A no holes barred look at a London community park life.....
“Victoria Park” by Gemma Reeves is a very cleverly written novel with a unique concept, focusing on twelve residents stories, each one reading like they are an individual novella. The twelve chapters, which are set out in the months of a year, connect all the characters who reside around Victoria Park in London. The book opens with Mona and Wolfe, who have lived on the park for over fifty years. It’s the eve of their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary and Mona’s Alzheimer’s is steadily getting worse. By the end of the book, we return to Mona and her declining health and I thought it a fitting ending to a collection of intertwining tales of diverse and very much real life people.
The author has captured a fantastic insight into contemporary urban life and emotional experiences that define our personalities. This is certainly a no holes barred, non sugar coated view of life, portraying definitely that we are not all alike. The realisation of alienation and connection between residents in a disparate and culturally diverse area, was spot on and if your reading genre is the study of characters and their feelings and emotions to various life themes, you’ll fully appreciate this book and it’s portrayal of a London park life community.
3 stars
The author has captured a fantastic insight into contemporary urban life and emotional experiences that define our personalities. This is certainly a no holes barred, non sugar coated view of life, portraying definitely that we are not all alike. The realisation of alienation and connection between residents in a disparate and culturally diverse area, was spot on and if your reading genre is the study of characters and their feelings and emotions to various life themes, you’ll fully appreciate this book and it’s portrayal of a London park life community.
3 stars