July 19, 2012

Going to Granny's Aid • A Greyhound of a Girl

A Greyhound of a Girl book cover
A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Amulet Books
Publication Date: September 1, 2011
Source/Format: NetGalley (Thanks!) || e-galley
[I received this book from the publisher. This in no way affects the contents of my review.]

Mary O'Hara is a sharp and cheeky 12-year-old Dublin schoolgirl who is bravely facing the fact that her beloved Granny is dying. But Granny can't let go of life, and when a mysterious young woman turns up in Mary's street with a message for her Granny, Mary gets pulled into an unlikely adventure. The woman is the ghost of Granny's own mother, who has come to help her daughter say good-bye to her loved ones and guide her safely out of this world. She needs the help of Mary and her mother, Scarlett, who embark on a road trip to the past. Four generations of women travel on a midnight car journey. One of them is dead, one of them is dying, one of them is driving, and one of them is just starting out.

I actually picked A GREYHOUND OF A GIRL out on Netgalley because I was intrigued by the cover and the title. The end result is a delightful, if slightly odd story about four generations of women in a family - Mary, Mary’s Mom, Granny and Granny’s mom - who come together to be with Granny, as she’s dying. 

It took some time to get used to the POV shifts, writing style and the language, but it was a pretty entertaining book overall. My favorite part was getting to know each character intimately through their chapters. Readers get to discover each woman’s story and personality because of the POV shifts, and that definitely added to the book’s charm. 

RODDY DOYLE has written a quiet, creative tale, though I feel like it’s for a younger age group. It may be slightly odd to me, but A GREYHOUND OF A GIRL is pretty charming overall.

1 Comments:

  1. Ooh! I review this one back in April and I'm a bit surprised that more people weren't talking about it.

    I absolutely LOVE the cover (&, yeah, that definitely played a factor in initially drawing me in). Once I read the book however, I discovered a really sweet mother-daughter story.

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