4 out of 4 stars
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Small Change by Keddie Hughes is an amazing story about a woman named Izzy. She is a hardworking mother and wife. In the novel, you follow Izzy as she navigates her marriage and motherhood all while a major historical event is happening. She lives in Glasgow and works at a charity that helps people who are financially unstable. Her husband, Jim, is a manager at an alarm company who is trying to win a contract putting in alarms for the local football team. There are many themes in the story including religion, politics, and sports. This is a true story with fictional characters. You get the chance to see how this event touched the lives of many.
I enjoyed this novel greatly. I think the story was written well and the characters were complex. Throughout the story you get a close look at Jim and Izzy’s relationship. It is obvious that it is strained but Jim is oblivious to the issues in their marriage. Jim is an alcohol, which is a large issue, and the subject matter feels very real. Having seen alcoholism first hand, I could not help but feel sympathetic at times for Izzy. There are broken promises, hollow apologies, and awful behavior.
Another aspect of the story that I liked was the structure of the novel. At the end of every chapter there is a conversation between Jim and his therapist. These conversations give you insight into Jim and his part in the story. I think its works this way because you get two sides to the story without having to have separate chapters for each character. I do not think this would work with every story, however, it works really well here.
My main issue with this novel is that I had no sense of time or when the story took place. Having read it now and doing a google search I understand it to be historical fiction. I did not find any date or reference to a date until three quarters of the way through the story. Since the author eventually used dates, I wish she had used them a little earlier in the story. Part of my ignorance might be that it was a local Scottish issue and I am American. However, a frame of reference would have been nice.
I rate this novel 4 out of 4 stars. The story did not end the way I thought it would. I kept wanting to come back and finish the story. I liked the element of being a story about real concerns in peoples lives. Although I am not a sports fan, I found that in the end it did not matter because the story was so compelling. As I mentioned above, the writing and the characters were both done really well. I would highly recommend this novel to others.
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Small Change
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