Jimmy, Jimmy: Die Geschichte, wie mein Vater wieder 10 Jahre alt wurde

by Mark O'Sullivan

Eala ist sechzehn, als das Leben ihrer Familie aus den Fugen gerät. Denn beim Joggen wird ihr Vater Jimmy von einem heranrasenden Fahrradfahrer erfasst. Als er Wochen später im Krankenhaus aus dem Koma erwacht, ist er nicht mehr der, der er einmal war. Er hat den Verstand eines 10-Jährigen, und Eala und ihr Bruder Sean haben von einem Tag auf den anderen ihren Vater verloren. »Dad« gibt es nicht mehr. Nun ist da nur noch »Jimmy«, wie sie ihn nennen sollen, der plötzlich gerne Computerspiele spielt, mehr nascht als je zuvor und in seinen Kindern echte Kumpel sieht, deren Leben er aber nicht mehr versteht.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary

340 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published June 2, 2011

Reviews

[Stephanie (Stepping Out Of The Page) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't impressed at all by this one. The premise was very good and it sounded like this book was going to be very interesting, but I actually found it to be pretty dull - I just didn't feel that anything exciting happened. Another thing to point out is that this book is overtly Irish - the word 'pure' is repeated all the time (which became very annoying) as are other phrases. However, these phrases are also used in England, mainly by chavs. I realise that it's different, but it just made me feel like Eala was talking like a chav all of the time which was frustrating. The idea was good but I didn't enjoy how it was executed. Definitely a let down.

[Kayla Christine]

i dnf'd. there was too much Irish slang or british but i ended up not understanding what was even happening. plot was good, pace was good. if you're smarter than me or british, you like it.

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up purely based on the title, the blurb on the back suggested that there might be more to the book than I was expecting from the title and so I borrowed it from the library and got reading. There are two main plot threads to the book, the first is the one I was expecting – the story of a family adjusting to Jimmy (the father) suffering a traumatic brain injury that has left him with the mind of a ten-year-old and no memories of any of them. The second however was more of a surprise – there is a mystery thread as the family find that Jimmy had been keeping secrets from them and they try and unravel them.

The book is narrated by Eala, she’s the middle child of three with an older brother Sean and baby brother Tom. She’s an interesting character, she’s at that tricky stage of being a teenager and then has all the added pressures of her family situation which results in her not always being the most sympathetic of characters. At times I found her to be pretty self-centred but then I think she probably had reasons to be. There were lots of characters that I liked, I would have liked to know a bit more about Sean as he interested me.

One small issue I did have with the book was with the use of Irish slang. I don’t normally mind it when colloquial language and terms are used, I find it interesting to see how language varies by location, but in this book I found at times that I was having to just guess at what words meant. This did have the effect of pulling me out of the book periodically.

I enjoyed the book but it didn’t quite live up to what I’d been expecting from it. I think it was an interesting topic to cover but I think perhaps that whilst the mystery element was added to increase the drama for me instead it took away from the plotline I was really interested to read.

[Celia Goodyear · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am truly enthralled with this story, a heart wrenching Irish tale. So so well written, I just can't put it down! One of those books where the story is so sad you can't keep reading it, but at the same time you just can't stop. I highly recommend this book to anybody.

[Izzy Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, it was so powerful to read. It was easy to relate to the characters, especially Jimmy and Eala. I finished this in approximately 2 hours, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the pages! This is now on of my all time favourite books.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book. I cried like a baby.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book I really think it is a great book

[Paula]

this book is really cool but starts of boring the becomes amazing

[Melissa Braddock · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok... They could have done so much more with a title like this I kind of a let down.