The Crash of Hennington

Patrick Ness' debut novel is hefty like the rhinos which feature within it. That was my very first impression. And my next impression was "gosh, this typeface along with the slightly yellow pages in this brand new book make it seem really old." And then "Gosh, this is a bit inappropriate". And then "What's actually supposed to be happening here?". And eventually "wow."

It turns out that it wasn't just the typeface and the pages that made this story seem old. The whole thing was strangely allegorical of something. It was an odd set up. A subversive society (much like our own) where rhinos walk the streets because they always have done. And that's literally all that starts this story. The rest just happens at a natural pace. A frighteningly realistic pace, actually. That's the thing about this book. Despite the rhinos and the brothel golf clubs and the strange drug habits and traditions, Hennington is all too familiar. And it's quite powerful.

As the novel begins, we see the lives of a whole host of different characters. Some are connected, some aren't. And then the novel quite honestly snowballs. One things leads to the next, and everything gradually comes together, speeds up and gets all the more powerful. The characters are so perfectly realised and the ideas are truly imaginative.

By the end, you realise that there's plenty that could be analysed. One thing I'm still working on is why no speech marks are used. That was a bit annoying. But perhaps there's a reason. Maybe it shows how people's external voices just seem like a list (hence the dashes before people speak) of internal voices all happening at the same time. That might be the case, and you do get into it after a while. It does make some sections quite hard to read, though.

That said, this novel was so different to Ness' other books, but equally as inventive, thought provoking and gripping. There's so much going on to keep your attention through the multitude of pages, with realistic, hateable and likeable characters. It's basically like the original "The Casual Vacancy" but better. And with rhinos.

9/10

Thanks to Agent Leo for the book as a birthday present. I will soon be reading "Topics About Which I Know Nothing", the only Patrick Ness book I haven't read so far.