at Warwick Books
* fur
* My Mum... series
* Other Meg Harper Books (published by Lion)
* Reviews
My young person's book group meets at Warwick Books in central Warwick
 Blitzcat by Robert Westall
Inside by Julia Jarman | Blitzcat by Robert Westall This was a book that everyone enjoyed but no one raved about! It got scores in the 7-9/10 range and I think we were all agreed that it was very well written, as you might expect from such a long-standing, award-winning writer. Some of you reading this will remember Westall’s brilliant classic ‘The Machine Gunners’. ‘Blitzcat’ was not such an immediately appealing read as that – it lacked the cast of endearing, varied and strong children and the sympathetic portrayal of the injured German airman, Rudi – but it is still a very good book. I think we all struggled to some extent with the central character being an aloof cat. The book is picaresque in style, tracking the cat’s journey to find her owner and relating her adventures on the way. She meets a range of different characters, some of whom we warmed to and some of whom we didn’t like at all. In each case, she has a transformational effect so in one sense, it was a bit like reading a fairy story but set against the devastating backdrop of WW2, a backdrop so convincingly drawn that some of us felt we learned a lot and others had difficulty comprehending aspects such as the jargon used. We enjoyed it – but it did feel a bit more like a series of short stories than a novel – and some of us felt the lack of a central, unifying character with whom we could really engage. It was hard to engage with an aloof cat who didn’t seem to care about the people whose lives she transformed – quite right too - she was, after all, a cat – but it did make it a slightly remote read. Afterwards we wondered if the cat had had nine brushes with death and survived – that would have been a clever structure, we thought – but we couldn’t be bothered to check which says quite a lot really! However, it is a very accomplished book and it you want to read a very powerful and moving description of the Coventry blitz, then get it just for that. It is quite heart-breaking. Our next meeting will be on Feb 23rd at 4.15 – 5.15 pm and our choice of book is ‘Inside’ by Julia Jarman. It is quite a hard-hitting read so it’s a good time for teenagers to join us! NB Keith & Frances at Warwick Books are always happy to order books for you - ring 01926 499939 for more information. If you are an Amazon customer, then the links from individual book covers will take you to the correct Amazon page.
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