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My Name is Yip: Shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize

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It is almost unique in the way the story is told (through the words of a fourteen year old mute) but is beautifully told in nineteenth century Georgia dialect. Once you get used to it, it reads very easily though - it is very consistently maintained throughout the novel. Some in our book club couldn't get past the writing style, the use of ampersands and the capitalisation of words. And, as Yip and Dud’s odyssey takes them further into the unknown – via travelling shows, escaped slaves and the greed of gold-hungry men – the pull of home only gets stronger. The timbre of Yip's voice and the constant movement of characters through desolate landscapes creates an energy that seduces the reader.

Paul Howarth, author of Only Killers and Thieves * I love the compelling narrator, somehow a cross between Charles Dickens's David Copperfield and Charles Portis's Mattie Ross. Together, they embark on a journey that thrusts them unwittingly into a world of menace and violence, of lust and revenge. Well here it is, one of those books that just yearns to be heard, in much the same way as it’s protagonist Yip Tolroy.Lastly, what took Yip from such hopelessness to a life of serenity with the wife that was briefly mentioned? Yip is an incredible character, up there with Owen Meany and Holden Caulfield for sheer unforgettableness. It's got the diction (King James Bible minus all grammar), it's got a frame story of an older, wiser narrator looking back on his youth, and it's filthy - as in grit, grime, grease and legions of unwashed bodies. Yip, who narrates as an adult, is an enthusiastic storyteller, and his relationship with Dud forms the fervent backbone of the episodic narrative.

This book was described as a bold revisionist take on the American frontier novel and I don’t think there are truer words. Both an entertaining tale of gold, murder and the impulse for revenge, and a tender coming-of-age story amid the lawlessness of the American frontier.An uneventful life, until gold is discovered nearby and Yip is caught up in a bloody, grievous crime forcing him to flee.

Thus begins an epic fugitive journey across the American frontier on his trusty horse Gussie, with only Dud for company. Laird Hunt, author of Neverhome * My Name is Yip is a thrilling adventure story brim-full of humour, strangeness and charm * Ian McGuire, Booker Prize longlisted author of The North Water * A rollicking picaresque. Other than my objection to the style which is only personal preference, the story is interesting and original. Random capitalizations are used throughout, and the use of an ampersand in the place of the word "and" was distracting.What a marvel this novel by Paddy Crewe is, what an unlooked-for firecracker of fury and beauty and rage and hope.

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