13/05/06

Graffiti My Soul

I’ve just read the MS of this title for Canongate and it’s phenomenal. One of thebest things I’ve read in a while and, strangely, I’ve enjoyed it more than David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green. Strangely because both are written from the point of view of a young boy: GMS a 15 year old mixed race boy growing up in Esher, Surrey, into happy slapping and running; BSG a more affected tale from the POV of a 12 year old boy in 1981.

It needs some work (the beginning is a little confusing, unnecessarily about the gender of the narrator; and the themes which develop to draw the narrative to a close feel a little neat and even contrived) but I think this is a strong contender for a prize in 2007.

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Posted by Peter Collingridge in Edinburgh, Publishing, Reading.