janebranson 's review for:

Elmet by Fiona Mozley

4.0

---

A fascinating inclusion on the Man Booker shortlist, coming from an unknown, unpublished writer. The narrator is 14 year old Daniel, whose schooling has been frequently severely disrupted and who has no meaningful relationships with anyone outside his immediate family, and yet who commentates throughout with keen observation, empathy, intellect and a vocabulary that betrays the authorial hand. For these reasons, I felt that the voice of the writing was not quite true. On the other hand, there were many things I loved - the poetry of much of the writing, the strong and yet mysterious sense of place, the tension cleverly built in a plot in which, really, not a lot happens. And "Daddy" is a beautifully created, brutally imaginable character.