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Jump to navigationJump to searchMay Cause Irritation (The World of Norm) by Jonathan Meres (view source)
Revision as of 07:19, 25 December 2011
, 07:19, 25 December 2011no edit summary
I'm very happy to look back on my review of the first book in this series to see me say it's one to watch, for there is absolutely no dip in quality here. The story is built up brilliantly; despite the pages being very sparsely worded to suit the target audience of irregular readers, there is a richness to detail and the entry into the scenario of a lot of different elements to build up to a peak shows this is a nicely crafted tale of comeuppance.
Once again we're so completely in Norm's world - it's like only he and the narrator call him Norm, to practically everyone else he's Norman - you can easily feel you're reading a first-person narrative. Once again there's a sort of distinctly British attitude to the narration - with ""''doughnut"" '' the biggest insult, and ''flipping'' the greatest swear-word. Once again the pages are suitably embellished with quirky, simple line cartoons to break the page and animate the reader's eye further.
If anything holds this back it's given less by Meres and more by my more mature, adult sensibilities - that of seeing the ending as a little rushed, and the story leaving little change in the world of Norm - possibly hinting at further volumes being a little slight and not featuring much progression.
