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wordsofclover 's review for:
My Name is Leon
by Kit de Waal
I received a copy of this book from Penguin Ireland in exchange for an honest review.
My Name is Leon follows the journey of a young black boy who is taken from his mother, along with his baby brother Jake, when she can no longer care for them. At first, Leon is happy because Jake is with him and he can look after Jake but then because Jake is white, he gets adopted quickly and Leon is left alone with his foster mother Maureen. Leon starts learning what it's like to deal with the unfairness of life, and begins to learn about race in the backdrop of 1981 England riots.
This was an extrenely pignant and moving book and it was written really, really well considering it was told through the eyes of Leon who is a child. Leon's voice was childlike but at the same time not too much. He saw some things with an alarming clarity and I loved seeing how he understood and misunderstood some situations and how he reacted. I really loved his relationship between Maureen and then Sylvia - though I do think he gave Slyvia a bit of a hard time.
There were times in this book were I felt really moved by something Leon did or thought. For example, the way he showed his anger and frustration when Jake is taken away to his new family and he tore his room apart. I got a lump in my throat and I wanted to cry because I could feel his pain and his anger so deep and he just had no way to express it other than throw things around.
I loved his blossoming relationship with Tufty and Mr Devlin and how, particularly through Tufty, he and the reader started to learn about some of the racial tension happening between people of colour in the UK at the time and the police. I knew very little about this, so it was a learning experience for me as well. I like how Leon became to understand his own race and how he needs to stand up for himself through observing Tufty and his friends.
This book was a pretty fast read with Leon's sometimes simple observations making the reading quick and easy. However, this doesn't mean that the story doesn't lack depth or power. It is a lovely, quiet powerful book and one that will stay with me for a while.
My Name is Leon follows the journey of a young black boy who is taken from his mother, along with his baby brother Jake, when she can no longer care for them. At first, Leon is happy because Jake is with him and he can look after Jake but then because Jake is white, he gets adopted quickly and Leon is left alone with his foster mother Maureen. Leon starts learning what it's like to deal with the unfairness of life, and begins to learn about race in the backdrop of 1981 England riots.
This was an extrenely pignant and moving book and it was written really, really well considering it was told through the eyes of Leon who is a child. Leon's voice was childlike but at the same time not too much. He saw some things with an alarming clarity and I loved seeing how he understood and misunderstood some situations and how he reacted. I really loved his relationship between Maureen and then Sylvia - though I do think he gave Slyvia a bit of a hard time.
There were times in this book were I felt really moved by something Leon did or thought. For example, the way he showed his anger and frustration when Jake is taken away to his new family and he tore his room apart. I got a lump in my throat and I wanted to cry because I could feel his pain and his anger so deep and he just had no way to express it other than throw things around.
I loved his blossoming relationship with Tufty and Mr Devlin and how, particularly through Tufty, he and the reader started to learn about some of the racial tension happening between people of colour in the UK at the time and the police. I knew very little about this, so it was a learning experience for me as well. I like how Leon became to understand his own race and how he needs to stand up for himself through observing Tufty and his friends.
This book was a pretty fast read with Leon's sometimes simple observations making the reading quick and easy. However, this doesn't mean that the story doesn't lack depth or power. It is a lovely, quiet powerful book and one that will stay with me for a while.