Recently Simon & Scheuster gave me access to one of their most recent releases The Year Of The Rat by Clare Furniss, this young adult contemporary was a fantastic read. I must say also this cover is gorgeous, this is the first purple book in my collection, which I absolutely love.
This book tells the story of Pearl dealing with the recent death of her mother and the birth of her new sister which she calls 'The Rat' whom she blames for killing her mother. We are dragged into Pearl's immense grief and go on her journey of acceptance and pain and towards moving on with her life in which she is now motherless.
This emotional read is terribly heart breaking but the family relationships and all issues surrounding are so realistic and relatable. It really stood out to me that families aren't perfect in this world, they are irregular and unusual but sticking with those who truly love you is the key to pulling through such a horrible situation, which is something that Furniss captured amazingly, adding to the depth of the novel. One thing I loved about this book Furniss' writing style and how beautifully written this novel was, it really added to the heavy emotion of the book and the flow of the story.
We watch as Pearl alienates herself and loses interest in what she once deemed enjoyable which does include relationships with both family and friends as she deals with such raw grief, and she no longer feels attached to the real world which is also seen with the conversations she has with her mother in which she realises she is no longer a fulfilment of there perfect mother that she thought she was, which helped in the long run with her accepting her new sister and being able to tell how the main character is truly feeling.
The one thing I absolutely loved about this novel was the fact there was no hiding from the pain and emotion, Pearl was angry and sad and full of resent, therefore I felt every single one of the emotions with just as much force as the character did. This emotional read shows how death changes each and every one of us and that these feelings are powerful but we musn't always disconnect from loved ones instead let this event bring you closer.
This story is told over the span of a year, with each chapter being a different month, which was another feature I quite enjoyed enabling us to get the entire journey the characters went on. But as with all similar situations, peace and an acceptance of what has happened must be found which is what made the last few pages so heart breaking, honest and thought provoking. If you are looking for a short poignant emotional read, dealing with real situations then this is the book for you. I gave this a solid 4/5 stars which I seriously enjoyed and absolutely flew through.
Annelise xoxo
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