The World of Norm: 9: May Still Be Charged by Jonathan Meres
| The World of Norm: 9: May Still Be Charged by Jonathan Meres | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: Yes the story is paper-thin this time round, but the key parts of the pleasures these books bring are all to the fore, and clear to see. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 288 | Date: October 2015 |
| Publisher: Orchard Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781408334119 | |
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If you ever wondered what Harry Enfield's Kevin going UUH, that's SO unFAIR!! but stretched to the length of a book sounds like then wonder no longer. Norm is only twelve but he already knows life is completely unfair. He has a horrid girl next door who annoyingly wants to spend time talking with him, he has two awful younger brothers, he has school, and he has a world of parents and adults around him all wittering on in the most weird, antique phrasing. They don't help him understand the world at all, just lay all the world's problems on his shoulders and move on. This morning in concern, for instance, Norm has hardly moved at all – he's still in bed when he's been grounded. His parents have looked up his phone bill online, and it's rather long. As long as Norm's entire list of woes, perhaps – and therefore is just one more thing that's a burden. And as life is so unfair, the only way out is to wait for his parents to decide between him paying them back or grounding him for a month – until something even worse, more unwelcome and more unfair gets mentioned…
This is just one more instance of this successful series being pretty funny, breezily readable and downright enjoyable. It's more or less self-contained, inasmuch as we get succinct snippets defining Norm's world and situation at relevant times, and while one of those borrows a fact from the previous book, that's not essential to the fun we get here. No, the essential quality is Norm, and the way he's presented, and even when the story here is incredibly slight, it's still a joy to be in his company.
Norm is, to put it mildly, the most obtuse person on the planet. Nothing delivered to him in a level manner gets through correctly – he takes it all the wrong way, in countless quotable instances. Of course, this is a perfect example of the generation gap – either the parents are so literal he cannot understand them, or they use a weird phrase that makes no sense because it's just too plain old, or – well, if anything were said to him Norm would probably have a word or two to snap back. Certainly the narration is full of glimpses behind his quizzical brow at him wondering what on earth is being said to him and why.
The presentation of all this wordplay, obtuseness and cleverness is added to by Norm's beloved own metaphors, and exaggerations. And a lot of this hyperbole and added nonsense gets a cartoon illustration, courtesy of Donough O'Malley, which is not the only thing to break the page up and make it suitable for the reluctant reader. I was surprised when a page or two had as few as three paragraphs on, for many times it's a lot more, and all have a line break in between, even when it's one-word dialogue lines. That and the use of bold to further capture Norm's voice and emphasis enlivens the page for the eye, and the book is great fun to speed through as a result.
By highlighting the obtuseness, hyperbole, and how the creators have gone about things sounds a little too scientific when read back. But make no mistake, this is a result of art – it’s far too pleasurable and fun, with a prime and intelligent kind of silliness, and even this far into the series doesn't feel like a contractual obligation. Instead it's an episode of a great, snappy, articulate and erudite sitcom for the young – and for anyone older who can see the joy of a well-crafted whimsy such as this. I've not read all nine books of this cycle, but I've not seen anything to doubt how welcome a host more would prove to be.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy. We also have a review of book ten in the series.
The same audience will very much enjoy Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie by Jeff Norton.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The World of Norm: 9: May Still Be Charged by Jonathan Meres at Amazon.com.
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