Patina

This is the second of Jason Reynolds’ “run club” quartet to be published in the U.K. Already out in the USA, run club (US title “track”) follows the lives of four members of a youth running team in an unnamed US city. The first book, Ghost, came out in the UK earlier this year. This new one follows the story of Patina, a girl for whom coming second is coming nowhere (she should have met my dad); and that’s only one of the demons she has to deal with. Like Castle Cranshaw, aka Ghost, there’s pain in her family life. Her father is dead and her mum has lost her legs through illness. This is the kind of euphemistic phrasing from which Reynolds draws some unlikely humour and pathos as naive little sister Maddy involves Patina in some speculation about the adventures of the disembodied legs. School’s not too good either. Patina eats quickly, standing up in the school canteen, because she can’t be sure who she might sit next to. Reynolds’ skill is to acknowledge the considerable pressures on his characters, to show how they hurt, and how difficult it is to find a way through, but also to acknowledge the resources within and around them that are there to help. They draw strength from themselves, family and friends – and the discipline of the track – all the time making discoveries about other people and themselves.