The Great Godden
Author: Meg Rosoff
Published by: Bloomsbury
Pages: 245
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
A plague of Goddens.
A murder of Goddens.
A conundrum of Goddens.
A siege of Goddens.
A pounce of Goddens.
A chaos of Goddens.
The Great Godden.
This is the story of one family.
One dreamy summer.
The summer when everything changes.
In a sun-drenched house by the sea, a family of teenage brothers and sisters and older cousins fill the golden days with wine and games and planning a wedding.
Enter the Goddens: irresistible, charming Kit and surly, silent Hugo.
Suddenly there’s a serpent in paradise – and the consequences will be devastating.
My thoughts:
The Great Godden is a quintessential coming of age tale. Despite being a short read, this story is magical, atmospheric and very powerful. It has a timeless quality to it which I especially enjoyed. The writing is faultless throughout, and I was instantly gripped. I found the atmosphere and sense of nostalgic longing enticing from the very first page.
The story begins as a family set off to their beach house. Every year they carry out the same joyful ritual of spending the summer holidays in their home on the beach, and the narrator is clearly excited about what this summer will bring.
Shortly after arriving, unpacking their bags and getting settled in, they are joined by two American teen brothers from LA. Kit and Hugo are sons of a minor actress whose life has no room for her offspring. The brothers are opposites, Kit is the beautiful, golden, good looking brother, around whom others swarm like bees to honey, whilst Hugo is surly, silent, resisting all social interactions with an unusual talent for selective invisibility.  I couldn’t help but be enchanted by the Godden’s as much as everyone else was, and admittedly the intrigue into their personalities and behaviour had me hooked until the last page.
Ultimately, I think your liking of the book will hinge on whether or not you connect with the narrator. They are never named, nor is their gender specified, which adds to the mysterious nature of the tale. I went back and forth in my views of which gender I visualised the narrator as. I loved the mysterious nature of this and found the whole plot both strangely alluring and quietly unsettling. The writing is beautiful, the characters rich and the story sharp and twisting.
I think the mystery around the narrator only highlights the sophistication of Rosoff’s writing. The language is expertly crafted in order to keep readers guessing and there is always a sense of far more secrecy lurking under the surface.
For a story about love, it was refreshing to have a new take on it. Not only is this a coming of age story, but it’s also one of heartbreak, betrayal, and disappointment. I wasn’t sure where it would go, but there wasn’t a single moment when I wasn’t totally gripped. Â
The narrator recalls details of their summer years ago, before they and their family encounter the Godden siblings, especially the enigmatic Kit, whose presence is enough to unsettle the peaceful stability of their lazy summer.
The ending felt perhaps the weakest area for me, purely because it seemed a little hurried, but I did feel the story concluded fairly well. I only wish all the moments that happened in the final few chapters had been fleshed out more gradually. The book could have easily been another hundred pages or so without seeming to drag.
Overall, I’d describe The Great Godden as a brilliantly entertaining, insightful and memorable read that I will certainly remember. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Bloomsbury for gifting me with my advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
Overall reaction:
