Revewed at 'Stuck in a Book'...

Another review, this time by Simon Thomas at Stuck in a Book.

He says:

Words from a Glass Bubble by Vanessa Gebbie has a … varied group of scenarios, narrators and themes - but her voice is rather harsher, more concerned with the gritty and the earthy. Occasionally a quieter voice creeps through, which leaves one staring at the page at the sheer pathos Gebbie can create. 'The Kettle on the Boat', for instance, where parents quietly take their Inuit daughter away on a boat; she narrates the journey, and leave her for adoption: "If I am not there to help, how will Mama know when the fish are ready?"

The one I wanted to point to, though, is 'Cactus Man'. 'The Kettle on the Boat' was my favourite, but 'Cactus Man' is perhaps more representative. 'Spike', an enthusiast and collector of cacti, wants to discover his real name because he is getting married. He visits a social worker who can look through his files and tell him.

'I was saying how unusual your case is.'
'Can't be doing with too much usual.'
'Sorry?'
'We feed off being unusual, us lot.'
'Oh, I see'.

The story is one of muted disappointment, understated grief and an eventual path of hope for Spike. Gebbie is at her most subtle here, and manages to evoke the lives of her central characters completely, visualised through the stilted attempts of Spike to gain a firmer grasp on his identity. There is nothing so saccharine as a 'love conquers all' message here …but a sense that hope can be found amongst fragility and discouragement.


I'm glad he picked that one to represent the book. It's my favourite story.

Glass Bubble was reviewed alongside Balancing on the Edge of the World, by Elizabeth Baines... he loved her book, as did I.

The whole review can be found HERE
.