Title:
The Boy who Swam with Piranhas
Author:
David Almond
Release
Date: 5th September 2013
Publisher:
Walker
‘Fish fish fish fish!
FISH FISH FISH FISH!
Fish in buckets and fish
in bins!’
Stan’s Uncle Ernie has
developed an extra ordinary fascination with canning fish, and life at 69 Fish
Quay Lane has turned barmy!
Then barmy becomes barbaric
and Stan runs away with the fair, where he finds himself a new kind of family:
Dostoyevsky and Nitasha from the hook-a-duck, the mysterious Gypsy Rose... and
the legendary Pancho Pirelli, the man who swims with Piranhas.
Finally, Stan has a chance
to shine; to be the person he was meant to be. But does he have the courage to
dive into the churning, swirling waters of the piranha tank?
Stan
finds his life monotonous working for the family fish business and when his
Uncle Ernie does something (almost) unforgiveable, Stan decides to run away
with the fair. Fitting into a new kind of family, Stan realises his destiny
The
boy who swam with piranhas is a touching book that is both funny and sad at the
same time. The speech is written in David Almond's phonetic style for some of
the characters and this is really the only thing that linked it to The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean,
well, that and the strange larger than life characters which are beautifully
constructed. See (http://lilypadlibraryuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-true-tale-of-monster-billy-dean.html) for my review of The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean.
To
say that I disliked the abstract style of The
True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, I loved the structure of this tale
(although that probably says more about me as a reader than David Almond's
writing!). For me, the story flowed and it was very clear cut which bits the
reader was meant to enjoy, the story wasn't predictable, just nicely
comfortable. The settings were detailed and elaborate and added depth to the
story as the characters travel cross country to be together again.
The
characters of Uncle Ernie and Nitasha were the most complex because they
weren't necessarily good or bad characters, they offered something much more
complex. All the other characters are very clearly labelled as 'good' or 'bad'
and offer security, we are meant to like Annie and Dostoyevsky and dislike
Clarence P Clapp and his ‘lads’ whereas Ernie and Nitasha do some bad things
but are so well loved by the other characters that they can be forgiven.
There
was a little interlude where the storyteller threatens to abandon the track of
the current story (following Stan) and drift off to another location where
Annie and Ernie are. This almost reminded me of Lemony Snicket who likes to go
off on a tangent and creates frustration for the reader who really just wants to
know what will happen next!
Overall
a nicely enjoyable read. It was really easy to get into and offered lovely
creative characters that were lively enough to leap off the page. I would
recommend this to someone who wants to read something a little bit quirky (but
not as abstract as The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean) and I would be
shocked if you didn't find at least 75% of it highly enjoyable. The illustrations are also really well done and add to the character of the novel.
4.5/5
An unusual book with a carnival feel
