 |
| (Amazon UK link) |
I had entirely forgotten that, unlike the others in the series, this book is written in the first person by the different children in the Casson family. The first section is written by Rose, who is now nine, and mentions falling asleep in school. She describes her teacher, and her best friend Kiran who tells a lot of stories, which Rose and her classmates believe to be true. This sometimes leads to problems…
It’s a cleverly written section, introducing the rest of the family and some of their friends, without it feeling like an official recap. Since it’s written with Rose’s voice, it’s from her perspective; Rose is a delightful creation, the youngest in the family and a gifted artist. She’s also highly intuitive and quite observant, but not at all academic. Her friend Kiran does most of her school work for her, and nobody has quite worked out that Rose doesn’t read.
The second section is written by Indigo, who must be about thirteen or fourteen. He discusses Rose making large numbers of valentines, and also explains why their neighbour Sarah, who uses a wheelchair, is his sister Saffron’s best friend. Sarah and Saffy are rather older than Indigo, but he is clearly quite taken with Sarah and wants to invite her to the school Valentine disco.
Indigo is another very interesting character, who thinks in an organised way and decides to help the sixth former Oscar to organise the disco. He has some useful suggestions, and manages to manipulate the system so that he and Sarah go together. He also arranges for his friend David to go with Saffy, although Saffy would prefer to go with Oscar…
It’s all quite low-key, and Rose gets invited to the disco too, although she is technically too young. Rose believes herself in love with a boy called Tom who lives in the United States, but she’s very fond of David, too. She’s also very keen on Michael, who used to go out with her older sister Caddy…
The title of the book relates to Caddy, but her section doesn’t appear until over half-way through the book, after Saffy has also had a turn. Saffy writes more about the disco, and about Sarah who becomes ill. Sarah’s mother is very kind and generous, and well-organised too. But Sarah is her only child, and she gets very stressed, unsurprisingly, when her daughter is sick.
Towards the end of Saffy’s section she describes a car journey she and Rose take in an old banger which Oscar has just bought. They break down, and are eventually joined by Oscar’s older brother Alex, who meets Caddy (home from university for the weekend)... and he falls in love with her.
Caddy’s section then enlarges on their meeting, and their budding romance, and her conviction that he is ‘the one’... and all too quickly they have agreed to get married. Sarah’s mother offers to do the organising, which is a great relief to the disorganised Eve Casson (mother of the family).
Caddy only writes a short piece, however, and the final section is by Rose, once again, who is quite stressed because of a promise she made a year earlier. It looks as though she can’t keep it, until she hears of a possible way out…
There’s a whole lot more to the book, of course. I didn’t find it quite as amusing as some of the others, and the changing viewpoints make it feel a bit disjointed. But I still found myself feeling caught up in the family escapades, sympathising with all of them in their different ways. The children’s personalities shine through - a tad caricatured, of course, but quite three-dimensional nonetheless, and lovable in their different ways.
The writing is excellent, and despite the changing voices, I felt caught up in the different threads, particularly sympathising with Rose who takes so much to heart.
Recommended if you have read and liked others in the series, though I don’t think this one would really stand alone. At least 'Saffy's Angel' and 'Indigo's star' are probably best read first. This series is ideal for fluent readers of about eight or nine and upwards. It's enjoyable for parents and grandparents too…
No comments:
Post a Comment