Kerosene

Kerosene

Author: Chris Wooding
ISBN: 9781742608457
Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Hi Everyone,

I listened to this book on my Borrowbox app.  This app is really worth getting if you don't already have it.  You connect into your local library and borrow the audio books.  Just like with your library books, there is a return date.  You have a notification that it is due back in however many days and if you don't renew it, the book returns - leaving your app - on the due date.  It is brilliant.

Anyway, about Kerosene...  I connected well with the plot, and the characters, especially Cal, Joel and Abby.

I will start with the plot.  We have a young man who is shy and one would say neglected by his family, others would say that his family dynamics are actually quite normal for the world we live in today.  Well, Abby and the girls are quite normal young ladies who play games with the boys minds, but when they muck around with Cal he discovers freedom and escape in fire - literally!  Then we have Joel who is Cal's best mate.  Joel has a few issues as he finds excitement with a new crowd, only to be drawn into the world of drugs and thugs.  Once again Cal finds a way to protect his friend - fire.  Each event connects the plot smoothly together, interlinking every character to the flames of Cal's world.  It's hard to not connect with the events when you look within each character.

So, to the characters then.  I will start with Abby so I can end with Cal.  Abby is new to the school and wants to fit in, so she connects with 'Miss Popular!!!'.  Get the idea?  Abby is twisted around the little finger of all the events of this girls high jinx.  But she starts to fall for Cal just a little too late, as Cal is catapulted out of control, just trying to stay sane.  Fire is his escape from reality of everything happening around him -  including Abby.  But really Abby is a lovely young lady just caught trying to fit in like any normal girl at any school.  Then we have Joel, looking for his place in his little world.  He got in with the wrong group of boys that lead to him trying to sell drugs, unsuccessfully.  He is an idiot!   But, a teen looking for his identity and place in the world unfortunately can often be an idiot!  Cal steps in to help him fight the dealers.  After all they have been best mates forever, isn't that what mates do?  But with fire!?? The climax of this book is brilliant as all these events and friendships come together.  At times I wanted to shake these characters and at other times I wanted to take them into my arms and fix it all for them.  They are teens/young adults and the world can be a crazy place.

Overall, this book is actually worth reading and thinking about.  I thought there was a bit language, especially at the start, that didn't need such expression to make the point.  The characters did it by themselves without the need of such expression.  Just my opinion though, you read it for yourself as it is a great story worth reading and thinking about.  We have many young ones out there, facing the things these characters did, and we all need to think of how our actions effect them.


Description:

Cal's got this thing about fire. It's nothing big at first, just lighting matches, watching matches burn, enjoying the calming effects of the flame. It helps him cope with stuff. Then he meets Abby, and things start to get out of control. She winds him up, playing with him until he thinks he might lose his sanity, and suddenly the matches just aren't enough anymore. So a plan hatches itself in Cals' mind, a plan so glorious it could set the world alight. Nothing will ever touch him again.


This was available from: Bolinda publishing, and Amazon


Happy reading