An interesting dissection (Raking the Ashes - Anne Fine)

Member Name: UK1981_female

Product:	Raking the Ashes - Anne Fine
Date:	20/06/09 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple plot yet intriguing

Disadvantages: Writing style takes time to get used to

'Raking the Ashes' is a novel written by Anne Fine and was first published in 2005. Anne Fine writes adult fiction as well as fiction for children. In fact she is quite a well-known children's writer and when I picked up this book from the library I thought that her name seemed awfully familiar but I just couldn't place it. Turns out she is the same Anne Fine that wrote 'Flour Babies' - a book I do remember quite well from when I was an early teen.


THE PLOT OF THE BOOK

'Raking the Ashes' is about the relationship between Tilly and Geoff. Tilly is the main character of the book and as it is written in the first person context, everything that happens in the story we see through Tilly's eyes.

Now although the storyline of this book being about Tilly and Geoff's relationship doesn't seem to sound like much, what Anne Fine actually does in this book is dissect their relationship, which is probably much like many relationships between two people, in their 40s who have been together for 20 years or so.

Their relationship is far from perfect, they do not communicate very well with each other, they are not honest with each other about important issues, and sadly it seems that their relationship is really one of convenience than anything else.

Tilly wants to leave Geoff, but how will she do it? Well read the book to find out, as I will not tell you what happens and spoil it!


MY OPINION

When I first started reading this I didn't like it much. I think Anne Fine has quite a 'chatty' style of writing, and I felt as though I was expected to be able to follow her without being given enough information to do so. As the book progressed however I found this was less of a problem and that I had actually adapted to her style of writing, which didn't seem quite as dislikeable after a while.

In terms of the plot of this book - I did wonder at first how interesting a book about a relationship between Tilly and Geoff could be. Okay yes it was a dysfunctional relationship but we hear about those all the time don't we? Well yes we do, but the art with which Anne Fine describes just how pointless their relationship is quite intriguing to read and that may be because the details of the problems in Tilly and Geoff's lives are ones which many people can recognise.

The central character of this book is Tilly. Although I know it is not necessarily the motive of the author for us to like the central character, I wanted to like Tilly! She almost feels like she is a bit of a victim in the relationship. By this I don't mean a victim of physical or even emotional abuse, but just that things are not being done right by her. Whilst there are many examples in the story which show that her feelings are perhaps justified, I didn't like Tilly very much because actually, she is no angel herself. Like I said though, maybe Anne Fine didn't want her readers to like Tilly.

Overall I think this book worked because of it's simplicity in terms of the plot, yet the excellent detailed examination of how things can be so wrong in a relationship which seems okay on the surface.

In terms of whether or not I was satisfied with the ending - well like I said, I don't want to give anything away, but I was quite shocked at how things turned out, which is always a nice thing!


You can buy this online from Amazon for £5.99 (new) or £0.01 (used).
Pages: 409
ISBN-10: 0552772852

Summary: A good read overall!