I’ll be honest, when I first saw and heard of this book It didn’t jump out at me. Then all of a sudden I started to hear its name being mentioned more and more. Dystopian future stories seem to be very popular at the minute, did I need to read another one? But with comparisons to ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘Handmaid’s Tale’… I was sold.
It is hard to discuss this book without giving away too many spoilers and I’m sorry if I accidentally blurt any out. The twists and turns are exhilarating!
The first few pages try to make you think that everything is rosy in Fennis Wick, but gradually little hints are dropped which make you wonder what is really going on. Why are the eldests being treated so favourably? What is camp? Why are the wanderers ‘dirty, dangerous and decietful’? The questions that form in your head as you read push you on to keep reading as much as you can, I’m sure given the space and time you could easily finish this in a day and then wonder where the time went.
All of the characters are fascinating and complex, even those on the peripheries. The Wetherals are two of my favourite characters, understated at first but significant towards the end. Maddie, our narrator and main protagonist has an excellent story arc, from jealous middler to her eventual heroics. The excitement as she meets a wanderer and how she battles with her conscience about what to do next. The saddest part is when she realises that the elders are petrified about going to camp and suddenly realises that all is not as it seems, confronting her parents about the lies they’ve told to ‘protect her’.
After piecing together nuggets of information from different sources Maddie eventually works out the true goings on in Fennis Wick, she must right her wrongs and save her friend and family. She hasn’t got a plan, but does that really matter?
Kirsty Applebaum is a truly fantastic writer and I’m not sure whether I’m disappointed that this is her debut and I can’t rush to read her other works, or whether I’m excited to see what else she can achieve (there is something satisfying about following an author from their debut onwards). The Middler should be used in schools to teach how to build tension. The short sentences which are used in the latter part of the book have you reading at a hundred miles an hour gasping for breath. A true masterclass!
The message I learnt from this book is that in the end jealousy and popularity count for nothing, good friends and family that you can rely on are the most important things. In the social media influenced world I believe that this is an important lesson to pass onto our children!
Mister Bodd 