4 out of 4 stars
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Building Mount Everest is a novel by Zoe Mason King. It tells the story of a young girl named Meg who lives with her family in Australia around the 1960s. Her mother writes articles, and her father works in a lab. At the beginning of the book, she and her parents are living with her grandmother after her grandfather’s death. At that point, Meg is five years old and has just started going to school. The family eventually moves into a new home of their own. The story explores the relationships Meg has with her parents and grandparents on both sides in addition to showing numerous little mishaps she has at school.
It’s difficult to summarize the book because there isn’t just one, straightforward plot. The story is about Meg’s life, centering on her childhood. It jumps around to her life at various ages as she’s growing up and to when she’s much older and has a child of her own. The time jumps are well crafted. Within one particular chapter, Meg goes from being five to twelve and then it jumps to ten years later. There are also time jumps into the past before the protagonist was born, presenting backstory on her family members, including her now deceased grandfather. This also comes in the form of Meg learning this family history directly through dialogue and searching through relics and photographs. For instance, her mother and grandmother recount a trip they took through pre-Nazi Germany in 1938.
The chapters are relatively short and the prose is wondrously descriptive. Overall, the book is well written and has a nice flow to it, despite being non-linear. An especially interesting feature is in later chapters when Meg tries her hand at writing stories and poems. Lines from her writings are placed within the text.
When it comes to the characters, there is a big focus on identity, specifically in regards to nationality. Meg has a Scottish grandmother on one side and a Russian grandfather on the other side, which is repeatedly brought up. Typically, however, the character work revolves around simple matters. One of the first things we learn about Meg is that her five-year-old self didn’t like school so she simply walked home. When her mother took her back to school, she simply walked home again. Her logic is both entertaining and incredibly endearing. I laughed out loud on several occasions because of her hilarious observations. For instance, when she’s writing a sonnet and uses the word “virgin,” she stops to ponder this decision: “’Virgin’ made me a little uneasy but this was poetry and if Keats and Shelley and other people could do it, I could.” On a more serious note, Meg starts to notice her parents arguing more often. There is tension within the family that makes their story both believable and relatable.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. Overall, I was impressed with the narrative structure and the great characterizations. Meg is such a fully realized character, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the story from her perspective. There is a great balance between humor and drama in this book that made for a captivating read.
I’d recommend this book to those who’d enjoy reading a compelling family tale through the eyes of a witty only child.
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Building Mount Everest
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