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{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Things We Have In Common
|author=Tasha Kavanagh
|isbn=978-1782115946
|website=http://www.convilleandwalsh.com/index.php/authors/author/tasha-kavanagh/
|videocover=1782115943|amazonukaznuk=<amazonuk>1782115943</amazonuk>|amazonusaznus=<amazonus>1782115943</amazonus>
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'''Shortlisted: Costa First Novel Award 2015''' '''Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2016''' Yasmin is fifteen and seriously overweight - her capacity for consuming food will amaze and sicken. She's bullied at school and even her own mother finds her just a little bit weird: let's not go into what her stepfather thinks about her. Her father died a while ago, but Yasmin has never really come to terms with his death and still has the feeling that everything would be OK if only Terry was still around. There's a girl in Yasmin's class called Alice and Yasmin is so in awe of her that she stalks her. One day, in the school playground, she spots a man watching Alice as carefully as she does and becomes obsessed by the idea that the man is going to abduct Alice.
I'm very much in two minds about this book. The portrait of Yasmin is exquisite. Tasha Kavanagh captures her perfectly and produces a complex character, who lies easily, makes ready excuses for her behaviour, even to herself and whose weight (about fifteen stone and rising) is completely out of control. But you have sympathy for her too: her mother is of little help, giving her Maltesers as a treat on the basis that they're very light and one treat won't hurt. There's love there but little in the way of positive support. Yasmin has no friends - in fact her classmates almost vie with each other as to who can be the most cruel. One day someone calls her name and she almost doesn't respond, being far more used to more insulting names being used casually. Yasmin is deeply unsettling, but you can't help wishing that things could work out well for her.
I listened to an audio download narrated by Katy Sobey and it was first class. All the different voices were well distinguished and I was never in any doubt about who was speaking. Particularly impressive was the way that Yasmin's first-person narrative was distinguished from her speaking voice - a nice touch. Sobey also captures the teenage self pity in Yasmin's voice without allowing it to go over the edge into caricature. This is the point at which I usually thank the publishers for sending a copy of the book to the Bookbag, but I bought the download and thought it money well spent.
''Things We Have In Common'' is on one of the [[Costa Book Awards 2015|2015 Costa shortlists]]. For more from that list and available in audio we can recommend [[The Green Road by Anne Enright]] and [[A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson]]. {{amazontext|amazon=1782115943}}
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[[Category:Katy Sobey]]
