Here’s the blurb on Amazon…
Charlie Bucktin, a bookish 13-year-old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie's help. Terribly afraid but desperate to impress, Charlie follows him into the night.
Jasper takes him to his secret glade, where Charlie witnesses Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion. He locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love, and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.
So, you have until the end of October 2012 to grab/buy/borrow/download a copy, read the book and post your review here on this forum. Whether you loved it, hated it or only skimmed the first few chapters before giving up, we want to hear from you.
And one lucky reviewer scoops £20 in book vouchers. So get reading!
And don't forget to add your suggestions for future book club reads in this forum thread.
(9 votes)
Comments
Irritating! I've read two chapters and can't bear to waste any more time on it. Clearly the author has never heard of pronouns: where was the editor? Sentences are generally short and in the present tense, perhaps to add tension, but it seems unnatural and disjointed. The over use of alliteration is just trying too hard. I can't shake off the feeling that it will be a pale imitation of To Kill A Mockingbird but set in Australia instead of America, so hardly original, and the telling of the tale, as far as I've read, does not do it justice. It reads like a novel written for teenagers. Not for me.
Set in small town Australia in the 1960s at the time of the Vietnam conflict, this book deals with prejudice against 'outsiders'; the anguish of adolesence and the clashes it causes between family and friends.
When Charlie is let into Jasper Jones' secret about Laura Wishart he is torn between loyalty to Jasper, and what he feels to be the right thing to do.
I agree that in some ways this is tackling similar themes to 'To Kill a Mockingbird', but I do think it holds its own. There are possibly too many themes; prejudice against a Vietnamese family, against anyone who is 'different'; old rivalries and family breakdown. I did enjoy the novel though, I thought it was written with humour and that the characters were engaging and believable. The doubts and fears that adolesence and first love stir up were well portrayed too.
I would certainly have a go at other work by the author.
I loved this book despite the really short sentences. It covers many topics including teenage problems, love, marriage and of course death. All topics were dealt with brilliantly. The book had me hooked and I didn't see the ending coming which is the sign of a good author. Well recommended.
Haven't read To Kill a Mocking Bird but if it is as good as this book will have to put in on my "to read" list.
PS: Just ordered to Kill a Mockingbird from the library and it sounds just as good as Jasper Jones. This club is definitely broadening my reading horizons.
PPS Just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Brilliant book with similar themes to Jasper Jones but a totally different kind of read. Glad I was introduced to it. Thanks
Congrats Rachel, £20 in Waterstones vouchers are in the post to you
Robyn, Platform Editor
Many thanks for the vouchers. It made my day to know that good things can happen and I shall enjoy spending them. Thanks again