I really wanted to like this book. The idea of it is a really good one: you are the size of your bank balance. So, if you are very poor, you’re tiny (about the size of a rat) and if you’re ridiculously rich, you’re taller than a sky scraper: and there are all the sizes in between. The bank is in charge of either making you bigger or smaller.
Warner and Prayer are ‘Littles’ and live a hard life, trying to avoid being stood on, eaten by cats or generally being injured in any way (hospitals can’t treat them). Prayer decided that she wants to ‘Upscale’ by finding herself a Middle scale Law student to marry, and so their adventures begin.
Now, Littles are rarely educated, or are minimally so, and this is where MY difficulties with this story began (right at the beginning, truth be told). The language. It’s written phonetically most of the time: words join with others, into longer, difficult to understand words, there are some words that are made up for the purposes of the story (munmun being one such). Sentences seem to be either overlong or very short. I had to concentrate really hard on this (for the record, I’ve read A Clockwork Orange and Ridley Walker, and coped just fine!). I know this is a YA book, and the main character is a child (14/15 years old), and perhaps the author was trying to convey this in the way the language came across. To me, he seemed a bit hyperactive, unable to concentrate, frenzied, a bit dim-witted in some things and really clever with others. Perhaps this was to emulate his lack of education and his youth? I don’t know. Honestly, it was something of a relief to finish it.
However, I DID like the ending - it was fitting. It’s just the journey to get there was pretty arduous!
Warner and Prayer are ‘Littles’ and live a hard life, trying to avoid being stood on, eaten by cats or generally being injured in any way (hospitals can’t treat them). Prayer decided that she wants to ‘Upscale’ by finding herself a Middle scale Law student to marry, and so their adventures begin.
Now, Littles are rarely educated, or are minimally so, and this is where MY difficulties with this story began (right at the beginning, truth be told). The language. It’s written phonetically most of the time: words join with others, into longer, difficult to understand words, there are some words that are made up for the purposes of the story (munmun being one such). Sentences seem to be either overlong or very short. I had to concentrate really hard on this (for the record, I’ve read A Clockwork Orange and Ridley Walker, and coped just fine!). I know this is a YA book, and the main character is a child (14/15 years old), and perhaps the author was trying to convey this in the way the language came across. To me, he seemed a bit hyperactive, unable to concentrate, frenzied, a bit dim-witted in some things and really clever with others. Perhaps this was to emulate his lack of education and his youth? I don’t know. Honestly, it was something of a relief to finish it.
However, I DID like the ending - it was fitting. It’s just the journey to get there was pretty arduous!