Lesley S. reviewed on 6/12/2009 + 50 more book reviews

In a small town on the South Island of New Zealand, Kerewin, a blocked artist, lives in a handbuilt medieval-style tower on the beach-front in odd, dreamlike isolation. Her intense privacy is abruptly invaded by Simon, an odd pirate of a child washed ashore after being shipwrecked around the age of 2, his background still a mystery. Now a mute but angry 6 year old, Simon is loving, sarcastic, frustrated, whip-smart, and determined to be understood - by all means necessary, both loving and violent...with healthy doses of kleptomania and acting-out thrown in. His Maori foster father, Joe, cares so deeply for the child that he alternates showering him with conventional love with a disturbing pattern of increasingly harsh beatings to discipline Simon into some semblance of civilized behavior. In an interesting twist, the author makes it possible to see the humanity in a so-called "child beater" along with the cruel and expert ways children engage in manipulation.

While the first 2/3s of the book are riveting (my advice: just let it kind of wash over you), the resolution feels forced and meanders aimlessly, indulging the author's tendencies toward stream-of-thought wordplay and flat-out weirdness.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details