Yesterday I finished Kate Harrison's Self-Preservation Society and it was utterly brilliant. There are many things I could say about the story but I think the most important is that I truly cared about the characters. Jo could have been tough take as her view on life tends to piss one off but from the moment her voice appears on the page I loved her. I was happy to follow her through her journey and so wanted life to be OK for her.
When I stand back and look at the skill needed to achieve this I am in awe. I can find first person view point overwhelming but I never became tired of Jo's voice. The humour made it easy and took you through some pretty heavy issues that gave the story some of its depth. Kate has a way of picking up small details as well that enrich the story telling no end. Finally the secondary characters and their stories just made the whole story more meaty for lack of a better word. The twists she put in were great.
Aside from Jo my favorite character was Frisky but I don't want to give the story away if you haven't read it, but READ it. It is a pleasure and from a critical point of view it is skillfully done.
8 comments:
Thanks for the review, Liz; it bumped my copy three places up the 'to read' pile :)
I'm definitely getting a copy of it this week!
x
Thanks Liz. I'll get on to that after Harry P, which I'm loving. See if I can do kate's before book club's needs doing!
JJx
It's definitely worth bumping up :-). I seriously loved and laughed through this book!
I loved it too - definitely her best yet. Makes me realise how much I still need to learn though... neverending, it would seem.
I read it this week too. Agree about the characters, and I also thought the plotting was excellent... shan't say more as I don't want to give too much away, but it's definitely a good read.
Thank you for the recommendation Liz! I especially love a review done by a writer that references elements of craft -- can't help reading that way myself these days!
Lisa I can't separate the craft from the read now :-) Kate has really written a fantastic book.
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