The Outcast - Sadie Jones > Reviews (8)

I greatly enjoyed Sadie Jones first novel, which is a tale of a tearaway teenager in the 1950s and how his family's repression leads his behaviour to worsen rather than improve. The book was a rather odd choice for Richard and Judy's Summer Read Book Club as it is a rather darkly themed book, but whatever time of year you read it you won't fail to be affected by the story and its realistic characters.

The book beings in the 1940s when the protagonist Lewis is a small child. His father returns from the war and upsets an idyllic existence he has with his mother Elizabeth. One day, he and his mother go swimming in the river and a tragedy occurs. The book then moves forward to the 1950s. Lewis's trauma shows up in wayward behaviour, none of which is understood or dealt with properly by the adults around him. His father remarries and his new wife doesn't quite know how to deal with him: she is torn between wanting to help and not knowing how to. Gradually, as the people in the village where he lives get wind of Lewis's exploits he becomes an outcast and an embarrassment to his family. Lewis finally ends up in prison for two year, and when he returns it is as if he has never left. Still Lewis can find no acceptance, apart from a girl called Kit who seems to understand him. But the book ends on an ambiguous note - though Lewis escapes from his constipated surroundings, will that mean he can finally be himself, or will he carry around a burden that continues to affect him?

The Outcast is an accomplished novel which recreates the 1950s era in a very convincing way. The social snobbery of some of the minor characters is quite cringeworthy and you end up with great empathy for this poor boy who can't seem to find the love or help he needs. His unexpressed grief manifests itself in some awful behaviour but nobody knows what to do.

The novel is written in a very subtle style with very little description and not very detailed insights into the characters thoughts. So it can feel rather flat in tone. Nevertheless it carries much power because the unspoken can say so much more. There is 'room' for the reader to interpret the text and I really like a book that grants you that intelligence.

The story is told from several points of view including the boy himself, his father, his stepmother, a girl Lewis's age called Kit and many others. There are times when this plurality of points of view can be annoying when the switches happen half way through a block of text without being properly signalled, but that is just the inexperience of this first-time author showing through and you just get used to it.

I gave this book four stars instead of five because towards the end it starts going round in circles, with Lewis going away, coming back, going away. The same problems and crises happen more than once in different guises and you feel the story could have concluded earlier.

However, this isn't enough to spoil what is a very, very worthwhile read. The book gives a great deal to think about. It certainly seemed to affect me long after I'd finished it.