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A review by notwellread
Beswitched by Kate Saunders
4.0
I don’t read many children’s books, but this exceeded my expectations by quite a way. Really, it’s quite mature (though the fact that the protagonist is 12 and it’s probably intended as older middle grade might explain this) and the humour can be enjoyed by adults too (‘Are communists allowed to have bridesmaids?’ is a line that features).
The book is sweet, fun, and uplifting, but still has some well-rounded characters and a few socially complex themes thrown in (there are a lot of references to the social prejudices of the 1930s and the women’s rights movement). It also has a lot of the typical ‘boarding school story appeal’ – I always thought this draw was particular to me and other boarding school attendees, but it seems other people who never went also like these narratives, and, given the time period, it made me nostalgic for the St. Claire’s books I read as a child more than for my own experiences, which were far more unsavoury.
I anticipated the twist ending, but there were still a lot of enjoyable goings-on, and before the climax the story took plenty of unexpected turns that made up for it. It’s interesting that my mother read this to my (much) younger sister and then gave it to me as a recommendation (not standard practice for her as she is very high-brow), so I wonder what the attraction was for her: this might suggest that this actually has quite a wide potential audience for a children’s book. I feel a little out of my element in giving a conclusive verdict of the story as a whole (since I don’t have any experience of contemporary children’s literature with which to compare it), but I hope the points of comparison I’ve made will offer enough guidance as to whether it will hold appeal.
The book is sweet, fun, and uplifting, but still has some well-rounded characters and a few socially complex themes thrown in (there are a lot of references to the social prejudices of the 1930s and the women’s rights movement). It also has a lot of the typical ‘boarding school story appeal’ – I always thought this draw was particular to me and other boarding school attendees, but it seems other people who never went also like these narratives, and, given the time period, it made me nostalgic for the St. Claire’s books I read as a child more than for my own experiences, which were far more unsavoury.
I anticipated the twist ending, but there were still a lot of enjoyable goings-on, and before the climax the story took plenty of unexpected turns that made up for it. It’s interesting that my mother read this to my (much) younger sister and then gave it to me as a recommendation (not standard practice for her as she is very high-brow), so I wonder what the attraction was for her: this might suggest that this actually has quite a wide potential audience for a children’s book. I feel a little out of my element in giving a conclusive verdict of the story as a whole (since I don’t have any experience of contemporary children’s literature with which to compare it), but I hope the points of comparison I’ve made will offer enough guidance as to whether it will hold appeal.