Opposed Positions by Gwendoline Riley

[dantier27]

This book really isn't what I'd normally go for. Looking at my bookshelf was all I had to do to realise this (George R.R Martin's Game of Thrones being the newest book I had added to my expansive collection). Even so, I welcomed the change from fantasy and magic, and decided I try this when it was recommend by Flow's Book Club.

'Pleasantly surprised' is an understatement for what I felt when I first began reading this book. I had braced myself for hours of re-reading sentences and flicking back and forth between chapters so that an understanding could be made, but yet I found myself not doing so at all. Actually, the first time I stopped reading I looked down and saw that I was on page 102 and an hour had passed.

Opposed Positions is one of those books in which you begin reading and cannot stop. The storyline is extremely compelling, so much so that at one am the night I began reading it almost pained me to stop knowing that I wouldn't possibly be able to get up the next morning if I kept going. I really loved the sense of mystery in the first few chapters. Riley doesn't give us a very vivid description of- well anything, really. Yet, she gives the reader enough. I found that the further I went, the more I wanted find out about Aislinn Kelly.

I also really liked how blunt Riley is with the reader, in the sense that everything she writes about Aislinn's background sounds harsh but yet it is a very true description of many people's upbringing and I think lots of people will be able to relate for different reasons- the broken home, failed relationships, the need to escape, loneliness and exclusion. I think it's amazing how even though very little of this is actually said, the author manages to communicate it almost casually in Aislinn's conversations or in her descriptions of her life.

The last thing I really, really loved about this book is the fact that although it deals with quite serious and heavy themes, I found it to be a very easy, enjoyable read. The print is quite large in the book too, which makes the text a lot easier to read in general. Again as I said before, I was expecting a novel that would break my heart by leaving me confused and frustrated yet I am delighted to say it didn't. I've never read anything like this book before and I am really surprised that I enjoyed it so much. The story was very well thought out and I really felt that I could relate to Aislinn in some parts. This is, all round, a great novel which I will definitely re-read very soon and which I will be recommending to all of my friends. Coming from an author whom I had never heard of before, the quality of the writing in this novel was a surprise and I will definitely be trying to get my hands on more of her work.