anonymity is getting sick of being overlooked but it is happening everywhere she tries to turn. her father has left the family for yet another secretary. her sister raven is preparing to leave the nest to see the world. her mother's new boyfriend john goes quickly in her mind from annoying to creepy. her friends are abandoning her for the world of boyfriends. and then there's the art teacher...
james roy writes in a very funny, snappy tone with great dialogue (i can just hear some of anonymity's more cutting remarks hissing off her tongue) but i found that the general tone of sarcasm distanced me from the events and from the characters - as if anonymity herself was keeping me at arms length. because of this i felt like i was just looking at a snippit of anonymity's world, the reader isn't privvy to the whole story. but that's ok - james roy leaves it to us to fill in the gaps. it was also really nice to see the contradictions in anonymity's character, the way she feels compassion towards john in one scene, then the next she feels otherwise. the stuff to do with her friends almost broke my heart.
anonymity is a fabulous character and i would like to know more about her. i can see some of gossip girl's blair waldorf in her, some of the mad and headstrong girls from tv's skins. there's the fragility behind a ballsy exterior like the titular character from john marsden's winter. anonymity jones is ultimately about how some people fail others, even the people closest to them, but it is not a book completely without hope. and it has a kick-arse ending.
james roy lives here: http://www.headvsdesk.blogspot.com/
Cheers! Thanks for the props - I'm glad you liked it!
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