Goose Review

Goose

Author: Dawn O’Porter

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Renee and Flo are eighteen and on the brink of their adult lives. But while Flo is determined to get to uni and take Renee with her, Renee can feel her sense of independence soar.

As Flo turns to the church for support, Renee embarks on a seductive and perilous relationship with an older man…

In their final year before leaving their home on Guernsey, will Renee and Flo still be each other’s soulmates, or is this the end of their relationship?

My review

Feelings about the book:   CONTAINS SPOILERS

I was really looking forward to reading Goose after I finished Paper Aeroplanes however I hate to say it I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book for some reason. I really struggled with the church element of the book as it just seemed to steer the book in a whole other direction to where I thought it was going to go. I know that it was a way for Flo to deal with her grief from losing her father it just seemed to have come out of nowhere and was not something that I was expecting at all. But I could identify with the people who worshiped god but then were a whole other person at school and out in public. I have known a few of these people and I also know the people who are hard core about it all and even have a friend who does a lot of ministering work.

Renee went in the direction I thought she was going to go. I totally saw her dating an older guy and not really caring about school in the end although when it came to the game of chicken I thought she would have been one of the first people to have jumped in, considering what she was like in Paper Aeroplanes (how tough and fearless she was). I was really happy to see that she was having a great time with her Aunt and that she eventually started talking to her sister again and even went over and saw her. However I didn’t really see her turning into a food critique but as soon as it was said I was like, yeah I can totally see her doing that.

I must say that I was shocked by what happened in the end of the book but thought the author did very well with how she let each character deal with it all. But I felt so sorry for the mother for not only losing her husband but to then lose her son (who was all she had left) and then still forgive Renee that was truly amazing. I also loved reading about how she dealt with the guilt of being the one alive in the crash. It was so good to read about what the author perceives to think happens when someone is dealing with survivors guilt and I think she did a remarkable job of it.

Favourite character: In Paper Aeroplanes my favourite character was Flo but in Goose it would defiantly have to be Renee. The way she decides to play chicken and let someone that she barely knows drive her car, just so she can try and make up with Flo was so courageous. I know that if I was in her position and I had her gut feeling that I defiantly wouldn’t have gotten in the car, especially knowing that my car was very temperamental and the person who was driving it didn’t really know how to.

Favourite quote/part: Once again there was a heap of laughs throughout the book and my favourite part contained one of these moments. Renee and Flo broke into their old school to take a memento from there to make Flo feel better. But upon getting there they go into the science room and have to quickly hide while one of their old teachers and the caretaker get it on. After they have finished the girls steal the school’s skeleton. The below scene is what happens when they get home with him.

‘Ahhh, a wedding,’ says Nana, looking thrilled. ‘Who is getting married?’

‘Ricky,’ says Flo. ‘Ricky and Renee.’

I feel Ricky’s feet through the dress and pull it up over his shoulders. ‘Quick, go and get the camera from the drawer in the kitchen,’ I tell Flo. ‘We must document this special day properly.’

She comes round so it is next to me and put the flowery head piece on her that was also in the plastic bag. I have linked Ricky’s arm through mine and I flutter my eyelids as if blissfully in love. I think Nana thinks it’s genuinely a wedding, she is so happy an smiley.

‘Ok, look at your new husband,’ instructs Flo. I turn to Ricky and gaze lovingly into his eye sockets. ‘Do you, Renee, take Ricky to be your lawful wedded husband?

‘I do,’ I say, wistfully.

‘Do you, Ricky, take Renee to be your lawful wedded wife?’

I say ‘I Do’ like a really bad ventriloquist and tug on the neck of the dress so Ricky nods.

‘I now pronounce you hu-‘ But before she can finish her pronouncement the distinctive noise of a sharp hasp stops her going any futher.

Rating: 4/5