I ordered Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine into the library as it was the recent winner of the Guardian Children’s book award. It was a good book but perhaps the award winning thing had set my expectations too high, because in the end I felt a bit meh.

The premise of the story was great – a teenage boy, Lucas, rescues an old woman’s ashes from a taxi office where they have been abandoned for five years. He becomes friends with the woman (Violet Park) as he discovers more about her life. Along the way Lucas also learns a lot about his own family. The story had lots of interesting moments and the idea of having to face uncomfortable facts about a person you love was dealt with well. And the grandparents were believable and interesting characters.

But the story tied up a bit too neatly. Some aspects of the main character’s growth were made less interesting by him just telling us that he had felt something or discovered something, rather than it occurring naturally through the story. I thought some of the relationships could have been explored further as well, such as that between Lucas and his mother, while his blissfully happy relationship with his girlfriend almost feels tacked onto the story.

Has anyone else read this and been blown away by its style or some other element? I read a review that praised the story for its realistic teenage boy main character, and while I admit there aren’t a whole heap of teenage main characters that spring to mind* I just don’t think this is the best example on offer.

* John Green’s books being the first I think of as an exception but I'm sure I could remember more if I wasn't too slack to spend ten more minutes thinking...

Tags: books, valentine, young adult