134,727
edits
Changes
Owl Song at Dawn by Emma Claire Sweeney (view source)
Revision as of 14:48, 5 August 2016
, 14:48, 5 August 2016no edit summary
{{infobox
|title=Owl Song at Dawn
|sort=Owl Song at Dawn
|author=Emma Claire Sweeney
|reviewer=Ani Johnson
Emma ensures that, as we drift into the story and experience the past vignettes peppering the current action, we fall in love with the people she sets before us. It draws us in gradually, as we remain unaware of the shocks that are going to be revealed. Once they surface, we marvel at Maeve's strength. She's no saint; I yelled at her as well as at the book but also cried, gasped and giggled.
In fact Emma mixes the bitter and the sweet in a way that ambushes us. For instance it's funny to watch Maeve subtly drill black-and-white-with-no-shades-of-grey Steph and Len in what they can and can't say to their key worker. Then among the giggles we the fact that it has to be done in order for them to have what we take for granted hits our awareness like a train.
At the end it's Maeve's voice we remember along with Edie's chirped paragraphs of snippets and sayings that made her Edie. We grow to love Vince too but these twins are what makes this book such a rich tapestry of many colours and textures. Intertwined in Emma's creative stitching is an almost subliminal dual message that Edie, Len and Steph write on our imaginations. Firstly we're gently led to the conclusion there is no such thing as disabled people, just people with disabilities (an important difference). Secondly, it seems that their greatest disability is the way that society perceives and treats them. A sobering thought.