FLICK by ABIGAIL TARTTELIN

‘…its true, we know what we lack – why d’you think we’re wankered half the time?’

Sometimes you read a book and it hits you in the heart unexpectedly. Something incredibly hopeless and ugly can actually have beauty and meaning. Be a life lesson and a discovery.

Flick our main male character tells a story that’s incredibly real, powerful and uncomfortable. It’s also a photographic snapshot of the now – the today. The actualisation of a certain demographic and the societal and cultural aspects that are the reality for some teenagers today in Britain.

‘Oh take me, self-pity, drag me down into your sweet nothingness.’

As I read I felt morose and despondent. Wanting to shake, rescue or parent our Flick. He’s an intelligent, clued up teenager that almost comes across wise beyond his years. Perhaps a little too mature. Completely aware and at ease with what his life entails and the prospects and reality of it. There were moments where I smiled or laughed; some in irony – some at the humour displayed through Flick.

‘I guess maybe we just have to accept at some point that our problems are our own fault and start dealing with them.’

Flick is extremely well written; so raw, evocative and descriptive it places you into the story. You see the sights, smell the fear and broken dreams and feel every ounce of what Flick feels. The self-acceptance and the given of the future is both heart-breaking yet understandable at the same time. It is what it is. Sometimes it takes more to stay than to leave. Sometimes leaving would be the easier option. Sometimes you know what you’re supposed to do but you chose not to. You know what’s what and you regretfully accept it. It’s a harsh reality of life.

‘Don’t you just want to give up on making this huge effort to get out and change things? Change isn’t necessarily for the better. Life’s all right, isn’t it?’

What would motivate you to change your life; seek a more favourable future? Love? A rainbow with the pot of gold at the end? Whilst I think Flick is a fantastic provocative read – at times – it did feel overwritten and perhaps taken too far in certain scenes which weren’t necessary. The story is poignant in itself – the message clear. I have to applaud the Author on where she took this story; it was real and not what can be the norm in fiction. I highly recommend this very different and original read!

‘Think of that person you knew when you were a kid, who you always thought you could have loved completely and forever. Well, you could have. It’s the truth, and it’s the saddest and simplest thing. There isn’t just one person for each of us in the world. There aren’t many, but there are always a few people we could have made it with, that maybe we still want to make it with, that press themselves so close to our hearts they leave scars, and then slip through our fingers and disappear from our lives. And it doesn’t make a difference if you’re thirteen or ninety- eight because some things you feel are real, no matter when.’

**Reviewed from an ARC Copy provided by Atria Books with thanks**