Too Close to Home by Aoife Walsh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I described this on Twitter as one for the ‘I write this sitting in the kitchen sink’ crowd. And it is; it’s a book full of complicated and complex and Casson-esque characters, all of them bumping against each other in their complicated and complex lives. Too Close To Home isn’t really about much on the surface (except, in a way, it’s about everything and perhaps that surface stillness is so very metaphorical for the book itself) but underneath it’s peddling away like mad. There’s Minny; central character (and oh I am full of semi-colons and punctuation in this review, but that’s this book – thoughts and movements and emotions and people all jumbling against each other and trying to find their space in life).
So. In an attempt to be precise:
1. Walsh’s prose is very classic in tone. It’s like eating a big authorial cake (stay with me) and finding it full of Streatfeild and McKay and Smith, and it takes a moment to sink in and when it does, you don’t want to let it go. It’s rich, vivid and rather timeless. Contemporary yet classic. Classic yet contemporary. That sort of thing.
2. It is a sympathetic and genuine book. It speaks of complex issues and does so in a way that is neither didactic nor “here is the issue and now you should pay attention.” In a way, it reminded me of the Susie Day ‘Pea’ series (it’s sort of a textual elder sister to Pea) which is a very huge thing for me. (I love the Pea books, they are beautiful and smart things and now I’m creating a family tree of books and need to move on).
3. If you are into the Chalet School series, there is a moment on p77 which will make you understand this book and everything that it is saying about the world.
4. Too Close to Home is out in July. This is an early review. I debated whether to write it now or to save it for a while. And, as you can see, I wrote it now. This is because sometimes books leave you feeling full of them and in love with everything that they are and wanting to share that and wanting to talk about it all now. It is such a lovely book this, wise and smart and funny and sarcastic and joyful, and it should not fly under the radar. Save the date.
Daisy May Johnson 
Reblogged this on Rhino Reads and commented:
You know when you read a review and *know* that you *need* to read that book…. Well here’s one for you, courtesy of @chaletfan: