Book Review: The Outcast

Some books are difficult to summarize easily. This happens most often when the storyline is complicated and is about many things simultaneously. Such is the case with Sadie Jones' The Outcast. It is about many things simultaneously. As the back cover blurb promises, it is about 1950's hypocrisy. It is also about a young man coming of age while dealing with his grief, about the secrets people and communities harbor by choice and design, about how society creates outcasts, and about the loss of innocence. It is about all of these things. Primarily, it is about what it means to be human.

If my reviews were starred, or otherwise rated, The Outcast would receive the top rating. It is one of those books that makes you desire nothing else than to read the next page to see what happens next, that has you picking it up to read "just one more page, just one more chapter" when you really should be doing something else -- like sleeping. First-time novelist Sadie Jones handles the interwoven plot lines and subplots masterfully, blending them together and keeping them connected throughout the entire novel. Writers should read this book to study how such things are done. Readers who enjoy mainstream fiction should read it just because it is a good book.

One day, maybe, I'll be able to write this well.

Title: The Outcast
Author: Sadie Jones
Publisher: Chatto & Windus, an imprint of the Random House Group Company
ISBN(s): 9780701181758
Format: 345 pages, hardcover
Release Date: March 2008
Cover Price: $16.47