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The Invisible Ones

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The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney

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By Stef Penney

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1 review

Reviews

01 Jul 2020

Donna May

St Just Thursday Evening Reading Group 4th June 2020.

The invisible ones. Stef Penney.

Everyone in this group said they enjoyed the book. We all found it very interesting, particularly the depiction of Romany culture, which was done without being overly romantic or sentimental. Several readers described their own encounters with the gypsy community; others had never really come across it. The dual narrative was generally appreciated, and the characters were thought very convincing. We all thought the plot was gripping – a real mystery – and the suspense was built up well. Quite a page-turner.

Further comments were made about marginalism: the gypsies were on the edge of society, JJ, in his narrative, is seen to be on the edge of both the gypsy community and of mainstream society, as well as being between a child and an adult himself. Some readers did, and some did not, foresee that Ivo was a woman.

Adverse criticisms were that the book was too long – 100 pages or so could have been left out; too many loose ends were left untied (the sexual/drug attack, and the trip to Lourdes, when they knew that Ivo could not have been 'cured'), and several unnecessary characters introduced (e.g., Lulu's disabled friend; the friend of the girl who helps JJ). A family tree for the Jankos, and a date line on the chapters, would have made the whole thing less muddling; and the end was over-complicated or messy. Despite these, it did seem to be quite a popular and readable book.

This book was read during May and June 2020 and the national lockdown because of the Covid-19 virus, and so the discussion was not 'live' as usual, but took place via a Facebook group, email and telephone conversations.

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