Review of Climb

[joshfee77]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Climb" by Philip Barker.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Climb is a novel for young adults by Australian author Philip Barker, illustrated by Katrina Churchill. The year is 2005. Abbeydale is a small town in rural New South Wales. Ashley Davies is a 12-year-old girl whose adventurous spirit and love of climbing can be challenging for her family and the teachers at her school. When she competes against a classmate, Jacob, to climb a rusty old water tower, her climbing prowess draws the attention of Ethan, the school janitor, who shares Ashley's love of climbing. Ethan begins training Ashley and Jacob to prepare them to try out for the national rock climbing competition in Sydney.

Barker introduced Abbeydale nicely as a drought-stricken country town with barren yellow fields stretching as far as the eye could see. His description of the water tower was also neat, with the accompanying sketch great for anyone who had not seen one before. Churchill's sketches were excellent throughout the book. My favourites were the family's old Holden station wagon and a Nokia mobile phone. The story was also engaging and enjoyable, with believable characters, conflict, and plot development.

Climb included humour at times to lighten the mood, such as Ashley thinking about rock climbing in class and blurting out, "I need to get belayed!" Belaying means securing a climber by rope to another person for safety, but her teacher thought she said something else... Barker's clear, effortless knowledge of rock climbing terms and practices added realism to the story. I was not surprised to later learn of his own dedication to the sport. I also found the book's conclusion solid and satisfying; the climactic scene made perfect sense in the context of the story.

A first-time novelist, Barker did have room to improve on the quality of his writing, but the issues were minor. There was some incorrect punctuation, such as a comma used in place of a semicolon. The dialogue attribution was unwieldy at times, such as "Ethan consoled". Also, he sometimes changed speakers without beginning a new paragraph, which was confusing. Clichéd prose included: "...her heart continued to hammer as if it were trying to beat its way out of her chest." There were also occasional implausible plot points; for example, Ashley's science class contained only six students, yet she didn't notice the boy sitting next to her for six months.

Descriptively, there was rare clumsy prose such as: "Candice held up one of the posters that Ashley and Kyle had put up around the school accusingly." (It sounds like Ashley and Kyle put the posters up accusingly, not that Candice held one up accusingly.) Another example was: "The look on her face filled with fear," rather than simply: "Her face filled with fear." However, these issues did not detract from my enjoyment of the story.

Overall, I rate Climb 3 out of 4 stars, with one star removed for the editing issues detailed above. Following the work of a professional editor, I would not hesitate to award this book 4 stars. It was an entertaining and engaging story with only minor profanity and no sexual content. Any young person with an interest in rock climbing, rural Australian life, or high school drama would enjoy this book, as would anyone interested in coming-of-age stories. Best of all, this book teaches that, with focus, you can accomplish anything in life, which is a brilliant message for young readers.

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Climb
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[Kyrian007]

I love how your review told what the book is about. well written.

[Amy Luman]

I do see where Mr. Barker has room to improve. For a first novel, however, it's rare to see someone acknowledge the need for some illustrations where the point is not clear.

[Azubike Richard]

Your review is very well written and I love that. From this review, I would not like to read the book.

[joshfee77]

I love how your review told what the book is about. well written.

Thanks! I definitely enjoyed reading this book, and am interested to see what happens in the sequel.

[joshfee77]

I do see where Mr. Barker has room to improve. For a first novel, however, it's rare to see someone acknowledge the need for some illustrations where the point is not clear.

Yeah, I thought the sketches in this book were fantastic. Very realistic, and - in cases such as the water tower and the Holden station wagon - helpful for readers from outside of Australia.

[joshfee77]

Your review is very well written and I love that. From this review, I would not like to read the book.

Thanks! Appreciate your comments. This book is definitely best suited to young adults.