Mobile Library

November 17, 2014
After a thrashing by his abusive father and a schoolyard fight, young Bobby Nusku takes refuge with a neighborhood cleaning lady, Val, and her disabled daughter, Rosa, all the while pining for his mysteriously absent mother. Piling into a recently deactivated mobile library vehicle that Val maintains on weekends, Val and her charges run away. On their journey, they meet Joe, a gangly ex-soldier drifter, and decide to pose as a family as they evade the authorities in England and head towards a safe haven in Scotland. The group bonds while consuming classic literature, stealing supplies, and painting the vehicle to appear less conspicuous, yet Bobby cannot forget his past. He pores over artifacts of his mother that he's meticulously kept in jars and folders, waiting for the day of her return. Whitehouse's narrative provides moments of charm and whimsy, particularly as characters take on storybook personas (the Caveman, the Zookeeper, the Hunter), but the abrupt perspective shifts, often multiple times per chapter, are occasionally clumsy, and the narrative's voyage is intermittently striking. When stacked against the literary gems Bobby and his crew read throughout, from The Little Prince to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Whitehouse's novel feels ordinary.

November 15, 2014
A precocious 12-year-old boy joins a cast of quirky characters in this surprising adventure novel. Whitehouse (Bed, 2012) fills this story with tropes from teen literature. Parents are conspicuously absent; books offer unique comfort; and adults are, by and large, cruel and all-powerful. Bobby Nusku lives with his abusive father and is frequently bullied at school. Since his mother left, Bobby's primary pastime has been tending the meticulous records he keeps while he awaits her return. He has jars of her hair, bottles of her perfume and all of her jewelry stashed away in hiding spots in his room. Over summer vacation, Bobby forms an unlikely friendship with his neighbor Val Reed and her daughter, Rosa. Val, who works at a mobile library, invites Bobby to visit the truck full of books. There, Bobby falls in love with reading. He longs for the promised escape of a happy ending: "He wanted to be in a book, to have an adventure." When vacation ends, Bobby snaps under the pressure of his harsh, lonely life. After a moment of aggression, he finds himself back at Val's house. Rather than confront his wrongdoing, Val decides to give Bobby the adventure he craves, and the three run away in the mobile library. They soon meet Joe, a fellow escapee whom they find in the woods and invite along. The foursome grows predictably close as they drive across the U.K., avoid arrest and discover that "family is where it's found." The whimsical tone and fanciful flourishes-chapter names include "The Ogre" and "The Non-fire Breathing Dragon"-cross into the cartoony in scenes depicting violence and child abuse. The adults in the novel ask shockingly few questions before making irresponsible decisions that, while convenient for the plot, are highly implausible. Bobby's desired happy ending clashes sharply with every foreseeable conclusion. As the novel progresses, it becomes increasingly bewildering to readers accustomed to novels that are grounded in reality. An offbeat narrative that struggles to gain traction with adult readers.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 15, 2014

Bobby Nusku is 12. His mum's been missing, his dad's got a short temper and a new girlfriend who is at best disinterested and at worst resentful. Bobby's best friend, Sunny, is also his bodyguard--until Sunny has a terrible accident in his quest to become a cyborg. Lost and lonely, Bobby befriends neighbor Rosa, who is disabled and the target of bullies. Rosa's mother, Val, cleans the town's mobile library (think bookmobile) and introduces Bobby to the magic of stories and the warmth of a loving family. When Val loses her job and Bobby's father beats him up, the motley trio take to the road, eventually meeting up with a homeless vet named Joe. Their adventure comes to an abrupt end when Det. Jimmy Samas tracks them down. VERDICT Odd, occasionally off-putting and illogical but nonetheless readable, Whitehouse's second novel (after the award-winning Bed) is ultimately a tender tale of love, hope, and family. The author has a way with descriptive turns of phrase. His fondness for his protagonists is evident; readers will find themselves rooting for the unlikely heroes. [See "Writers To Watch," Prepub Alert, 7/14/14.]--Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2014
Finding 12-year-old Bobby battered and bruised by his vile father, the boy's adult neighbor Val takes matters into her own hands and, along with her developmentally disabled daughter and the family dog, rescues Bobby. Improbably stealing their town's mobile library, which she cleans every Sunday, Val leads them on a grand adventure with no plan and no fixed destination. Parking the library in a copse hidden from the road, the little group discovers a young man, Joe, who is apparently living in the woods. He soon joins them and, with police all over Britain searching for the motley crew (Bobby has technically been kidnapped), directs them to a tumbledown manor house in a remote area of Scotland, where it turns out that Joe is not what he seems, and the adventure kicks into high gear. Though overwritten and requiring strenuous willing suspensions of disbelief, Mobile Library is an agreeably old-fashioned story with likable characters and just enough suspense to keep the pages turning. And who can resist a novel about a mobile library?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)