I occasionally get accused of being overly harsh in my review rankings (in terms of stars), but before I begin this one, let me start by just saying that the reason I might sometimes seem stingy is that I don’t review Indie books, I review books. My ranking system is the same for classics and bestsellers as it would be for a self-published book, so if I give a novel a 4* ranking, I really mean it, and it indicates that I rate the work far higher than most of Henry James or Virginia Woolf, for example. Just my opinion of course, but you should bear in mind that I’m incredibly clever, insightful and well read (as well as being humble and pretty) 😉 You should consider those criteria if you ever see one of my ranked reviews and wonder why they aren’t higher. Right, that’s out of my system.
Now, onto the actual review- Paper Castles is quite simply a beautiful book, engaging, insightful and wonderfully unafraid to defy convention and plot predictions. A unique balance of cinematic and visual storytelling with a very personal and quiet exploration of internal turmoil and desperation.
The main character of James Brooke is a fantastic creation, and seeing through his eyes we get a thoughtful, dreamy interpretation of the real World and of the disappointments life can bring, and as the narrative progresses he comes across his dream girl. Or does he?
Don’t expect a conventional romance, or even the ending you might think is coming, just lose yourself in the wonderful prose. A very slight niggle I have is with some very understanding police officers, who in real-life might interpret events and act quite differently, and one specific scene where an altercation read to me personally as a little more mother/daughter than father/son dynamic, but these are minor points and do nothing to lessen the emotional impact of a quite stunning and entrancing book. It’s been said elsewhere in reviews that this needs to be a movie, and I can understand that view, but the book will always have more for me, as the images and scenes that Fox paints have a delicacy and depth you can’t replicate on a screen. Read it, and you’ll see what I mean.
From the pitch
Equally broke and futureless, 28–year–old James Brooke, a graduate architect, coffee-addict, and self–described average nobody has returned to his small hometown in West Ohio. Torn between his fanciful dreams and the need to pay off bills, he struggles to find his own identity while facing a harder–than–ever reality. But living under his father’s rooftop while keeping his head in the clouds soon turns out to be a bad combination, and the mounting student debt forces him to settle for any job he can find. That’s when he stumbles across a new coffee shop, a wayward girl with a talent for storytelling, and his own unresolved past.
Available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08VRN2ZKM/
Stay safe,
Kit