Review Blog

Sep 24 2009

Labour day by Joyce Maynard

Harper Collins, 2009. ISBN 9780061920783.
(Age 15+) Recommended. An intriguing novel, written from a thirteen year old's point of view. Henry and his Mother Adele live an unusual and increasingly lonely and dysfunctional life. Into their lives comes Frank, a man with a black past. On a rare visit to a department store Frank attaches himself to the pair. For the next five days over the Labour Day weekend the reader learns of Adele's past, Henry's inner anguish about adolescence; girls, sex and making love and Frank. Henry desperately wants a change over the hot August holidays and that he gets. It's a change within himself as we see him share his innermost thoughts and those he observes from his Mother and Frank with the reader.
It's a psychologically interesting novel highlighting the vulnerability and frailty of the human condition.
Sue Nosworthy