Monday 2 August 2010

11+: No and Me - Delphine De Vigan

BOOK BLURB:

Lou Bertignac has an IQ of 160 and a good friend in class rebel Lucas. At home her father puts a brave face on things but cries in secret in the bathroom, while her mother rarely speaks and hardly ever leaves the house. To escape this desolate world, Lou goes often to Gare d'Austerlitz to see the big emotions in the smiles and tears of arrival and departure. But there she also sees the homeless, meets a girl called No, only a few years older than herself, and decides to make homelessness the topic of her class presentation. Bit by bit, Lou and No become friends until, the project over, No disappears. Heartbroken, Lou asks her parents the unaskable question and her parents say: Yes, No can come to live with them. So Lou goes down into the underworld of Paris's street people to bring her friend up to the light of a home and family life, she thinks.


REVIEW:

A foreign title and one that is currently being made into a film in its native France. Bloomsbury really have gone out on a limb with this offering and brought to light the struggle of a homeless person to the young generation. Beautifully told this title has some great characterisation on both the protagonists as well as the subsequent support cast which made this story a hard one to put down. Add to the mix some realistic dialogue and an overall offering that will stay in the readers memory which will make this a title well worth reading.

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