I can’t decide what to do with your ashes. It’s been nearly a year now. Almost summer again.
…
This is not forgiveness. Don’t think that.
A powerful start. We know Rob is dead. We know there were funerals. We know Rob has done something that cannot be forgiven, not even by those closest to him. The story returns to the start of that summer. Jamie’s interested in a girl, Caro, and doesn’t have much time for his brother who has been discharged from the army following an injury in Afghanistan. Everyone knows Caro is a slag, expelled for an affair with a teacher, she spells trouble. Jamie’s sister warns him off but he doesn’t care, he’s infatuated.
This is Not Forgiveness tackles the topical issue of how war can affect young people in two very different ways. For some the army is all they know and when injury forces young soldiers to return home they can struggle to fit into civilian life. Especially if they signed up to escape a life that didn’t hold much for them in the first place.
Then those that haven’t had direct contact with conflict can feel like they don’t have a voice without violence. How easy it is to latch onto extremist political views because what they see and hear is wrong and they feel the need to bring about change.
This isn’t a book where you’ll love the characters but you will be gripped by the events and left thinking after the final page. The first chapter is a fantastic pull in and will keep you reading even when you are starting to hate some of the things the characters are doing. There are three narrators, Jamie, Caro and Rob so there is insight into each of their thoughts and reasoning behind their actions.
I received This is Not Forgiveness as part of a UK Book Tour so keep your eyes out for other reviews across the blogosphere. Feel free to leave a link to your review in the comments. It will be released in paperback and ebook formats 2nd February 2012 and is published by Bloomsbury.
You can read chapter one here but only if you can wait to read the rest!
Related posts
3 Comments
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
Read Next
Subscribe via Email
Recent Posts
Forgot how hard fishing is at the start of Stardew Valley. At least they've added a training rod so I have some cha… https://t.co/3lOs92nZRm
FollowToday's #bookpost , my pre-order of A History of What Comes Next and a review copy of For the Wolf from @orbitbooks https://t.co/CW9NjJZTbT
Follow[gifted] Surprise #bookpost from @orbitbooks_uk - thanks @gambit589! 🐺🐺🐺 #bookpost #bookpost #bookpost … https://t.co/eUUi813dxG
FollowCurrently Reading
Black Sun
Today he would become a god. His mother had told him so. The opening line may seem like something any mother would tell her son, but in the case of Serapio, his mother truly believes he will become the Crow God reborn. She blinds him,…
Legendborn
The day Bree gets accepted into an early college placement at UNC, is the day her mother dies. The last words they spoke were of anger. Unable to deal with her dad’s grief on top of her own, Bree goes ahead with the placement. Once…
Ninth House
Alex Stern does not belong at Yale. When she awakes as the sole survivor of a multiple homicide, presumed a drug deal gone wrong, she is given an unlikely offer. Come to Yale, join the House of Lethe and oversee the rituals of the other…
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
Just let me dust off this blog thing, I have a review for you! One of my anticipated reads released during lockdown was the follow-up to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. If you read that, of course will will be dying to know what happened to…
I'm not at all familiar with this book, but it sounds really intriguing. I'll have to see if it's been released here in the US…
As the author is British I imagine it won't be out in the US before the UK release but I'm sure it will be available.
Brilliant review, I haven't got round to reading my copy yet but I'm def tely going to soon! 🙂