Did you read my exclusive interview with Paul last month? I’m back onto reading my way through a good number of his books now, and spent a very pleasant afternoon in the garden at the weekend re-reading “Exchange”. This is the book that literally introduced me to Paul – I’d read his Phoenix Court novels and others but it was when I came across the concept of BookCrossing being mentioned in this novel that I tracked him down to the university where he was then teaching creative writing, dared to email him (I’ve only sent fan mail to him, Iris Murdoch and Erica Jong …) and now can call him a friend! Hooray!
I read this book previously in 2006 (I first read it VIA BookCrossing!) and 2012 – rather amusingly, I’d forgotten a big plot point around how the characters got to discussing BookCrossing but remembered the hero and the Book Exchange and the feel of the novel. And I’m pleased to say it was just as delightful, third time round!
Paul Magrs – “Exchange”
(28 April 2009)
Simon’s living with his grandparents after, in the grand tradition of young adult and children’s books through the ages, his parents are killed in an accident (I don’t mean to downplay that but it’s such a common way of freeing up your protagonist, isn’t it?). He spends Saturdays on days out to different towns, and bookshops, with his gran, Winnie:
It’s all tea cakes and Earl Grey and bags of sweets and lovely novels. What more could we want, eh? What more could we possibly want? (p. 25)
But Simon does want a little bit more, it turns out, so it’s exciting when they find a new Book Exchange and make some new friends (I loved fierce Kelly even more this time). This time around, this passage seemed to sum up the book for me:
Bitter and black. It sounded cool. Like a vampire or a hardbitten detective. Really, though, Simon liked his coffee with frothy milk, two sugars and a jaffa cake or two. (p. 71) (this has reminded me of my review of “The Diary of a Dr Who Addict“)
It’s funny, because last time it was this passage:
He was wooing her with gateaux and frothy mochas and the tender ministrations of his plastic hands …
although both are very “Paul Magrs” ways of putting things.
This time round I liked Ada, the writer Winnie knew in her childhood, a lot more, and I drew from the book the messages that it’s OK not to rush into things, that friendship is sometimes so very much the best option, and that we all need time to find ourselves. That’s a pretty good set of precepts to get out of a book, isn’t it. Simon is a typical Magrs hero, shy and sensitive and buried in books (cf “Starlight and Snow”, “Dr Who Addict”, “Strange Boy”, “All the Rage” and I love having such a gentle character at the centre of this rare non-magical Magrs read.
You can find Paul online at Life on Magrs and he also has a Patreon for exclusive new content.
Rebecca Foster
Sep 25, 2020 @ 09:57:02
After we read 666 Charing Cross Road and if I like it (which I certainly hope to!), I’ll plan to get hold of this one. And yes, I feel like I come across characters’ parents dying in a car accident ALL the time. It was one of my Book Serendipity incidents earlier in the year, and since then I’ve found a couple more instances, one in Robertson Davies. I agree it must just seem like a convenient way to create an orphan: kill both off instantly; no need for complicated backstory; the character starts fresh and alone.
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Liz Dexter
Sep 25, 2020 @ 10:02:51
The two are very different strands of Paul’s work, though, I have to say: 666 is all magic and mystery, as well as characters, and this is a straight story with some peculiarities but no magic. I prefer these to the former but I like both. And the parents thing I have found more in older children’s books as well.
In serendipity terms, I must remember to note in my next review I write that I read a book called Forced Out followed by a book called Kitted Out!
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wadholloway
Sep 25, 2020 @ 12:18:11
I definitely wanted more Kelly!
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Liz Dexter
Sep 25, 2020 @ 17:25:39
She was a great character, wasn’t she!
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heavenali
Sep 25, 2020 @ 16:39:55
So glad you enjoyed re-reading this one. I remember characters in children’s books used to often be ‘freed up’ in a sense by being made orphans, clearly a device used in YA fiction too. This does sound lovely, travelling to bookshops with grandma Winnie sounds fun.
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Liz Dexter
Sep 25, 2020 @ 17:26:23
Thank you – yes, and in all genres as there’s barely a pony book hero/heroine with a full set of parents! I would love the Book Exchange to exist in real life, nearby!
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