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A review by amber_hastings
Caddy's World by Hilary McKay
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
As a standalone novel, this is absolute perfection. I cared deeply about Caddy and each of the three friends that this novel also follows. If anything, I think I preferred Beth and her very real and relatable eating struggles. I did not want this story to end!
As a Casson novel, I'd rate it slightly lower and that's because overall it doesn't fit as well into the series as the first three books. I fully appreciated that Caddy became a much more nuanced and lovable character rather than the boy crazy teen/young adult that she is in the layer books, and I really loved seeing the sensitive, animal-loving, change-hating side to her. The way she fears life and hides her feelings was very convincing given she's an eldest child in a very dysfunctional child. I also absolutely loved seeing Indigo and Saffy as a younger children, and understanding the (very sad and anger-inducing) reality that their Dad was never really present at home. It definitely made me feel more positively towards the fairly absent Eve in the later books. And this prefaces the special connection Caddy and Rose have always had, especially when it comes to Michael, which was lovely. The negatives were really that the first-person perspective was out of keeping with the books that followed; that for a Casson novel this book focused much more on secondary characters external to the family than the other books did and this took time away from the family; and that the drama around baby Rose was unfortunately very similar to the drama Tom had with his half-sister in Indigo's Star, yet Indigo never referenced this in Indigo's Star because this prequel had not been written then!
But those are small complaints because it's a fantastic book.
As a Casson novel, I'd rate it slightly lower and that's because overall it doesn't fit as well into the series as the first three books. I fully appreciated that Caddy became a much more nuanced and lovable character rather than the boy crazy teen/young adult that she is in the layer books, and I really loved seeing the sensitive, animal-loving, change-hating side to her. The way she fears life and hides her feelings was very convincing given she's an eldest child in a very dysfunctional child. I also absolutely loved seeing Indigo and Saffy as a younger children, and understanding the (very sad and anger-inducing) reality that their Dad was never really present at home. It definitely made me feel more positively towards the fairly absent Eve in the later books. And this prefaces the special connection Caddy and Rose have always had, especially when it comes to Michael, which was lovely. The negatives were really that the first-person perspective was out of keeping with the books that followed; that for a Casson novel this book focused much more on secondary characters external to the family than the other books did and this took time away from the family; and that the drama around baby Rose was unfortunately very similar to the drama Tom had with his half-sister in Indigo's Star, yet Indigo never referenced this in Indigo's Star because this prequel had not been written then!
But those are small complaints because it's a fantastic book.