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A review by kblincoln
Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
4.0
At a certain level of writing, it's not so much about the quality of the writing, or the ability of the writer to create a sense of the characters only imagined in their own head, but whether the reader is interested in that particular kind of universe. (Or if it was music, if the reader doesn't dig Beethoven, they're not going to give a good rating to the 5th Symphony).
Not that this is Beethoven, but Arnold's writing is definitely a specific flavor: contemporary literary. There's a somewhat nebulous plot-- looking for places to distribute the main character's father's ashes-- and quite a lot of "eccentric facts" that are a main part of the character development. I.e. the main character, Vic, has a paralyzed face (Moebius syndrome) and two other characters are refugees, and the main female foil to Vic has a half-shaved head and thinks in manifestos.
Part of me really likes all the eccentricities. That stuff is cool, man, and by the very focus on the odd, brings into stark relief the longing for normalness of this group of kids-- they're just looking for love and acceptance.
On the other hand, when switching between POV of Vic and Madeline, it was almost the same voice. I sometimes had to go check the chapter heading to remember who was who. And the parts with the police were interesting in a literary way, but I kept thinking to myself "why are the police letting these kids go off on anecdotal tangents so long?" which I know isn't fair to require reality in a literary novel like this, but did bug me.
Some other reviewer made a comparison to John Green's writing. I kind of agree with that, although his characters usually live somewhat more "normal" lives and have to contend with other players in their worlds (such as police) actually acting more realistic. However this book shares with Green's writing a full-throttle embrace of nerdy intellectualism that you either like or turns you off. I did like it, and was drawn in by Vics' emotional, heart-thinking voice and addiction to Opera song "The Flower Duet" (from Lakme, it's beautiful, its been featured in car commercials before, but if you've never heard it before go youtube it, even non opera fans won't be unmoved).
Not that this is Beethoven, but Arnold's writing is definitely a specific flavor: contemporary literary. There's a somewhat nebulous plot-- looking for places to distribute the main character's father's ashes-- and quite a lot of "eccentric facts" that are a main part of the character development. I.e. the main character, Vic, has a paralyzed face (Moebius syndrome) and two other characters are refugees, and the main female foil to Vic has a half-shaved head and thinks in manifestos.
Part of me really likes all the eccentricities. That stuff is cool, man, and by the very focus on the odd, brings into stark relief the longing for normalness of this group of kids-- they're just looking for love and acceptance.
On the other hand, when switching between POV of Vic and Madeline, it was almost the same voice. I sometimes had to go check the chapter heading to remember who was who. And the parts with the police were interesting in a literary way, but I kept thinking to myself "why are the police letting these kids go off on anecdotal tangents so long?" which I know isn't fair to require reality in a literary novel like this, but did bug me.
Some other reviewer made a comparison to John Green's writing. I kind of agree with that, although his characters usually live somewhat more "normal" lives and have to contend with other players in their worlds (such as police) actually acting more realistic. However this book shares with Green's writing a full-throttle embrace of nerdy intellectualism that you either like or turns you off. I did like it, and was drawn in by Vics' emotional, heart-thinking voice and addiction to Opera song "The Flower Duet" (from Lakme, it's beautiful, its been featured in car commercials before, but if you've never heard it before go youtube it, even non opera fans won't be unmoved).