It was an eye-opener to realise that leprosy was so recently an incurable disease. Life on Spinalonga was fascinating, and, ironically, an escape from the atrocities of WWII. But unfortunately the book was not a well written account and this spoilt the read for me.
I would have preferred to have cut out the clumsy structure of the book as a young girl's search into her mother's hidden history and concentrated on life for a leper as it was in the first half of the twentieth century.
It was scope for such a wonderful tale, centering around the leper island and the neighbouring mainland, but it had an unbelievable element to it.
Having said that, our book group gave it a hesitant seal of approval simply because it caused us to think about an horrendous disease that changed people's lives so dramatically up until quite recently.

I shall now go and find a copy of Under Their Skin by Dinah Kung as recommended by several other reviewers.

This is a book for book groups whose members have plenty of reading time and who enjoy a bit of a challenge. I got as far as P170 and gave up - it had taken 2 weeks to get that far and I'm an avid reader. Those who got through it really enjoyed it though and encouraged me to have another go!
From the discussion of those who read it, I would say that the title is a bit of a misnomer; the hermaphrodite character is only part of the story, the remainder is more of a family saga.
Recommended with reservations as only half the group completed it.

This was one of those books that people seemed to love or hate but the resulting discussion was quite good.
Personally I thought there was too much description of surfing but there were many redeeming features and astute observations.
The story went into great detail of Pikelet's early years but whizzed through his later life at disprportionate speed.
In its defense, this book makes some interesting comments on fitting in and dicing with danger as a teenager.
I'd give it 3 out of 5 as a book group read.

I know I'm going to be shot down in flames for not enjoying this as much as other readers, but for me it was slow going. I can appreciate its merit as a study of a bygone era and there was much to admire in the characterisations, but a book is not enjoyable if I have to force myself to pick it up.
I was reading it for a book group and the ensuing discussion was excellent but it put me in mind of Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which I also found hard work.

The Nolans are a poor Brooklyn family with an industrious mother but an alcoholic father. Not a nasty alcohlic, in fact a fun loving, gentle alcoholic, but not a regular wage earner. The two children, Francie and Neeley, do everything they can to help bring in a few extra coins and the family scrapes by.
As the years pass we follow the family's fortunes through Francie, the eldest, as she goes out into the workplace at 14 and starts to earn a living.

Interestingly, much of the book seems to be autoboigraphical as Betty Smith was born in Brooklyn at about the same time as Francie and would have lived a similarly difficult life. Her Bio does not mention if her father was an alcoholic but no doubt she would have had neighbours with similar problems.

I can see why this has become a classic and the other memebers of our book group gave it high marks, just not my cup of tea.

Be warned, this is a time consuming read.
Only three people managed to attend our meeting this month but shamefully none of us had managed to finish the book.
We managed a passable discussion of the first half.
I fully intend to complete it but to date it is still on tbr.

This was a very clever book that rightfully earned the accolades it has accrued. We read it for a book group and it engendered some lively discussion about the fate of young offenders.

I was impressed how we were persuaded to feel affection for a character who we believed had committed an atrocity as a 10 year old, in spite of the unacceptable nature of his deed. We almost forgave him his 'misdemenour' as he made his way through life as a naiive young adult.

The author has a wonderful way with words - I particularly liked the quote: "He dunks a chunk of his tomato into the ketchup, before he realizes the absurdity of the action, and then finds that, in fact, even tomato is improved with ketchup".

Boy A does not slot into life on the "outside" easily and I think it is the way he genuinely struggles to make a go of it that endears him to the reader; we have the advantage of viewing his life from the inside and it is this that distinguishes him from other offenders.

The book certainly provides lots of food for thought and grounds for discussion. In fact several members of our reading group were reluctant to read it because of the subject matter, and in the end were very glad that they had.