Hot Milk

This book is obviously a favourite at the Man Booker this year. But, I can't seem to understand how it comes above "Eileen" or "The Vegetarian". This book is good, but it also lacks something - it lacks some substance. The book overall was average - with the occasional shock.

I read this book, again, because my lecturer spoke about it for about 5 minutes - she couldn't stop big-ing up "Eileen" - which I can now see is a great novel. This one was written very well, I liked the style. Then again, not much happened. But what did happen was very shocking. (AKA the lorry business in the latter part of the book).

Characters:

My favourite character was Rose. She seems so troubled and discontented - so disturbed. She just becomes more and more disturbing as the book progresses and I think that she is quite the point of interest in this novel.

Themes:

My favourite theme was relation and family. Again, this is to do with the fact that Rose is particularly concerned with her mother. She keeps repeating the stuff with the 'wrong water' and the actions in order to (she thinks) make her mother stop talking about her. It seems monotonous - but then the real shock comes in the latter part of the book... it involves her mother...

Storyline:

Okay, so no spoilers - but the latter half of the book was MUCH better than the first half. In the first half I was thinking "really? Is that it? Lesbian romance wins then..." By the latter half I was thinking "yay, something else. Matricide maybe?" Well, she always thinks about killing her mother - what she does is a little stranger.

Verdict:

I give this book 79

100% for characters: I really liked Rose. She seemed like a very down to earth character with real life problems and a completely messed up head. 

100% for themes: The theme of relation and family were the best - the descent into the end of the book and that finish was amazing!

1/3 for storyline: Too short and not enough shock - some of it was predictable, but some of it was just "why?"