The Book Boy by Joanna Trollope
Illiteracy, Abuse and Fight for Freedom
Joanna Trollope's The Book Boy explores the psychology of a woman who is trapped by her illiteracy and her fight to escape her own family's perceptions of her.
The Book Boy is a deceptively simple, short book. It is a story of an ordinary woman living an everyday life on the surface. Its style is simplistic, using common, everyday language. But you don’t need fancy words to make an impact, and this excellently crafted web of lives and life-changing decisions does precisely that.
Synopsis
Alice s married to Ed, father of their teenage children, Craig and Becky. Her family are used to seeing her behaving like nothing more than a downtrodden wife and mother, doing and saying little or nothing in her life. But Alice has a shameful secret, which has allowed her husband to get away with mentally abusing her for years – she is illiterate.
However, as Alice begins to realise what kind of a role model she is being for her daughter, and how her son is displaying signs of the same attitudes as his father, she struggles to come to terms with her need to change how she is perceived by the family. Thus begins her own personal fight for freedom.
With her decision to try and learn to read comes a new confidence, and this is used to full effect on a most unusual source of help, a renegade called Scott Miller, who has befriended Craig for his own ends. Scott is a most unusual ally for Alice, but this story proves that, if you are desperate for change, you will find a way.
Hidden Depths, Confinement and Insecurity
All the characters harbour their own insecurities and secrets and many are linked to the theme of confinement:
- Alice suffers mental confinemen
- rced on her by her inability to read and the way she is treated by others.
- Scott, the disruptive influence,
- a mother who ignores him, and has turned to disruptive behaviour as a means of attention. He yearns for the freedom to just be himself.
- Rami, the corner shopkeeper&rsqu
- brother, has settled for the confinement of his family as a kind of self-punishment for trying to break free as a young man.
- Even the mighty and mentally abu
- Ed has his own insecurities which dictated to him his choice of wife. He needed to feel dominant and in control, so Alice was the perfect choice. It is interesting to watch the way in which his character develops as Alice begins to rise above her own insecurities.
Scary Truths and Soul-Searching Questions
As readers of this short book, we are faced with some facts which some may find it hard to deal with. As Craig becomes more and more like his father, both in looks and in attitude, Alice realises how easy it is for the young and impressionable to be influenced by their surrounding environment and the attitudes which are displayed around them. It demonstrates so very clearly just how easily a child’s mind can be moulded by a strong influence – in this case, Ed’s attitude towards Alice and her own attitude towards herself.
It, therefore, throws up some interesting and thought-provoking questions:
· How are we perceived by people who really matter?
· How much does it matter what they think – enough to change how we talk, think and behave?
An Inspirational Read
Read this book, cry, and be inspired by the sheer guts of a woman who is able to teach her daughter about emancipation by living through the experience. The Book Boy is published by Bloomsbury (2006, ISBN 978-0747582113) as part of the series of “Quick Reads”. It may take only a short while to read, but the emotive power of Alice’s story will remain with you for a long time to come.
