of her talent. I want this to be more widely known, and in schools as well - teenagers should know what others their age can achieve.
Please give this a try. You'll thank me.
This is funny, witty, snide, with regular references to high- and low-brow culture, Caitlin uses her own family as a basis for some hilarious anecdotal stories from her teenage life in a large and eccentric family.
The maturity of the writing is astonishing. I laughed out loud several times, and just loved the whole family, from devious yet angelic baby Poppy to overwrought dad Bill.
There is a running joke about Morag's bread that is very funny, some Christmas and Easter tales, holidays, home school inspectors, and Morag as eldest child of five doubles as Caitlin's alter-ego, the slightly-overweight wannabe writer with a chaotic family life living in the back end of nowhere (my home town) living form one child benefit payment to the next.
In one scene, Morag's younger brother gets upset, and gave "a high-pitched wail that sent several devout Muslims to prayer."
In another, a queue waiting for a jumble sale to start "resembled a Chinese dragon made of bobble hats and blue rinses."
Just brilliant, varied, vivid writing.
So so jealous of her talent. I want this to be more widely known, and in schools as well - teenagers should know what others their age can achieve.
Please give this a try. You'll thank me.