Eddy, Eddy

Eddy, Eddy is a complex, layered and highly entertaining novel for YA readers. Set in the aftermath of the New Zealand earthquakes it appears at first to be the story of teenage rebellion and disenchantment but as we get to know Eddy and his world, we uncover a much more nuanced picture of a boy growing into a man, affected by trauma but anchored by his found family and the many bonds that tie them together.

Eddy’s caregiver is his uncle Brain who adopted him as a tiny child and whose interest in words and poetry, in drama, music, religion, and baking grate on Eddy’s nerves as he grapples with his own identity and his past. Eddy has left his much-hated school and immersed himself in a complex web of jobs looking after an increasing number of strange pets – and eventually people. This is a love story in the traditional sense as Eddy reconnects with an old girlfriend, but it is also a love story for lost childhoods and past memories as well as a recognition that love comes in many forms. The book is threaded through with musical and literary references as well as a depiction of post-earthquake Christchurch which is at once dystopian and very realistic. There are some very adult themes and a very real investigation of both self-destruction and self-harm which is not for the faint hearted. Every character has depth and no-one is perfect, especially Eddy who has to come to terms with himself and his past experiences in order to move his life from darkness to light.

What really carries this novel forward though is the dextrous wordplay and the clever juxtaposition of the darkly humorous and the refreshingly sentimental, it’s a novel of many shades with love and kindness at its very lovely heart.