Customer Reviews

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece

5 star:		(98)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a story of how a family copes with tragedy. But told through the eyes of a 10 year old boy who finds himself in a new school with parents emotionally unavailable due to their own struggles to cope with the death of their daughter. The book is funny, sad, and inspirational, often at the same moments. Details in the book add to its realistic tone. Although written for children, I enjoyed this book as an adult as it dealt with themes of resilience and prejudice. The book is beautifully read by David Tennant whose voice conveys the heartbreak and isolation this young man feels but also the humor, friendship, and spirit that keep him going.

This book is brilliant!!! It's the story of ten year old Jamie, whose family is fractured due to a terrible event that happened five years earlier, when his sister Rose was blown up by a bomb.

Jamie is a wonderful character. The book is written in the first person, and what Jamie tells us, the readers, is unintentionally funny as he takes things quite literally. But you can also feel his bewilderment and pain at what has happened to his family. He doesn't remember Rose and he doesn't understand why she seems to be all that matters to his parents, rather than him and his other sister Jas. He's also trying to fit into a new school in the Lake District, where he meets a girl who he knows he shouldn't be friends with, and incurs the wrath of the school bully.

Unusually for me, I knew as soon as I started reading this book that I would love it. It's totally uncompromising, and Jamie is quite blunt about what happened to Rose, as kids often are. It kept my interest from start to finish and I loved picking it up to read it.

This is one of the best young adult novels I have read, and it is definitely a book that adults can read and enjoy too. I look forward to seeing what Annabel Pitcher does next, as she is an author to watch in the future.

This is a brilliant, beautiful, funny, real, tender, engaging and wonderful book. On the one hand, an important and current story that reflects on some of today's biggest political issues - and on the other, this is simply a gripping, moving and beautifully written book. Just as Emma Donoghue did with Room, Annabel Pitcher has managed to get inside the head of a young boy who is experiencing events way beyond his understanding, and by drawing the reader into his world, she makes us take a fresh and insightful look not only at the events of the book itself, but at the world around us. Jamie is adorable and his story will move you in every way. I can't wait to read more from this brilliant new author!

Just finished the book in one night, absolutely brilliant! I cried and cried which is not like me and at the same time this book doesn`t leave you in the dark mood after you turn the last page but there is hope to it! I am an avid reader both in English and Russian but I didn`t experience such an emotional rollercoster for a long tme! I don`t get carried away easliy but this was something special! Well done Annabel, it`s a fabulous debut and can`t wait for your next novel! 10/10!!!

What a lovely book this is! Quite unchallenged as one of the best books I've read in months, years! I was only going to take a look at the beginning and then get on with my busy day, but couldn't give it up so I sat down and read the whole book in one go. And I cried too!

Buy a copy. You'll love it!

This book was exciting from the first page. It had an original story line and was very well written you really felt like you knew all the characters. It was sad but there was still a feeling of hope during the story.I would reccomend this book to anyone.

Alison: [...]

Five years ago Rose died. One moment that tore Jamie's family apart. Now his Mum has left them, his Dad is an alcoholic and the only person there for him is his sister Jas, who was Rose's twin. But nobody understands why he doesn't cry for Rose, why he doesn't miss her, because they remember her and he doesn't, he was too young when she died. Now they have moved to the Lake District for a new start, to make things better, only it doesn't seem to be working. Jamie still has deal with school bullies and his mother's indifference. And just how does he explain to his father that his only friend is a Muslim, especially after Islamic terrorists killed his sister.

People have been telling me that I should read this book for months, that it is a heartbreaking, moving story that just deserves to be read. Yet I'd been putting it off because I hated the cover. Yep that's right, me, a school librarian that tells kids daily that they shouldn't judge a book by a cover was put off by a cover. I was so relieved when the Carnegie books were delivered and I found that they had changed the cover for the paperback. One I could get excited about reading it now and two the cover actually matches the story that I'd been told about.

And the story. I'm beginning to wonder if the Carnegie judges have shares in Kleenex this year as this is yet another shortlisted book that can't help but move you to tears. I keep wondering if all the Year 7's shadowing the Awards will give up due to the bleakness of some of the books but they are just so well written that they keep coming back for more. This is no exception. The book is written from Jamie's point of view and by the end you feel as though you know him inside out. However this doesn't stop you from getting to know other characters in the book just as well. Jamie is an incredibly perceptive character so you get to know characters close to him really well too. This book is about how death can tear a family apart and using a younger brother who barely even knew his dead older sister is a very effective way of adding enough distance to see the subtleties in characters behaviour yet keeping close enough to show the devastation that an event like this can cause.

Without going into details I loved the ending to this book. It had such an element of hope to it yet at the same time nothing was perfect, it wasn't a happy ever after, as after all life isn't like that. I may have been reluctant to read this book but I'm glad I did, it may have made me cry but it left me feeling that life may not be perfect, but it really isn't all that bad.

Verdict: At time a laugh out loud story, a times a total tearjerker, a book that deals with the devastation of loss, but reminds you of all you have to live for.

Reviewing the aftermath of a tragedy from an innocent's perspective was done once before, spectacularly, with Dog in the Night-time. But in this case it is personal and there is no autism. From the title it is easy to guess it is the sister's remains that sit on the mantelpiece but is the 'why' and 'because' that make the story. The stroyteller is a 10 year old boy, the family is broken and it is all very sad. I haven't given this book 5 stars because I have a real problem with some aspects, the main one being that someone at school would have contacted the authorities about his lack of hygiene - I have a 10 year old boy and I know there is no way he could have worn the same T-shirt for more than a week without it reeking. Also, the boy in the book behaves like someone at least three years younger. A good read with powerful emotions but my favourite thread is this finely woven books is how the ignorant prejudices of adults control children's lives.

(This review contains spoilers)

My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece chronicles life for Jamie Matthews' family after losing his sister Rose in a terrorist bombing five years earlier. Jamie doesn't really remember Rose, but his parents cannot let go of the past, slowly destroying their family. Jamie and Rose's twin, Jas, are abandoned by their mother and neglected by their father. When they move to a small village far from London - 'away from Muslims' - Jamie meets Sunya. Bullied or ignored by the rest of his classmates, Sunya befriends him. But Sunya is different - TOO different: she is a Muslim, and that is a problem because Muslims Killed My Sister, and his dad hates them.

Seen through the eyes of 10-year-old Jamie, this story, at its core, is moving, painful and funny, and is indeed a little reminiscent of A Curious Incident (Mark Haddon). The narration of the family's grief and eventual coming to terms with it was was quiet and sad. But, in the end the pathos of this book was spoiled for me by a strangely skewed presentation of Muslims. Firstly, Sunya is originally a Hindu name, and strikes me as off right at the outset. Secondly, observant Muslims are unlikely to have a pet dog. Thirdly, the romance and kissing would be out of the question for an observant Muslim, and this wasn't presented even as a conflict, even a little, never mind addressed. Fourthly, I'm sorry, Sunya shows Jamie her hair? Like some great reward? 'You saved me so now I will let you see my hair?' WTH? That isn't how it works XD

I really felt like the idea of Muslim was taken and shaped to fit what the author intended - a way of saying, 'look! It's okay, Muslims are just like us!' rather than taking the differences and saying, 'we're not the same, but it's okay'. It's patronising and colonialistic and overshadows what otherwise could have been a really important, timely book. It's a shame that it is let down by poor research.

A very touching account written from a child's point of view about the impact of sudden loss of a loved one. Having experienced a similar loss and worked with children who are bereaved, I have no hesitation in recommending this for both adults and children. Pitcher take us, through the eyes of 11 year old Jamie, on a journey to understand what has happened and why people behave the way they do. We experience uplifting accounts of the power of friendships and are left in no doubt of the importance of reaching out to a child who is experiencing loss. It shows us how family members come to a point of acceptance. How in their different ways, they accept that loved ones, although always absent, will not be forgotten.