Lisa Manterfield

A thank you to the publisher-- I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Smallest Thing by Lisa Manterfield is a YA novel about Emmott Sydall, a 17-year-old who lives in a small English village and wants to run away with her boyfriend to London, but is forced to stay in her town because of dramatic events. This story is very loosely based on occurrences in the town of Eyam during the Bubonic plague-- the town quarantined itself to save neighboring towns from infection and hundreds of residents died. However, this book is set in modern times.

The book is written with Emmott as the narrator in present tense. We move through the events as she experiences them over the course of about two months, the chapters being selected days during this time. Without including spoilers, we see Emmott interact with her boyfriend Ro, her father, her best friend Deb, a possible new love interest, and various neighbors. It's a story of growing up and realizing what matters most.

It's a charming little book and although I think it reads a little younger than the age group it's intended for, it was pleasant. It felt very English because of the language and I really loved that part. It was like I got to watch a Lifetime movie from Britain, which is something I'd love to do!

Now, the critique... (I'm taking a class on narrators now so forgive me but I can't get past my hyperfocus on narration!) The problem I had with it was that Emmott (kind of a cringey name for a female but it's based on a real person by that name, so...) goes through the events in real time, so we as readers are along for the ride... and frankly it's exhausting. She narrates her own thoughts constantly instead of revealing them through dialogue or other characters, and I struggled to stick with her analysis. It's so weird, but we never get to really see into Emmott's character, even though we spend so much time listening to her thoughts. She calls herself a rebel, but I don't think that we ever really get there. I think that sometimes authors forget that the reader can glean information about the characters without having everything spelled out. {Myself as a fake editor: I wonder if Emmott would be better off narrating about this time in her life as she looks back on it as an adult. Maybe that way, her blossoming into maturity would make more sense. Because in hindsight it's much easier to see why things happened the way they did. It can be difficult to see the wisdom behind an immediate crisis situation as it unfolds.}

I really enjoyed Lisa Manterfield's other work [b:A Strange Companion|39671077|A Strange Companion|Lisa Manterfield|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1522252889l/39671077._SY75_.jpg|55680363] much more, but I'm grateful for the free copy of this one! Thank you!… (altro)

The premise of this book is very good. There is so much an author can do with a quarrantined village and a mystery illness.

But I have to admit that I did not like the main character. She was immature, spoilt and very disrespectful towards her parents. I also did not like the fact that she tried to justify her behaviour and judements. What I do have to say is that Emmott grew as a character and her bratty self was soon left behind as the reality of her situation set in.

Lisa Manterfield portrayed the stressess and horror of living in a forced quarantine situation very well.

I am of two minds in recommending this book. On the one hand, the premise is excellent, but ... well, in the end you have to decide for yourself.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.… (altro)