WONDERBOY by Fiona Gibson

"Life is a labyrinth..."

Wonderboy

Posted: October 12, 2005

Life is a labyrinth -- isn't it? You enter at point A and make your way through each twist and turn and hopefully end up at point B feeling quite proud of your journey. Ro and Marcus Skews move to the country with their young son Tod in tow. Nothing very remarkable about that except that they are city people through and through. Ro is reluctant, to say the least, about uprooting herself from the city and starting over in a rather odd little house badly in need of repair. But she reminds herself that Tod could benefit from the move and a new beginning so she starts on the road to becoming country. Small towns are full of interesting characters and Chetsley is no exception. Characters also run in both Ro and Marcus's extended families so there is no lack for zany relatives. Marcus is busy with work and away for much of the time so we spend a great deal of time learning the ropes along with Ro and Tod. Their lives seem so simple in the beginning with just the usual family issues but then you begin to read between the lines. Lives are never simple.

The narration is done through a running dialogue which is oft times self deprecating and frequently very funny. It took awhile to get familiar with British slang but once mastered the narrative flowed very well. Gibson did a good job of developing characters that begin to matter to the reader. Ro becomes a treasured friend and Tod is a little boy that you just want to protect. Tod's fascination with mazes is carefully intertwined with the story of their family and with his development into an imaginative, well adjusted child. At times what Gibson doesn't say is more important then what she does. She paints a rather vivid picture for the reader but doesn't necessarily color everything in -- some parts are left to the reader to fill in. She gives her reader credit for having an active imagination. Even vital characters are described by their personalities and oddities more then physical attributes. The reader can identify with Gibson's characters -- they are probably just like people they have met while traversing their life's mazes.

Book Summary

Ghastly new home. Potentially adulterous husband... Not quite the fresh start in the country she was promised.

A fixer-upper in the sticks was the last place city girl Ro Skews expected to live. But her husband, Marcus, wants it -- and all the arguments are on his side, namely a better life for Tod, their wonderboy, who has developed social problems in London. Of course, the five-year-old has never been the most... conventional child.

While Ro (grudgingly) makes a life for herself in stuffy Chetsley (if you can count reaping the whirlwind of floor sanding and playing Suburban Lawn Warfare with her sexy neighbor as a life), Marcus starts spending more nights in the city with his cell phone switched off. And Tod, whose fascination with mazes seems to have blossomed into a full-blown obsession, treads the worrying line between eccentric and problematic.

Ro searches for the right path in a few mazes of her own -- her marriage, motherhood, country customs -- but when she unearths a shattering secret, more than one truth is revealed and Ro is left wondering: Is the country any place to raise a family?

Wonderboy

by: Fiona Gibson

Red Dress Ink
September 2, 2005
Featuring: Ro Skews
320 pages
ISBN: 0373895321
Trade Size

Add to Wish List

Available in:

Amazon

Powell's Books