I’m so pleased to be on the blog tour for this fantastic and surprising book. This is a real gem of a book that I perhaps wouldn’t have picked up if it wasn’t for the lovely Anne Cater inviting me on the blog tour and I’m so pleased that I have had a chance to read it.
The Giddy Career of Mr Gadd (Deceased) is available now in ebook and paperback here.
Book Blurb:
The Giddy Career of Mr Gadd (deceased) explores the painful themes of having to grieve for someone who is not yet dead, and trying to find one’s identity through an absent father.
Winifred Rigby follows a Zen-like path of serenity and detachment, whilst leaving havoc in her wake. When Fred, a stranger haunted by poltergeist activity, contacts Winnie, he insists that stories she wrote as a teenager hold the key to his supernatural problems, and she is forced to renew acquaintance with her younger self.
Where will it all lead?
My Review:
When I first started reading this book I was expecting it to be quite a serious book exploring grief. I was pleasantly surprised as I actually found it to be quite funny and a little magical.
I loved the character of Mr Gadd. He seemed in some ways such a lost and slightly muddled character but I loved how enthusiastic and determined he was. He wanted an answer to his problems and by god was he going to get one. I really enjoyed reading about Winifred’s and their journey through this book both physically, as they try to find answers as to where Mr Gadd’s father is, and emotionally as they begin to let go and find themselves. In a lot of ways the characters of Winifred and Mr Gadd are a match made in heaven as they each come into each others lives when they are maybe bit lost and needing to make a changes in order to be happy. I enjoyed reading about their blossoming relationship and seeing them gradually relaxing in each others company whilst finding themselves.
I did find this book quite funny which I wasn’t initially sure I was meant to. The author’s way of describing some of the situations that the character’s find themselves in was very amusing, particularly in their dealings with other people. I particularly found their attempts to get out of a slight car bump at the beginning very funny and found myself chuckling out loud over Winifred’s attempts to get out of the situation and the resulting confusion it caused poor Mr Gadd. Some of Winifred’s observations about people where also very funny and helped to give more of an insight into her character and they way she thinks.
This novel does have some serious themes running through it about grief and identity but I didn’t feel this was overdone or made the novel too serious. I found it fascinating to read about the family dynamics in Winifred’s family and her families struggle to accept the changes Winifred had made in her life. It was quite poignant to read about this and I did feel for Winifred though I did wonder if there was more to this then described which intrigued me and made me want to continue reading,
The book also gives the reader a bit of information about Buddhism and what the religion involves which I didn’t know much about before I started to read this book. I especially enjoyed reading about the meditation sessions as it’s something I have always wondered about.
This is Marie Gameson’s second book but the first one that I have and I very much look forward to reading more from her. Huge Thanks to Anne Cater and Salt Publishing for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
About the Author:
Marie Gameson was born in Trinidad but spent her childhood in Barbados. As her knowledge of England was based entirely on the content of Enid Blyton books, when the family moved to the UK in 1974, Marie soon realised that you could never trust a writer to tell the truth. Marie and her mother co-wrote a book about the legacy of the Monmouth Rebels exiled to Barbados (The Turtle Run) which was published in 2016.
Follow The Blog Tour:
If you liked the sound of this book from my review then do follow the blog tour and see what these other bloggers are saying.
Over The Rainbow Blog 