Younger Readers
When death isn't pretty
Publishers David Fickling Books were so convinced by this debut novel by Jenny Downham that they rushed through its publication in unprecedented fashion.
Having dotted her 'i's and crossed her 't's as recently as February, the book will hit the shelves next month. Fickling himself describes it as "literary gold dust".
Now any publisher or publicist worth their salt will do their utmost to promote their book, however this hype surrounding a first book is remarkable.
That said, I have to concur with the positive expectations. A story about a teenage cancer patient, whom we know will die, must at all costs avoid mawkish sentimentality and the kind of canonisation which attends most mentions of cancer-afflicted people in the media (see Brave Kylie T). Downham achieves this, and for that alone we should be grateful, never mind that she introduces us to Tessa.
Tessa is 16 and is as maddeningly selfish, self-absorbed, bitchy, inconsiderate and thoughtless a doomed teen as one could wish for.
Attempting to complete a to-do list before she dies proves impossible as she keeps changing her hopes for the future the shorter that future becomes.
Realising that normal rules no longer apply, she embarks upon her "things to do" with stroppy relish, dragging her family and friends with her.
Her fear, and her rage at the surviving; at the bloody fact that life goes on, ring heartbreakingly true. And the truth hurts.
Her father is particularly well-drawn. Cuckolded and abandoned by Tessa's mother who fancies herself as a bit of a bohemian because she wears floaty skirts, he is solid and dependable, thus considered utterly feeble by our knowing teen.
Staple rites of passage, such as sex and drugs and rock 'n'roll, are, out of necessity, undergone before Tessa is truly ready, but this is not a story without consequences, and our hero is self-aware enough to stop short of being reckless.
This is genuinely affecting, and while tear-jerkers can sometimes be manipulative, Downham steers clear of overwrought emotion.
AISLEAIN McGILL
