Book Review: A Greyhound of a Girl

Book: A Greyhound of a Girl
Author: Roddy Doyle
Genre: Paranormal (Middle-Grade)
Rating: 3/5
Page Count: 208 (Hardcover)
Favorite Character: Tansey, I think. Hard to say, but I'm going to go with her!

Plot: (From Goodreads)

Mary O'Hara is a sharp and cheeky 12-year-old Dublin schoolgirl who is bravely facing the fact that her beloved Granny is dying. But Granny can't let go of life, and when a mysterious young woman turns up in Mary's street with a message for her Granny, Mary gets pulled into an unlikely adventure. The woman is the ghost of Granny's own mother, who has come to help her daughter say good-bye to her loved ones and guide her safely out of this world. She needs the help of Mary and her mother, Scarlett, who embark on a road trip to the past. Four generations of women travel on a midnight car journey. One of them is dead, one of them is dying, one of them is driving, and one of them is just starting out.

Review:

The reason that the rating isn't higher is because I did have some problems with it. Overall, however, it was a cute, short read about 4 women in a generation who, eventually, go on an adventure. It was interesting to read about the four generations, because, as with relatives, you could see the similarities in them. It also took place in Ireland, which is what drew me to it in the first place.

However, I didn't really like some of the dialogue and how sometimes the girl seemed much younger then she was. Mostly, though, it was the dialogue. Some of the dialogue just didn't sound realistic, it didn't flow right, and it said, a few times, "!!" instead of someone saying "exclamation point." (I got a galley, so this might be changed in the finished book, but I haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet to see). Of course it's a middle grade, but I'd never seen it written like that, it was really odd.

The four women are Tansey, short for Anastasia, Emer- reffered to mostly as Granny-, Scarlet, and Mary. Mary was the youngest, at 12. It's hard to keep straight, sometimes, but it was interesting all the same. However, sometimes it felt like they were all too alike, but some of the back and forth was cute.

Overall, to wrap it up, it was okay. Not great, but not bad. Some of the dialogue didn't flow right, the women seemed too alike at points, the girl seemed younger then she was, and, I didn't say this before, but some of the characters outside the four seemed very 1 dimensional. But it wasn't really about them, at all, so it was okay that they fell into the foreground. If you're just looking for a cute short book then maybe give this one a try, because the story was nice to read about.