The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.

Group Reviews:

I felt this book was more suitable for teenagers and young adults. Not much substance to the story.

I have read the book and enjoyed the read…I liked his style of writing, the use of first person and from the perspective of a young child to adult was an interesting way of telling a story..  The story too, was unusual.   For some reason when the tale  is two thirds through, maybe more,  it starts to lose its edge for me somehow, perhaps because so much happens all at once.  But I’m thinking he must have it had or film in mind because visually it would be pumping up the volume.  Can just hear the music building in the  background as they drive through the trees towards the lone house, tension building etc….   Then the scenario in the house and visuals depicting ghostly figures. ……

A collection of seventeen wonderful short stories showing that two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks is as talented a writer as he is an actor.

A hectic, funny sexual affair between two best friends. A World War II veteran dealing with his emotional and physical scars. A second-rate actor plunged into sudden stardom and a whirlwind press junket. A small-town newspaper columnist with old-fashioned views of the modern world. A woman adjusting to life in a new neighbourhood after her divorce. Four friends going to the moon and back in a rocket ship constructed in the backyard. A teenage surfer stumbling into his father’s secret life.

These are just some of the people and situations that Tom Hanks explores in his first work of fiction, a collection of stories that dissects, with great affection, humour and insight, the human condition and all its foibles. The stories are linked by one thing: in each of them, a typewriter plays a part, sometimes minor, sometimes central. To many, typewriters represent a level of craftsmanship, beauty and individuality that is harder and harder to find in the modern world. In his stories, Mr Hanks gracefully reaches that typewriter-worthy level.

Group Reviews:

An interesting collection of short stories and a good balance of characters with the typewriter going on in the background.

This months book comprised a bunch of stories, some very entertaining, some fairly bland and the remainder didn’t seem worth pursuing.

I found that the subject matter was very American, which I liked. Although it was clear from references to technology that  many of the stories were set in modern times it felt that they were set in earlier times (1950’s?)

Overall I found it ok and would give it a neutral score.

Born on a Somerset pea-field in 1941, the second of eight children in a Romani family, Maggie Smith-Bendell has lived through the years of greatest change in the travelling community’s long history. As a child, Maggie rode and slept in a horse-drawn wagon, picked hops and flowers, and sat beside her father’s campfire on ancient verges, poor but free to roam. As the twentieth century progressed, common land was fenced off and the traditional ways disappeared. Eventually Maggie married a house-dweller and tried to settle for bricks and mortar, but she never lost the restless spirit, the deep love of the land and the gift for storytelling that were her Romani inheritance.
Maggie’s story is one of hardship and prejudice, but also, unforgettably, it recalls the glories of the travelling life, in the absolute safety of a loyal and loving family.

Group Review:

Rabbit Stew followed the lives of a Romany family growing up and travelling through the south west of England. It depicted the lifestyle, customs and challenges as they tried to make a living in the traditional ways. The author had very little schooling but managed to support her mother and later her father as was expected. She also spoke out for other Romany families who were facing challenges with the authorities and often called upon to fight for them which was interesting. She didn’t talk about the perception of litter being left as they moved location and although the book was interesting it did seem to gloss over some of the more unpleasant aspects of life in communities.