Silence is Goldfish by Annabel PitcherMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Silence is Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher
I was sent this book for the Goodreads Giveaways.
By the author of Ketchup Clouds and My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, Silence is Goldfish is about fifteen-year-old Tess who discovers her father isn't her real father. She starts out by realising what has happened, that she feels she has been living a lie for the past few years, deciding she will pack a few of her things and go looking for her real father, regardless. Tess would love nothing more than to tell her mother how she feels about her recent awful discovery, but she instead holds her disappointment inside, letting it fester away at her.
She packs her children's torch, which is in the shape of a goldfish, tissues, two chocolate bars and a magazine and it will be a big leap for her from living in Manchester to going to London. The story's heroine sounds like a female version of Adrian Mole with her trying to find meaning in her teenage life away from home. Jedi the dog and her Star Wars duvet (she has a thing about Luke Skywalker). From the start, Tess takes the reader on a journey through her young life before she leaves for London and after. She has thought of what her father left on his computer that let Tess to her decision to not call him her dad, and leave home as she feels invisible to her parents, especially her mother who rarely spoke to her. She wants to confide in Isabel, her best friend, but she wimps-out every time. The reality of what she viewed on her dad's computer haunts her all the way though.
There are pop culture references a plenty in this; Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and TV series characters spring off the page, giving both Tess and Isabel humorous one liners. Silence is Goldfish is a normal book at first, then Tess's goldfish torch talks while she stays mute. Annabel's story is funny, witty and worth reading as it spans a few months in the life of a young teenager who has everything going for her with friends, school and one time her father leaves an email open on his computer, Tess feels as though she loses it all and feels the need for her real father and even a new life.
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