Wasps in the Ice Cream - Coming-of-Age and Teenage Slice-of-Life
I was kindly given a review copy of this book from Erin Al-Mehairi, signed by Tim McGregor. Thank you so much!
Tim McGregor has a flowing storyteller's voice and he has conquered the coming-of-age tone.
The story follows Mark, a teenage boy who begins to feel like an imposter with his friends when he starts to outgrow them. He finds himself attracted to George, a girl who is shunned by the town after a tragedy moved her family to react in the extreme by keeping their children home for school, and life in general. I could really relate to George's hermit and witchy behavior. George and Mark exemplify two people from different parts of the popularity pool that is constantly in flux. McGregor captured how Mark's childish and sometimes violent friends are models of kids we all grew up with; people we befriended and later grew to understand that our values would not match up as adults. It's so strange capturing the experience of a teenager and all the awkwardness puberty brings, and I think McGregor did it well.
This book has tragedy, superstition, and a slice of life into the eyes of a teenage boy. I honestly think I would have liked it to be longer; I wanted to know so much more about Mark's parents and George's siblings. I feel haunted and intrigued by some of the imagery from this story. Yet, because of this longing for more I think it was missing a bit of a 'pop' that would have taken this from fantastic to exceptional. This is definitely a good problem to have when you read a book though, and it means I will seek out other works by Tim McGregor AND recommend this book without hesitation.
