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Beck
Both harrowing and life-affirming, the final novel from Carnegie Medal-winning author Mal Peet is the sweeping coming-of-age adventure of a mixed race boy transported to North America.
Born from a street liason between a poor young woman and an African soldier in the 1900s, Beck is soon orphaned and sent to the Catholic Brothers in Canada. Shipped to work on a farm, his escape takes him across the continent in a search for belonging. Enduring abuse and many hardships, Beck has times of comfort and encouragement, eventually finding Grace, the woman with whom he can finally forge his life and shape his destiny as a young man. A picaresque novel set during the Depression as experienced by a young black man, it depicts great pain but has an uplifting and inspiring conclusion.
Born from a street liason between a poor young woman and an African soldier in the 1900s, Beck is soon orphaned and sent to the Catholic Brothers in Canada. Shipped to work on a farm, his escape takes him across the continent in a search for belonging. Enduring abuse and many hardships, Beck has times of comfort and encouragement, eventually finding Grace, the woman with whom he can finally forge his life and shape his destiny as a young man. A picaresque novel set during the Depression as experienced by a young black man, it depicts great pain but has an uplifting and inspiring conclusion.
267 pages, Hardcover
First published August 8, 2016
19 people are currently reading
759 people want to read
About the author
Mal Peet
84 books118 followersMal Peet grew up in North Norfolk, and studied English and American Studies at the University of Warwick. Later he moved to southwest England and worked at a variety of jobs before turning full-time to writing and illustrating in the early 1990s. With his wife, Elspeth Graham, he had written and illustrated many educational picture books for young children, and his cartoons have appeared in a number of magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
March 21, 2017
So, this is on the 2017 Shortlist for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. I'm quite annoyed about this because, although this may be a beautifully written book, I really do not think it is a "children's book." It's interest and content are not geared towards the vast majority of 16 years olds (which really is the top tier of what you could consider the audience for the Carnegie.. I mean we write "children's books" for children/teenagers right?!). It's an adult book.
It has to come with a major WARNING about the first 60 pages. It is bad enough if you have some idea of what it is to come.. I can't imagine stumbling into this not knowing. There is child abuse, sexual child abuse by Catholic priests.. and it is not easy to read. Peet does not shy away from any details. I felt physically sick for the first 60 pages of reading. There is nothing more of that type past then.. but it's a hell of way to start the novel. Be aware of this! especially if you're giving this book to anybody under 18.
Beck is clearly based on real historical events. He was a orphan in the 1920s, taken from Liverpool to a Catholic orphanage in Canada to "start a new life." Going from cruel "Sisters of Mercy" to super creepy peadophile Catholic Priests. Knowing that this stuff really happened makes it even more difficult to read. He is mixed race and his dark skin also plays a major role in the story and how various characters treat him. After page 60 he goes get away from this and suffers a lot more cruelty and hardship, but eventually there is a hopeful ending.
I'm giving it three stars because I felt like there was something lacking... I cannot put my finger on what exactly but I wanted a lot more from this book, especially given what Beck (and the reader) goes through at the start of the story. I also have a really hard time buying the ending and I really don't know what to make of the relationship with Grace (who is a much older woman, and herself mixed race white-Native America).. I just needed more.. of something. Beck is - quite understandably given the life he has lead - is almost silent through a lot of the book, he hardly speaks and even from his point of view I guess I felt like I didn't really know him. He feels so passive it was hard to connect. I don't feel like I will remember Beck as a character.. what I will remember is how horrified I was reading the bathtub scene.. and feeling sick every time they called him "Chocolate." *shudders*
This book was started by Mal Peet and finished by Meg Rosoff after his death, and I didn't notice any break or change in tone or writing which is great. I have never read Mal Peet before and I will definitely check out his other books now.. I do like the very direct and unflinching style that is apparently his trademark.
Ultimately I wanted more than what this book gave me. It is wasn't satisfying, especially given how traumatic the first 50 pages are.. I needed much more of pay off for that, or at least a more realistic hopeful ending (it's just a bit too good to be true). I also really don't have a clue who the intended audience for this book is. Everything about it is adult.
It has to come with a major WARNING about the first 60 pages. It is bad enough if you have some idea of what it is to come.. I can't imagine stumbling into this not knowing. There is child abuse, sexual child abuse by Catholic priests.. and it is not easy to read. Peet does not shy away from any details. I felt physically sick for the first 60 pages of reading. There is nothing more of that type past then.. but it's a hell of way to start the novel. Be aware of this! especially if you're giving this book to anybody under 18.
Beck is clearly based on real historical events. He was a orphan in the 1920s, taken from Liverpool to a Catholic orphanage in Canada to "start a new life." Going from cruel "Sisters of Mercy" to super creepy peadophile Catholic Priests. Knowing that this stuff really happened makes it even more difficult to read. He is mixed race and his dark skin also plays a major role in the story and how various characters treat him. After page 60 he goes get away from this and suffers a lot more cruelty and hardship, but eventually there is a hopeful ending.
I'm giving it three stars because I felt like there was something lacking... I cannot put my finger on what exactly but I wanted a lot more from this book, especially given what Beck (and the reader) goes through at the start of the story. I also have a really hard time buying the ending and I really don't know what to make of the relationship with Grace (who is a much older woman, and herself mixed race white-Native America).. I just needed more.. of something. Beck is - quite understandably given the life he has lead - is almost silent through a lot of the book, he hardly speaks and even from his point of view I guess I felt like I didn't really know him. He feels so passive it was hard to connect. I don't feel like I will remember Beck as a character.. what I will remember is how horrified I was reading the bathtub scene.. and feeling sick every time they called him "Chocolate." *shudders*
This book was started by Mal Peet and finished by Meg Rosoff after his death, and I didn't notice any break or change in tone or writing which is great. I have never read Mal Peet before and I will definitely check out his other books now.. I do like the very direct and unflinching style that is apparently his trademark.
Ultimately I wanted more than what this book gave me. It is wasn't satisfying, especially given how traumatic the first 50 pages are.. I needed much more of pay off for that, or at least a more realistic hopeful ending (it's just a bit too good to be true). I also really don't have a clue who the intended audience for this book is. Everything about it is adult.
July 3, 2017
Liverpool 1907, Anne Beck had just been sacked from her job. On her way home Anne passed a black man stood outside the local pub, as the landlord had refused to serve him. His white shipmates had bought him a drink and a bite to eat, this is what lured her towards him.
She took him home with her where they had one night of passion, and then he was gone. The result of that night of passion was born nine months later, Beck.
When he was eleven years old, his mother caught the flu and subsequently died, meaning that Beck was sent to a Catholic orphanage.
Over the coming years Beck was treated harrowingly. Starting off in Canada, where him and a few of his orphanage friends were sent to stay with priests until the time would come for them to find new homes.
Filled with anger and mistrust, did Beck ever get out of the cycle of hardship and cruelty, to become a man who was capable of love, and a happy ending?
Firstly, I need to give potential readers a warning. This book has been marked as a Young Adult book, but with graphic scenes of violence, plus emotional, and sexual abuse, I would say this book is not suitable for those under 16. Yes, it is a story true to life and these things happen, but it does leave images in your head, that even I at 39 years old I could not shift for a few days.
The book does have you thinking about life and the hardships that black people endured, having been deemed second class citizens and looked down on by society. Beck himself though is a mixed bag, his story is filled with emotion, but at times the writing was a little lacking, meaning that I didn’t always connect with him.
The book takes you to some dark places, and yet at times also gives you an uplift. It is thought-provoking, and tough to read in parts, but if you get the chance, I feel that this is going to be one of those books that in the future will become a modern day classic.
I’m just sorry that Mal Peet didn’t live long enough to see the end result of his book. Beck was completed by his good friend, Meg Rosoff.
Reviewed by Stacey on www.whisperingstories.com
She took him home with her where they had one night of passion, and then he was gone. The result of that night of passion was born nine months later, Beck.
When he was eleven years old, his mother caught the flu and subsequently died, meaning that Beck was sent to a Catholic orphanage.
Over the coming years Beck was treated harrowingly. Starting off in Canada, where him and a few of his orphanage friends were sent to stay with priests until the time would come for them to find new homes.
Filled with anger and mistrust, did Beck ever get out of the cycle of hardship and cruelty, to become a man who was capable of love, and a happy ending?
Firstly, I need to give potential readers a warning. This book has been marked as a Young Adult book, but with graphic scenes of violence, plus emotional, and sexual abuse, I would say this book is not suitable for those under 16. Yes, it is a story true to life and these things happen, but it does leave images in your head, that even I at 39 years old I could not shift for a few days.
The book does have you thinking about life and the hardships that black people endured, having been deemed second class citizens and looked down on by society. Beck himself though is a mixed bag, his story is filled with emotion, but at times the writing was a little lacking, meaning that I didn’t always connect with him.
The book takes you to some dark places, and yet at times also gives you an uplift. It is thought-provoking, and tough to read in parts, but if you get the chance, I feel that this is going to be one of those books that in the future will become a modern day classic.
I’m just sorry that Mal Peet didn’t live long enough to see the end result of his book. Beck was completed by his good friend, Meg Rosoff.
Reviewed by Stacey on www.whisperingstories.com
December 2, 2016
I have finished this. It is stunning, and I am a wreck.
Read
October 5, 2018DNF at 1 hours, 30 minutes into the audiobook.
Even though I liked the narrator, the story content itself has major trigger warnings for sexual, physical abuse and racist slurs. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable listening to the graphic and triggering scenes, that I had to put the audiobook down.
Even though I liked the narrator, the story content itself has major trigger warnings for sexual, physical abuse and racist slurs. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable listening to the graphic and triggering scenes, that I had to put the audiobook down.
June 7, 2017
I did not like this book. At all. And would go as far as to say it's one of the worst books I have ever read.
The first 60 odd pages or so was shocking. I couldn't put it down I was so gripped to see where it would lead, but the problems the protagonist experienced wasn't explored in enough detail or resolved in anyway. It felt like the leading character moved from problem to problem to problem as he raced though his life. The sexual abuse he suffered as a child by the catholic priests was never resolved, and the couple who sort of adopted him vanished. There were vague plans to meet up in Vancouver with them if they survived the night they put him on the train (gang related violence - of course!) but we never learn if he saw them again, leaving the reader feeling frustrated.
The characters were two dimensional, not at all plausible and the representation of black people was insulting - sex, criminality and violence. I know this was set in the 1900's and some people were treated according to stereotypes (as well as there being a depression - the only link I can find to Beck being compared to Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Beck is nowhere near as sophisticated as the Steinbeck novel) but the writer (s) did nothing to correct them. Presenting this as a children's book bears some responsibility on how issues/characters are presented and developed. To present such stereotypes and then do nothing to suggest that people were not/are not as two dimensional and stereotypical as they can be presented, I think gives children a false impression and doesn't go any way to developing their understanding of people and social groups/situations.
I found the descriptions of genitals unnecessary and excessive, too much focus on breasts (referred at times to tits), lots of descriptions of women's chests, our character's strong body with a focus on his chest, and an excessive amount of attention on sex. The writer actually included the protagonist and his leading lady watching horses copulating, and of course, comments were made on the horse's 'manhood.' This scene acted as a sort of prequel to our couple having sex - to which, our virginal male character, used as reference for his first sexual experience with this older, sexually liberated, not loose woman - even though it's the 1900's and she's in her thirties and unmarried and sleeps with men when she feels like it. It's not seen as bad when she does it. Perhaps it's okay for her because she's not white?
Our black leading character gets caught up in gang related violence and kills a man - typical. His job which led to this, was helping another black man in smuggling alcohol - which was illegal. So not only is our character involved in criminal behaviour, but he is involved in gang violence too.
It was ridiculous the amount of times the black characters were near a river semi-naked, or a lake - fully naked, or having being caught out in a massive thunderstorm and been drenched through so had to, naturally, get naked. And, not surprisingly, the character ends up staying on a property with a log cabin-type hut near a lake, where he can regularly get naked and bathe. To which of course, our leading lady spies on him because she just can't help herself - he's just too damn good-looking! And then, of course, she joins him. Which leads to... yep you've guessed it, love-making in the log cabin by the lake. And this is presented as a children's book in the Carnegie!?
I was shocked and surprised that this kind of book could end up in here. The Carnegie is synonymous for clever writing and enjoyable, original stories. This reads more like cheap porn. I was desperately disappointed which shortly lead to a white-hot anger.
It goes without saying that I will not be recommending this book.
The first 60 odd pages or so was shocking. I couldn't put it down I was so gripped to see where it would lead, but the problems the protagonist experienced wasn't explored in enough detail or resolved in anyway. It felt like the leading character moved from problem to problem to problem as he raced though his life. The sexual abuse he suffered as a child by the catholic priests was never resolved, and the couple who sort of adopted him vanished. There were vague plans to meet up in Vancouver with them if they survived the night they put him on the train (gang related violence - of course!) but we never learn if he saw them again, leaving the reader feeling frustrated.
The characters were two dimensional, not at all plausible and the representation of black people was insulting - sex, criminality and violence. I know this was set in the 1900's and some people were treated according to stereotypes (as well as there being a depression - the only link I can find to Beck being compared to Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Beck is nowhere near as sophisticated as the Steinbeck novel) but the writer (s) did nothing to correct them. Presenting this as a children's book bears some responsibility on how issues/characters are presented and developed. To present such stereotypes and then do nothing to suggest that people were not/are not as two dimensional and stereotypical as they can be presented, I think gives children a false impression and doesn't go any way to developing their understanding of people and social groups/situations.
I found the descriptions of genitals unnecessary and excessive, too much focus on breasts (referred at times to tits), lots of descriptions of women's chests, our character's strong body with a focus on his chest, and an excessive amount of attention on sex. The writer actually included the protagonist and his leading lady watching horses copulating, and of course, comments were made on the horse's 'manhood.' This scene acted as a sort of prequel to our couple having sex - to which, our virginal male character, used as reference for his first sexual experience with this older, sexually liberated, not loose woman - even though it's the 1900's and she's in her thirties and unmarried and sleeps with men when she feels like it. It's not seen as bad when she does it. Perhaps it's okay for her because she's not white?
Our black leading character gets caught up in gang related violence and kills a man - typical. His job which led to this, was helping another black man in smuggling alcohol - which was illegal. So not only is our character involved in criminal behaviour, but he is involved in gang violence too.
It was ridiculous the amount of times the black characters were near a river semi-naked, or a lake - fully naked, or having being caught out in a massive thunderstorm and been drenched through so had to, naturally, get naked. And, not surprisingly, the character ends up staying on a property with a log cabin-type hut near a lake, where he can regularly get naked and bathe. To which of course, our leading lady spies on him because she just can't help herself - he's just too damn good-looking! And then, of course, she joins him. Which leads to... yep you've guessed it, love-making in the log cabin by the lake. And this is presented as a children's book in the Carnegie!?
I was shocked and surprised that this kind of book could end up in here. The Carnegie is synonymous for clever writing and enjoyable, original stories. This reads more like cheap porn. I was desperately disappointed which shortly lead to a white-hot anger.
It goes without saying that I will not be recommending this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2017
A harrowing but arguably informative book, Beck really does bring to light the issue of what age actually constitutes as 'young adult' literature. The teenaged central character is the only aspect which associates the text with a young audience; the themes are overly mature and this book is essentially an adult novel in disguise.
After the initial high point (or more fittingly low point) at around the sixty page mark the story falls flat. There is little to absolve the novel in the later pages; the intended 'redeeming' relationship at the end is with a woman in her thirties and entirely lacks the ability for a young reader to relate to. The references to sexual acts are frequent and unnecessary in a book for it's intended readership, and do little to make the book endearing.
The main character, although distant because of his past experiences, has little for the reader to connect with, and the novel drags unnecessarily to a predicable (and therefore unsatisfactory) conclusion.
This review may be biased as the book was read, with a teacher's perspective, as part of the CILIP Carnegie Medal shadowing programme. With distressing scenes of emotional, sexual and physical abuse, the book is an unsuitable choice for the Carnegie shortlist. An award which encourages shadow-reading from children as young as eleven years old should not have selected a book of such a questionable nature. Particularly as the decision from school librarians and teachers to remove the book from the reading scheme (in the younger pupils' best interests) will leave many disappointed: both at not being allowed to read one of the texts and at their teachers for not allowing them to read it.
The touching decision of Meg Rosoff to complete Mal Peet's book does perhaps deserve some literary recognition, regrettably the Carnegie Award was not the way in which to commemorate this.
After the initial high point (or more fittingly low point) at around the sixty page mark the story falls flat. There is little to absolve the novel in the later pages; the intended 'redeeming' relationship at the end is with a woman in her thirties and entirely lacks the ability for a young reader to relate to. The references to sexual acts are frequent and unnecessary in a book for it's intended readership, and do little to make the book endearing.
The main character, although distant because of his past experiences, has little for the reader to connect with, and the novel drags unnecessarily to a predicable (and therefore unsatisfactory) conclusion.
This review may be biased as the book was read, with a teacher's perspective, as part of the CILIP Carnegie Medal shadowing programme. With distressing scenes of emotional, sexual and physical abuse, the book is an unsuitable choice for the Carnegie shortlist. An award which encourages shadow-reading from children as young as eleven years old should not have selected a book of such a questionable nature. Particularly as the decision from school librarians and teachers to remove the book from the reading scheme (in the younger pupils' best interests) will leave many disappointed: both at not being allowed to read one of the texts and at their teachers for not allowing them to read it.
The touching decision of Meg Rosoff to complete Mal Peet's book does perhaps deserve some literary recognition, regrettably the Carnegie Award was not the way in which to commemorate this.
March 30, 2017
As far as suitability goes, I would be happy giving this to S3 (14/15 years old) and up - with a content warning. We teach The Color Purple to that age group and while parts of Beck are distressing, I don't think it is unsuitable with appropriate guidance.
Whether or not that age group would be interested in reading Beck is another thing - frankly, I don't think they would. The style is sparse, we get very little characterisation and vast chunks of time (whole years) are elided. I found it very hard to empathise with Beck and I wasn't very interested in what happened to him.
I find myself baffled by this book. Who, exactly is it for? Younger readers will be bored by the style and alienated by Beck's sexual relationship with an older woman. Older readers will be frustrated by the lack of character development and unsatisfyingly neat ending.
Frustrating: I'm looking forward to tackling the other books on the Carnegie shortlist instead.
Whether or not that age group would be interested in reading Beck is another thing - frankly, I don't think they would. The style is sparse, we get very little characterisation and vast chunks of time (whole years) are elided. I found it very hard to empathise with Beck and I wasn't very interested in what happened to him.
I find myself baffled by this book. Who, exactly is it for? Younger readers will be bored by the style and alienated by Beck's sexual relationship with an older woman. Older readers will be frustrated by the lack of character development and unsatisfyingly neat ending.
Frustrating: I'm looking forward to tackling the other books on the Carnegie shortlist instead.
August 11, 2017
This is a beautifully written book. The author Mal Peet passed before it's completion. Meg Rosoff finished the book as promised to Mal. This book was a journey. It was so devastatingly sad and I felt like I was along with Beck, the main character, as he made his harrowing journey to self-discovery and love. It is a difficult read because it is based on historical injustices in the early 1900's. I was drawn into the story line as the author chronicled Beck's misery as an orphan sent to Canada and all the abuses he endured, at the orphanage and in his travels to the U.S. There are some parts of the book that are very hard to read and graphic in their depiction of child and sexual abuse. Through all the trials and tribulations, Beck finds love and belonging. This book is defined as "teen" and "young adult". Who decides how a book will be published as? Personally, I found most of the book so heartrendingly sad and brutal, that I don't know how it could be cataloged as a book for teens and young adults.
April 4, 2017
Only Mal Peet could write a book this hauntingly beautiful and aim it at young people. His final book is as beautiful as it is tragic, maybe it's all the more tragic because it's his last. Beck lingers long in the memory. I might just turn to the beginning and start reading all over again.
May 25, 2017
This book was raw and brutal. Some beautiful writing, and ultimately life-affirming, but I would have preferred it to be life-affirming rather sooner. Perhaps it was just the wrong week for me to be reading something so filled with cruelty.
March 24, 2017
Going into this I really wasn't sure what to expect. Early reviews on the Carnegie Shadowing site seem to be focusing on the inappropriateness of this novel for teen readers, and the concerns over the graphic nature of the abuse experienced by the main character. Looking beyond these comments I learned that Peet had been inspired to write this after reading something about the historical abuse of children sent to Canada and Australia. Of course it's not going to be all sweetness and light!
With something of a heavy heart I set myself to read this. Oh, how I was doing this book a disservice.
The opening part gives us, very tersely, the background to Beck and immediately makes it clear that this is a boy who was not going to get a good deal in life. I read with a sense of detachment of his early years in the orphanage in Liverpool. Beck gives little comment on this, and the decision to not write this in first-person means we don't have to go too deep into the emotions/thoughts of the character though it's all too clear how he's feeling. I was disgusted by the way in which these boys were packed off to Canada and the lack of care and compassion shown to them.
As part one focuses on the historical element of Beck's story we cannot shy away from the time he spends with the Brothers. From early on there are hints of bad things happening, and the little details suggesting the abuse experienced by many of the boys indicates the scale of this horror. A number of reviews express concern at the graphic nature of the bath scene where Brother Robert attempts to seduce Beck. I confess to reading this feeling very uncomfortable, and my relief when Beck fought back was chillingly quashed moments later when we were categorically told the results of him not complying with events. An event that will linger long in the memory but, however uncomfortable it made me, it is fact and a truth that deserves to be told.
Watching Beck as he journeys through life was bleak. He is not treated well, and on the rare occasions he is shown love and compassion events conspire to make him feel that he cannot trust anyone. It was a sobering thought that the criminals he encounters are actually the people who treat him most kindly.
When Beck is finally discovered by Grace they appear to have little in common. Over time, they establish a close bond and this attempt to provide Beck with some redemption was welcomed by me. I certainly didn't read this section feeling that their intimacy was unwelcome. If anything, the fact that someone who had experienced such pain and misery could still find it within themself to love was inspiring.
Peet - and Rosoff who completed the novel after his death - are favourites to win this year's award. By the comments on the Shadowing site there'll be lots of students denied the chance to read this and form their own opinion of it. That is a shame. It's a tough read, without a doubt, but there's a lot to admire in this.
With something of a heavy heart I set myself to read this. Oh, how I was doing this book a disservice.
The opening part gives us, very tersely, the background to Beck and immediately makes it clear that this is a boy who was not going to get a good deal in life. I read with a sense of detachment of his early years in the orphanage in Liverpool. Beck gives little comment on this, and the decision to not write this in first-person means we don't have to go too deep into the emotions/thoughts of the character though it's all too clear how he's feeling. I was disgusted by the way in which these boys were packed off to Canada and the lack of care and compassion shown to them.
As part one focuses on the historical element of Beck's story we cannot shy away from the time he spends with the Brothers. From early on there are hints of bad things happening, and the little details suggesting the abuse experienced by many of the boys indicates the scale of this horror. A number of reviews express concern at the graphic nature of the bath scene where Brother Robert attempts to seduce Beck. I confess to reading this feeling very uncomfortable, and my relief when Beck fought back was chillingly quashed moments later when we were categorically told the results of him not complying with events. An event that will linger long in the memory but, however uncomfortable it made me, it is fact and a truth that deserves to be told.
Watching Beck as he journeys through life was bleak. He is not treated well, and on the rare occasions he is shown love and compassion events conspire to make him feel that he cannot trust anyone. It was a sobering thought that the criminals he encounters are actually the people who treat him most kindly.
When Beck is finally discovered by Grace they appear to have little in common. Over time, they establish a close bond and this attempt to provide Beck with some redemption was welcomed by me. I certainly didn't read this section feeling that their intimacy was unwelcome. If anything, the fact that someone who had experienced such pain and misery could still find it within themself to love was inspiring.
Peet - and Rosoff who completed the novel after his death - are favourites to win this year's award. By the comments on the Shadowing site there'll be lots of students denied the chance to read this and form their own opinion of it. That is a shame. It's a tough read, without a doubt, but there's a lot to admire in this.
May 28, 2017
I devoured this book in one sitting; it is thought-provoking, dark, a little bit disturbing but also somehow uplifting and positive. I absolutely love Beck as a character - a strong, fiery boy turned man who manages to break free from the constraints of the era.
This book is set in the early 1900's as young orphaned boys were taken to Canada to the Catholic Brothers and shipped off to a suitable owner to earn their keep. The story starts off shortly after Beck loses his family and finds himself with the Brothers. The scenes are disturbing for the most part, with racial slurs (likely to be consistent with the time, but difficult to read) and scenes of abuse including rape. Later Beck is taken to the Giggs farm to work, but continues to be rebellious, leading him to eventually find his own way, his own freedom and his future.
The story does largely feature elements sadly close to truth, and as such it hits you where it hurts. But Beck is an inspiring individual with a lot of passion and fight - you will utterly without question find yourself right behind him urging him forwards and cheering him on for fighting back rather than getting lost in the more depressing tones. I also quite enjoyed that the Giggs family in particular really showcased that the prejudices of the time weren't always comfortable even for those ostracising others (Giggs notices Becks abuse and is ashamed of it). This opposing view is difficult to swallow, but was an interesting take. However, the author doesn't shy away from showcasing just how abhorrent these views were - something which makes it easy to really get behind Beck to keep fighting. There are lots of upsetting racial remarks and scenes of abuse in fact, but I think this book is important to see how far we've come but also how far we have left to go in this regard.
The only question I might raise about this book is perhaps its audience. Whilst marked as a children's book, the content and degree of swearing may not be best suited to a young reader. I would suggest it is better suited for a teenager or older reader.
Nevertheless, a really powerful book. I definitely recommend it - a real eye-opener and an educational tool for the time.
ARC provided free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This book is set in the early 1900's as young orphaned boys were taken to Canada to the Catholic Brothers and shipped off to a suitable owner to earn their keep. The story starts off shortly after Beck loses his family and finds himself with the Brothers. The scenes are disturbing for the most part, with racial slurs (likely to be consistent with the time, but difficult to read) and scenes of abuse including rape. Later Beck is taken to the Giggs farm to work, but continues to be rebellious, leading him to eventually find his own way, his own freedom and his future.
The story does largely feature elements sadly close to truth, and as such it hits you where it hurts. But Beck is an inspiring individual with a lot of passion and fight - you will utterly without question find yourself right behind him urging him forwards and cheering him on for fighting back rather than getting lost in the more depressing tones. I also quite enjoyed that the Giggs family in particular really showcased that the prejudices of the time weren't always comfortable even for those ostracising others (Giggs notices Becks abuse and is ashamed of it). This opposing view is difficult to swallow, but was an interesting take. However, the author doesn't shy away from showcasing just how abhorrent these views were - something which makes it easy to really get behind Beck to keep fighting. There are lots of upsetting racial remarks and scenes of abuse in fact, but I think this book is important to see how far we've come but also how far we have left to go in this regard.
The only question I might raise about this book is perhaps its audience. Whilst marked as a children's book, the content and degree of swearing may not be best suited to a young reader. I would suggest it is better suited for a teenager or older reader.
Nevertheless, a really powerful book. I definitely recommend it - a real eye-opener and an educational tool for the time.
ARC provided free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
August 16, 2022
i love mal peet!!!!
life: an exploded diagram was sooo good so i had high expectations going into this, no doubt. at first, i wasn't a fan of how everything was written out in the accent but it grew on me and eventually i loved beck!!! so much!! irma and husband-whose-name-i-forget were such great parental figures, i loved the relationship he had with them. grace was a kick-ass mixed race woman who did what she wanted and her relationship with beck was well developed and honestly? i support it.
with all the news about pedophile priests in the past while, the beginning of the book (and this isn't really a spoiler, it's so heavily implied in the summary if you've heard any news about the catholic church recently) was really topical i think??? it was written so it'd make you think and be disgusted for beck but it wasn't actually super graphic so it was as accessible to everyone as you could make pedophile priests being pedophiles, i guess.
life: an exploded diagram was sooo good so i had high expectations going into this, no doubt. at first, i wasn't a fan of how everything was written out in the accent but it grew on me and eventually i loved beck!!! so much!! irma and husband-whose-name-i-forget were such great parental figures, i loved the relationship he had with them. grace was a kick-ass mixed race woman who did what she wanted and her relationship with beck was well developed and honestly? i support it.
with all the news about pedophile priests in the past while, the beginning of the book (and this isn't really a spoiler, it's so heavily implied in the summary if you've heard any news about the catholic church recently) was really topical i think??? it was written so it'd make you think and be disgusted for beck but it wasn't actually super graphic so it was as accessible to everyone as you could make pedophile priests being pedophiles, i guess.
April 24, 2017
While I enjoyed the fact that this book was more of a character exploration than an actual story (plot taking a backseat to the sort of in-depth development I've come to expect from Mal Peet), it seemed way over-sexualized for a YA novel. I'm not a prude when it comes to YA lit, and I don't mind when sex is a subject bc I know teens think about it and learn from it being explored in novels. That being said, the act itself is usually glossed over bc detailed descriptions aren't really proper for this age group. This book is pretty graphic about it. I also don't feel this would have far-reaching teen appeal--its historical fiction, which is notoriously unpopular, and there's no engrossing plot, so I think this will sit on the shelves unread. Which is unfortunate, because overall, it's quite good.
May 6, 2017
*Note: This review is INCREDIBLY long! I understand that long reviews often test the patience of the average review-reader so don't feel you have to read ALL of it.
There is a spoiler-free section AND a spoiler section which is why. :)
This book is set in the early 1900s in North America; it follows a boy named Ignatius Beck and it follows him throughout his life from when he is eleven up to when he is around nineteen.
Beck is an orphan; he is also black; so obviously on his travels throughout the novel, he receives a lot of discrimination from other people and this book follows what happens to him and the struggles he goes through.
I'm going to do a small section of this review where it is spoiler-free so if you have not read it, I will not spoil anything. But then, there will be a section at the end where I will be writing some stuff about spoilers which I usually never do but I have so many plot issues with this book that I definitely need to do that.
No Spoilers
I really did not enjoy Beck. It's a huge shame to say that. Certainly, I had fairly large issues with it. This book had a rhyme to me of Alone On A Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo as they both follow orphans being taken away on ships. Arthur Hobhouse, in Wide Sea, is shipped away to Australia and Beck, fairly early on in the novel, is shipped away to Canada. They then both follow those orphans as they travel from place to place and meet different people and make new connections and break old connections. That wasn't an issue; I liked that aspect to it (partly because I absolutely adore the Michael Morpurgo book!)
However, one thing that I did not like is that it also reminded me of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (I have done my research and yes, A Little Life was released before this!)
The problem I had with this aspect was that if you've read A Little Life, you will be able to predict EVERYTHING that happens within the first few chapters of this book. I don't mind at all if a book has similarities with another because that is inevitable but I feel like a section of A Little Life was literally copied and pasted into this?! It was ridiculous (this issue will be covered in the spoiler section).
But those few chapters are literally just a few fish in a large sea when it comes to the plot in this book. This is my second issue: so many things happen! This is something that is due to my preferences as a reader, not necessarily a reflection on the book itself: I love books with loads of character development and slow pace; it doesn't even have to have much plot! Those are my film preferences as well as by literature preferences: that is what I'm into. Beck feels like an action film. This book deals with sexual abuse; it deals with physical abuse; it deals with a whole host of very sensitive topics.
However, the fact that this book is being branded by all adults as a book that should be treated with caution for a children is a joke! This book is not harrowing; it doesn't reach out to your emotions at any point and the reason for that is because the plot goes at a speed of about 100mph. So many things which should have been handled well and reached out to us as a reader were just crammed in at random places. It was this mixture of themes that could have worked well and rather than going: "Okay, let's choose one of them and spread it out slowly through the novel," they had just said: "What the hell! Let's just go ahead and do it because why not!" The result was a mess, a complete mess.
The timeframe is a mess: there were so many chapters in this book when we are suddenly told that loads of years have passed since the last sentence in the book. It's impossible to keep track of Beck's age and it is impossible to keep track of how long it has been since he last saw certain characters. I understand why this might have been deliberately done: Beck is travelling alone throughout a fair amount of this book and obviously he loses track of time so our unawareness of the timeframe might be a device used to empathise with Beck's oblivion but it still annoyed me. In order for me to connect to the story, I have to completely understand everything and feel a part of everything. I couldn't!
The final two spoiler-free issues I have with it are these:
Without giving anything away, the amount of trauma that Beck suffers over the first nineteen years of his life is very hyperbolic. This links into the fast pace but the amount of heartbreak that this book conveys just wouldn't be possible and therefore, I couldn't follow the novel because I felt like it wasn't realistic and I can't empathise or connect to a story that doesn't seem possible to me!
The issue I saved for last, which was probably the one that affected me the most, was the characters. All the characters were so flat! I don't mind at all having unlikeable characters (provided you're supposed to dislike them) but these characters weren't even likeable or unlikeable: they were just cardboard cut-outs. All the focus was on the pacing and the abuse pile so much so that I wouldn't be able to tell you anything about Beck's personality. When I was 50 pages before the end, I was discussing this book with the other shadowers and I still couldn't describe him. 50 pages before the end!
In conclusion to the spoiler-free section, this book was hyperbolic with no character development. It had too much plot that moved too quickly and no emotions were tweaked at all. It was almost as if the authors didn't care if the reader connected to the characters.
That is the end of the spoiler-free section. If you have not read the book but you plan to read it and you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now. If you have read the book or if you don't plan to read it or you plan to read it but honestly don't care if you know the end, feel free to carry on reading.
It only gets one star! I didn't absolutely detest this book; it wasn't torture reading it. It's not, by any means, the worst book I've ever read. By the time I got 100 pages before the end, I did want it to be over but it wasn't exasperating to push through. However, there is nothing definitive within this novel which could provoke me to put my hand up and say: "I liked this!" So, one star.
To wrap up my exceedingly annoyed review, I thought all the themes were badly handled. I thought the character development was appalling. I thought the plot was too quick and there is loads of stuff that should have been slowed down and analysed with more depth. Finally, I thought the story was ludicrously handled and executed and this is a book with many flaws.
It goes without saying that I would not want this book to win the prize. I would be very happy for Meg Rosoff, who went to the effort to finish the book after Mal Peet sadly died during the writing of it, because I think that this is a book which took a lot of effort to write. So I would be happy for the deceased Mal Peet and the promise that Meg Rosoff made but there was nothing that I definitively liked about it so it is not on the top of my list!
*This is a book on the Carnegie 2017 Shortlist. I have already reviewed two other books on the shortlist: The Stars at Oktober Bend and Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth which you will be able to find on Goodreads and also on the Carnegie website. The next Carnegie book I will be reading and reviewing is Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk which will hopefully receive a more positive review!
There is a spoiler-free section AND a spoiler section which is why. :)
This book is set in the early 1900s in North America; it follows a boy named Ignatius Beck and it follows him throughout his life from when he is eleven up to when he is around nineteen.
Beck is an orphan; he is also black; so obviously on his travels throughout the novel, he receives a lot of discrimination from other people and this book follows what happens to him and the struggles he goes through.
I'm going to do a small section of this review where it is spoiler-free so if you have not read it, I will not spoil anything. But then, there will be a section at the end where I will be writing some stuff about spoilers which I usually never do but I have so many plot issues with this book that I definitely need to do that.
No Spoilers
I really did not enjoy Beck. It's a huge shame to say that. Certainly, I had fairly large issues with it. This book had a rhyme to me of Alone On A Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo as they both follow orphans being taken away on ships. Arthur Hobhouse, in Wide Sea, is shipped away to Australia and Beck, fairly early on in the novel, is shipped away to Canada. They then both follow those orphans as they travel from place to place and meet different people and make new connections and break old connections. That wasn't an issue; I liked that aspect to it (partly because I absolutely adore the Michael Morpurgo book!)
However, one thing that I did not like is that it also reminded me of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (I have done my research and yes, A Little Life was released before this!)
The problem I had with this aspect was that if you've read A Little Life, you will be able to predict EVERYTHING that happens within the first few chapters of this book. I don't mind at all if a book has similarities with another because that is inevitable but I feel like a section of A Little Life was literally copied and pasted into this?! It was ridiculous (this issue will be covered in the spoiler section).
But those few chapters are literally just a few fish in a large sea when it comes to the plot in this book. This is my second issue: so many things happen! This is something that is due to my preferences as a reader, not necessarily a reflection on the book itself: I love books with loads of character development and slow pace; it doesn't even have to have much plot! Those are my film preferences as well as by literature preferences: that is what I'm into. Beck feels like an action film. This book deals with sexual abuse; it deals with physical abuse; it deals with a whole host of very sensitive topics.
However, the fact that this book is being branded by all adults as a book that should be treated with caution for a children is a joke! This book is not harrowing; it doesn't reach out to your emotions at any point and the reason for that is because the plot goes at a speed of about 100mph. So many things which should have been handled well and reached out to us as a reader were just crammed in at random places. It was this mixture of themes that could have worked well and rather than going: "Okay, let's choose one of them and spread it out slowly through the novel," they had just said: "What the hell! Let's just go ahead and do it because why not!" The result was a mess, a complete mess.
The timeframe is a mess: there were so many chapters in this book when we are suddenly told that loads of years have passed since the last sentence in the book. It's impossible to keep track of Beck's age and it is impossible to keep track of how long it has been since he last saw certain characters. I understand why this might have been deliberately done: Beck is travelling alone throughout a fair amount of this book and obviously he loses track of time so our unawareness of the timeframe might be a device used to empathise with Beck's oblivion but it still annoyed me. In order for me to connect to the story, I have to completely understand everything and feel a part of everything. I couldn't!
The final two spoiler-free issues I have with it are these:
Without giving anything away, the amount of trauma that Beck suffers over the first nineteen years of his life is very hyperbolic. This links into the fast pace but the amount of heartbreak that this book conveys just wouldn't be possible and therefore, I couldn't follow the novel because I felt like it wasn't realistic and I can't empathise or connect to a story that doesn't seem possible to me!
The issue I saved for last, which was probably the one that affected me the most, was the characters. All the characters were so flat! I don't mind at all having unlikeable characters (provided you're supposed to dislike them) but these characters weren't even likeable or unlikeable: they were just cardboard cut-outs. All the focus was on the pacing and the abuse pile so much so that I wouldn't be able to tell you anything about Beck's personality. When I was 50 pages before the end, I was discussing this book with the other shadowers and I still couldn't describe him. 50 pages before the end!
In conclusion to the spoiler-free section, this book was hyperbolic with no character development. It had too much plot that moved too quickly and no emotions were tweaked at all. It was almost as if the authors didn't care if the reader connected to the characters.
That is the end of the spoiler-free section. If you have not read the book but you plan to read it and you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now. If you have read the book or if you don't plan to read it or you plan to read it but honestly don't care if you know the end, feel free to carry on reading.
It only gets one star! I didn't absolutely detest this book; it wasn't torture reading it. It's not, by any means, the worst book I've ever read. By the time I got 100 pages before the end, I did want it to be over but it wasn't exasperating to push through. However, there is nothing definitive within this novel which could provoke me to put my hand up and say: "I liked this!" So, one star.
To wrap up my exceedingly annoyed review, I thought all the themes were badly handled. I thought the character development was appalling. I thought the plot was too quick and there is loads of stuff that should have been slowed down and analysed with more depth. Finally, I thought the story was ludicrously handled and executed and this is a book with many flaws.
It goes without saying that I would not want this book to win the prize. I would be very happy for Meg Rosoff, who went to the effort to finish the book after Mal Peet sadly died during the writing of it, because I think that this is a book which took a lot of effort to write. So I would be happy for the deceased Mal Peet and the promise that Meg Rosoff made but there was nothing that I definitively liked about it so it is not on the top of my list!
*This is a book on the Carnegie 2017 Shortlist. I have already reviewed two other books on the shortlist: The Stars at Oktober Bend and Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth which you will be able to find on Goodreads and also on the Carnegie website. The next Carnegie book I will be reading and reviewing is Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk which will hopefully receive a more positive review!
December 29, 2016
I don't think I could have read this as a teenager or young adult and enjoyed it. Even now I have mixed feelings about it. The 4 stars are for the quality of the writing, which is excellent, especially for a posthumous collaborative work. The story is bleak. It is as exactly bad as you think it is going to be, and then some. It is just a little too hard for me to suspend disbelief enough to really think the ending was even remotely likely, if this was real life that kid froze or starved to death on a highway somewhere in the middle of nowhere. But then, Beck (and the rest of us with him), had suffered enough.
July 27, 2024
Editing my review because i have more to say. Just a horrible book. He just goes from problem to problem with no explanation. Nothing really gets resolved and the problems come out of nowhere. Even the “good” things that happen come out of nowhere. It’s like someone just published their rough draft of plot IDEAS and called it a day. I usually write a sentence or two but this was so bad I couldn’t let one sentence be enough punishment for this book.
October 3, 2016
I love books about overcoming the influence of Catholics. It's also a very enjoyable and heartwarming read.
May 11, 2017
Brilliant
August 9, 2017
My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review BECK.
BECK is beautifully written. It is a difficult read because it is based on historical injustices in the early 1900's. I was drawn into the storyline as the author chronicled Beck's misery as an orphan sent to Canada and all the abuse s he endured. It was very dramatic and terribly brutal and raw. Beck's character didn't evolve until the last 10% of the book. The first 60 pages were terribly graphic depicting child and sexual abuse. The couple with whom he experienced familial love abruptly ended, and their situation was not resolved. Most of the book had unresolved scenarios, but I saw this as a picture of an orphaned black boy: wandering, walking because he had no where to call home , physically and emotionally. Then there was Grace. Grace, the woman, and grace, that divine attribute that had eluded Beck his entire life. The literary elements are breathtaking: the burning tree, the burning man, and Beck's resolve never again to be consumed by the fire of hate and bigotry. The denouement is uplifting, thankfully. Beck finally finds grace and salvation. I am distressed this is considered a children's book, however. It most certainly is not. It is a hauntingly dark, beautifully written saga of a very dark time in history.
BECK is beautifully written. It is a difficult read because it is based on historical injustices in the early 1900's. I was drawn into the storyline as the author chronicled Beck's misery as an orphan sent to Canada and all the abuse s he endured. It was very dramatic and terribly brutal and raw. Beck's character didn't evolve until the last 10% of the book. The first 60 pages were terribly graphic depicting child and sexual abuse. The couple with whom he experienced familial love abruptly ended, and their situation was not resolved. Most of the book had unresolved scenarios, but I saw this as a picture of an orphaned black boy: wandering, walking because he had no where to call home , physically and emotionally. Then there was Grace. Grace, the woman, and grace, that divine attribute that had eluded Beck his entire life. The literary elements are breathtaking: the burning tree, the burning man, and Beck's resolve never again to be consumed by the fire of hate and bigotry. The denouement is uplifting, thankfully. Beck finally finds grace and salvation. I am distressed this is considered a children's book, however. It most certainly is not. It is a hauntingly dark, beautifully written saga of a very dark time in history.
May 29, 2017
Starting off by saying I do not understand how this ended up on the Carnegie shortlist, this is definitely not a suitable book for children.
I picked up this book as a YA book club I'm a part of are going through the Carnegie shortlist, the blurb intrigued me however the adults at the library could not have gave me a bigger warning. I am used to reading rather shocking/hard books though. They are not reading it as some people in the club are way too young to be reading this sort of thing.
CONTENT WARNING for child abuse (inc. sexual), racism
Ok, after heavily bracing myself after the biggest warning about this book, I began reading it with a sense of -reasonable- dread. What happened to Beck was absolutely awful and so sad.
Beck was a very determined character. It's a dark book, but very well written and even with a change of authors it flowed well throughout. I do feel some hope as the story progresses and while it being a very hard read, I did think it was quite a good book that I read in a few hours.
I picked up this book as a YA book club I'm a part of are going through the Carnegie shortlist, the blurb intrigued me however the adults at the library could not have gave me a bigger warning. I am used to reading rather shocking/hard books though. They are not reading it as some people in the club are way too young to be reading this sort of thing.
CONTENT WARNING for child abuse (inc. sexual), racism
Ok, after heavily bracing myself after the biggest warning about this book, I began reading it with a sense of -reasonable- dread. What happened to Beck was absolutely awful and so sad.
Beck was a very determined character. It's a dark book, but very well written and even with a change of authors it flowed well throughout. I do feel some hope as the story progresses and while it being a very hard read, I did think it was quite a good book that I read in a few hours.
Read
September 7, 2017This book was a really interesting one, as it explores arrested emotional development without fishing for sympathy and without making the character a sociopath. It's written successfully in simple language even though it takes on a very not simple issue. I would be careful about recommending it to younger readers because the subject matter is more mature at a few spots.
Read
May 23, 2017Neither Mal Peet nor Meg Rosoff does ordinary, so a book begun by one and completed by the other after Peet’s death from cancer would have to be special, and it is. It’s also not for children. Beck (his mother’s surname) is born in 1907, never sees his African father, and is raised in an orphanage (Sisters of Mercy--not sisters, and no mercy, he says later when asked about his background). The story really begins when he, aged 15, and other boys are sent to a Christian Brothers home in Montreal. When Beck reacts violently to Brother Robert’s sexual advances, Part 1 ends “he raped the boy.” Beck is then put on a train to the Ontario plains, where the farmer who has requested a worker doesn’t want a dark-skinned one and treats him harshly. By the end of Part 2, he has run away. In Part 3, the most loving people he has ever met, in Windsor, Ontario, are involved in criminal activity and send him away for his own safety. The beginning of Part 4 finds him in a prairie storm on his way to Vancouver. Grace McAllister, daughter of a Scotsman and a Blackfoot woman, rescues him, and we see the attraction between them from both his and her perspectives. As in many children’s adventure stories, the last chapter is called “Home,” but Beck is ready to be a man, in an adult relationship. Very much worth reading by older teens and by adults as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2021
This book was so true: an extended exploration of how one young man put himself together again following the trauma of sexual abuse. So yes, the beginning is harrowing and disturbing, but the rest of the book is how he puts himself back together again. I loved the symbolism and the ending.
May 29, 2017
Loved the writing and the story. It's very difficult to read in parts and sad but ultimately uplifting as Beck understands how his past experiences have kept him from breaking free of them. I think an older teen would enjoy this book, especially since so many suffer as Beck does and are looking for ways to understand. I could not put this book down and looked forward to reading it!
July 15, 2017
Beck is the story of an eponymous mixed-race orphan in an uncaring world. After the death of his mother, Beck is shipped off to Canada, where he deals with abusive priests, abusive farmers, and violent mobsters (plus more) while he searches for a place to belong.
This is a book that desperately wants to have an important message. It’s just not clear what that message is. Every event drips with unused significance. He is neglected and abused as an orphan, but it ends there – any larger point about man’s inhumanity to man or poverty fizzle out as he pushed the memories behind him and wanders on. Instead of an exploration of society or identity or anything else, each plot point is simply another event in a series of them with no real purpose.
The plot is repetitive, running along the same basic cycle again and again. Beck meets new people – they generally give him food and new clothes – and he stays with him for a while before they do something that shows the innate awfulness of humanity. Then he leaves. Sometimes, to be fair, the characters don’t do anything bad directly – society itself is what sends Beck out into the world again.
Beck is a book of near-unrelenting misery. Everyone is awful, all of the time. By my count, there are five relatively significant characters who aren’t monsters, and all of those make (at best) extremely questionable decisions. Every other character is actively evil, exploiting Beck in countless ways. There’s very little in the book that suggests any kind of hope or positivity.
It’s fine to have miserable books. Anguish is an important component of art, and I can’t think of any story worth telling that doesn’t contain some sort of pain. But the pain has to serve a purpose – there has to be a reason to share it with the reader. Beck doesn’t have that. And that’s not because there aren’t any possible reasons; as above, it would be so easy to take his pain and make it significant. But the book doesn’t do that – it presents the misery, but doesn’t comment on it. Misery (and violence, and sex) without purpose is gratuitous. It doesn’t strengthen the book, it weakens it. From the first page, Beck hammers you over the head with how gritty and terrible everything is, and that’s only okay if a book justifies it. By the time you get to the slow and descriptive “child abuse in a bathtub” scene, it’s clear that no justification is coming.
The aforementioned scene was definitely a low point. Child abuse is a difficult topic to handle well – that much should be obvious. Authors who do tackle the issue tend to do so either extremely poorly, or extremely carefully. One thing you don’t do, pretty much ever, is linger on the actual event in what is supposed to be a children’s book. You don’t even do that in an adult book, because why would you? The specific mechanics don’t actually help or add anything; they just make your reader uncomfortable. Perhaps the worst thing about the handling of this scene in Beck is that the bathtub scene is the most lovingly described and detailed scene. Beck’s positive moments don’t get anything like this level of time and focus, and that’s a bizarre choice. I found myself deeply confused as to why the scene needed so much space on the page.
I could go on for a while about the flaws in Beck. It’s a book that’s at least partially about racism in which all the Native American characters are stereotypes. It’s a book that doesn’t mention the main character’s guiding philosophy until the final few chapters. It’s a book that doesn’t know what it is doing half the time, and shouldn’t be doing it the other half.
Perhaps these problems are too do with the unconventional authorship. Beck was started by Mal Peet – an author I’m unfamiliar with – but finished by Meg Rosoff, who I’ve always rather liked. Authors picking up other author’s books doesn’t always go well, and I think it’s a problem here. There are shifts in tone all over the place and plot hooks are dropped never to be picked up again. The final section of the book reads like it belongs in a completely different (and much better) novel. Suddenly, there’s a theme and a purpose and a focus on change, not just repeated horrors. And then, in the final big scene, all of that goes away again, and we’re back with stereotypes and needless confusion.
I think that the problem with Beck is that it tries too hard to be powerful and important – the sort of text people will study for years and talk about its unflinching honesty. But in the struggle to be that book, it ends up losing the plot and the themes and everything else that would actually make it important. It’s definitely unflinching and gritty – often too gritty – but it isn’t actually saying very much.
This is a book that desperately wants to have an important message. It’s just not clear what that message is. Every event drips with unused significance. He is neglected and abused as an orphan, but it ends there – any larger point about man’s inhumanity to man or poverty fizzle out as he pushed the memories behind him and wanders on. Instead of an exploration of society or identity or anything else, each plot point is simply another event in a series of them with no real purpose.
The plot is repetitive, running along the same basic cycle again and again. Beck meets new people – they generally give him food and new clothes – and he stays with him for a while before they do something that shows the innate awfulness of humanity. Then he leaves. Sometimes, to be fair, the characters don’t do anything bad directly – society itself is what sends Beck out into the world again.
Beck is a book of near-unrelenting misery. Everyone is awful, all of the time. By my count, there are five relatively significant characters who aren’t monsters, and all of those make (at best) extremely questionable decisions. Every other character is actively evil, exploiting Beck in countless ways. There’s very little in the book that suggests any kind of hope or positivity.
It’s fine to have miserable books. Anguish is an important component of art, and I can’t think of any story worth telling that doesn’t contain some sort of pain. But the pain has to serve a purpose – there has to be a reason to share it with the reader. Beck doesn’t have that. And that’s not because there aren’t any possible reasons; as above, it would be so easy to take his pain and make it significant. But the book doesn’t do that – it presents the misery, but doesn’t comment on it. Misery (and violence, and sex) without purpose is gratuitous. It doesn’t strengthen the book, it weakens it. From the first page, Beck hammers you over the head with how gritty and terrible everything is, and that’s only okay if a book justifies it. By the time you get to the slow and descriptive “child abuse in a bathtub” scene, it’s clear that no justification is coming.
The aforementioned scene was definitely a low point. Child abuse is a difficult topic to handle well – that much should be obvious. Authors who do tackle the issue tend to do so either extremely poorly, or extremely carefully. One thing you don’t do, pretty much ever, is linger on the actual event in what is supposed to be a children’s book. You don’t even do that in an adult book, because why would you? The specific mechanics don’t actually help or add anything; they just make your reader uncomfortable. Perhaps the worst thing about the handling of this scene in Beck is that the bathtub scene is the most lovingly described and detailed scene. Beck’s positive moments don’t get anything like this level of time and focus, and that’s a bizarre choice. I found myself deeply confused as to why the scene needed so much space on the page.
I could go on for a while about the flaws in Beck. It’s a book that’s at least partially about racism in which all the Native American characters are stereotypes. It’s a book that doesn’t mention the main character’s guiding philosophy until the final few chapters. It’s a book that doesn’t know what it is doing half the time, and shouldn’t be doing it the other half.
Perhaps these problems are too do with the unconventional authorship. Beck was started by Mal Peet – an author I’m unfamiliar with – but finished by Meg Rosoff, who I’ve always rather liked. Authors picking up other author’s books doesn’t always go well, and I think it’s a problem here. There are shifts in tone all over the place and plot hooks are dropped never to be picked up again. The final section of the book reads like it belongs in a completely different (and much better) novel. Suddenly, there’s a theme and a purpose and a focus on change, not just repeated horrors. And then, in the final big scene, all of that goes away again, and we’re back with stereotypes and needless confusion.
I think that the problem with Beck is that it tries too hard to be powerful and important – the sort of text people will study for years and talk about its unflinching honesty. But in the struggle to be that book, it ends up losing the plot and the themes and everything else that would actually make it important. It’s definitely unflinching and gritty – often too gritty – but it isn’t actually saying very much.
December 4, 2016
This is the YA novel that English writer Mal Peet left unfinished when he died suddenly of cancer in December 2014. American writer Meg Rossoff promised to finish it for him but he died before they had time for any collaboration. Meg adds a note at the end of this typically passionate Mal Peet work that by the time she finished she could not tell “which parts I had written and which Mal had. The story and the characters and the most original and beautiful turns of phrase were obviously Mal's.” Neither could I except for phrases such as this description of a priest's collar: “a white dog collar that looked as hard and cold as the rim of a pisspot.”
I agree with Meg Rossoff's assessment that the book is “bold and compassionate, unsparing, moving and joyously, mordantly funny” but it's like those times when you say that it wasn't funny at the time. This is because this is a story of one young man's struggle to overcome the effects of sexual predation and regain trust in his feelings to find that sex can be a joyous part of love rather than the source of violence, shame and hatred.
Beck is about fourteen when I first meet him in Ireland being taken from an orphanage run by the “sisters of no mercy” to a Christian Brothers house in Dublin, prior to a voyage to Canada in the 1920's. Beck was savagely beaten and raped by Brother Robert after resisting his sexual advances in a bath where the boy was persuaded to join him. Peet suitably mediates these scenes for his teen-aged readers and I also was glad to be spared. He selects the details of the grooming and the hypocritical language that led up to that bath and writes of the consequences suffered by this son of a devout Liverpool Catholic mother and an African from what was then known as the Gold Coast, now Ghana. The shame of that mixed race then, meant that after his mother and her family had died in the great influenza epidemic after World War I, at the age of eleven, he was sent to the orphanage and after three and a half years “in that dire and loveless establishment” “he had become a hard little bastard who had learned to cry silently and dry-eyed”.
“Christian names were not used in the orphanage and eventually Beck forgot that he had one.”
In Canada, Beck's skin colour is more of a curiosity but a shock to the farmer to whom he is assigned as a foster child or slave labourer. His wife worries about the safety of her daughter so he is sent to live in the hay loft of the barn where he begins to endure the first of the cruel Canadian winters. When Beck takes the first opportunity to run away, Peet reduces the hazards of his road journey to the briefest resume, for he concentrates his story now on the kindness of strangers. The ironies of their circumstances are perhaps best illustrated by Irma and Bone, an African American couple mixed up in the bootlegging trade: alcohol was banned in both the USA and Canada then, but the manufacture of whiskey was not banned in Canada, thus facilitating a profitable but illegal and dangerous trade across the lakes and rivers of the border country where in winter the trucks could be driven across the ice. Beck has adulthood thrust upon him in a crisis when his bootlegging protectors are attacked by a rival gang. Beck's conclusion is that kindness inevitably results in pain.
Finally the novel takes up a slightly mystic tone when an American Indian, Grace sees Beck naked, drying his clothes by a burning tree after a violent lightning storm has struck the tree near which Beck, now a bigger and stronger nineteen year old, has ignorantly sought shelter. Grace is also a mixed race person, the daughter of a Scots railway surveyor and an American Indian. Her grandmother, Straight Speaking is the blind seer of her tribe who is the key person for the Sun Dance harvest festival week of meditation and dance. Both she and Grace have burning man visions that link the Indian culture to Beck and his experiences evident from the scars on his body and the state of his mind. Like the horses that Grace teaches Beck to care for, Beck is still “like an unbroken horse, half wild, unpredictable because he himself didn't know what he might do next.” And it is with that situation, that Peet and Rosoff, themselves often wild and unpredictable and controversial in their writing, ring the changes for the climax and ending of their novel.
In these circumstances, this could not be Peet's best novel, Tamar is his masterpiece but I was always gripped by its tension and my empathy with the characters and surprised by the controversial development that I must leave out of this review so as not to spoil your reading.
I agree with Meg Rossoff's assessment that the book is “bold and compassionate, unsparing, moving and joyously, mordantly funny” but it's like those times when you say that it wasn't funny at the time. This is because this is a story of one young man's struggle to overcome the effects of sexual predation and regain trust in his feelings to find that sex can be a joyous part of love rather than the source of violence, shame and hatred.
Beck is about fourteen when I first meet him in Ireland being taken from an orphanage run by the “sisters of no mercy” to a Christian Brothers house in Dublin, prior to a voyage to Canada in the 1920's. Beck was savagely beaten and raped by Brother Robert after resisting his sexual advances in a bath where the boy was persuaded to join him. Peet suitably mediates these scenes for his teen-aged readers and I also was glad to be spared. He selects the details of the grooming and the hypocritical language that led up to that bath and writes of the consequences suffered by this son of a devout Liverpool Catholic mother and an African from what was then known as the Gold Coast, now Ghana. The shame of that mixed race then, meant that after his mother and her family had died in the great influenza epidemic after World War I, at the age of eleven, he was sent to the orphanage and after three and a half years “in that dire and loveless establishment” “he had become a hard little bastard who had learned to cry silently and dry-eyed”.
“Christian names were not used in the orphanage and eventually Beck forgot that he had one.”
In Canada, Beck's skin colour is more of a curiosity but a shock to the farmer to whom he is assigned as a foster child or slave labourer. His wife worries about the safety of her daughter so he is sent to live in the hay loft of the barn where he begins to endure the first of the cruel Canadian winters. When Beck takes the first opportunity to run away, Peet reduces the hazards of his road journey to the briefest resume, for he concentrates his story now on the kindness of strangers. The ironies of their circumstances are perhaps best illustrated by Irma and Bone, an African American couple mixed up in the bootlegging trade: alcohol was banned in both the USA and Canada then, but the manufacture of whiskey was not banned in Canada, thus facilitating a profitable but illegal and dangerous trade across the lakes and rivers of the border country where in winter the trucks could be driven across the ice. Beck has adulthood thrust upon him in a crisis when his bootlegging protectors are attacked by a rival gang. Beck's conclusion is that kindness inevitably results in pain.
Finally the novel takes up a slightly mystic tone when an American Indian, Grace sees Beck naked, drying his clothes by a burning tree after a violent lightning storm has struck the tree near which Beck, now a bigger and stronger nineteen year old, has ignorantly sought shelter. Grace is also a mixed race person, the daughter of a Scots railway surveyor and an American Indian. Her grandmother, Straight Speaking is the blind seer of her tribe who is the key person for the Sun Dance harvest festival week of meditation and dance. Both she and Grace have burning man visions that link the Indian culture to Beck and his experiences evident from the scars on his body and the state of his mind. Like the horses that Grace teaches Beck to care for, Beck is still “like an unbroken horse, half wild, unpredictable because he himself didn't know what he might do next.” And it is with that situation, that Peet and Rosoff, themselves often wild and unpredictable and controversial in their writing, ring the changes for the climax and ending of their novel.
In these circumstances, this could not be Peet's best novel, Tamar is his masterpiece but I was always gripped by its tension and my empathy with the characters and surprised by the controversial development that I must leave out of this review so as not to spoil your reading.
May 24, 2017
Too much information for 11-16 borrowers, too little for adults. I feel this book falls between the gap.
May 22, 2017
I found this an odd book. The beginning of Beck's life was clearly a nightmare and you could see the abuse coming a mile off which didn't make it easier to read. After that, he seems to have stumbled around and ended up with an older woman. I'm not sure I have much else to say - average.
May 14, 2017
I loved this Carnegie shortlisted book. The plot was interesting, the characters well drawn and the language quite beautiful in places. I think I could sense when the writing changed from Mal Peet to Meg Rosoff, and I definitely preferred the first two thirds to the last third of the book.
My biggest concern is that the Carnegie Prize shortlist has again included a book that I will not let my Year 7s at school read. In fact in a lot of ways it is written more for adults and would not be suitable for many of the 9-14 age range covered by the Carnegie prize. It requires a sense of maturity in the reader that is not yet formed enough for younger readers to engage and deal properly with the disturbing sexual content in the book.
My 4 star rating is given as an adult novel not Teen Fiction.
My biggest concern is that the Carnegie Prize shortlist has again included a book that I will not let my Year 7s at school read. In fact in a lot of ways it is written more for adults and would not be suitable for many of the 9-14 age range covered by the Carnegie prize. It requires a sense of maturity in the reader that is not yet formed enough for younger readers to engage and deal properly with the disturbing sexual content in the book.
My 4 star rating is given as an adult novel not Teen Fiction.
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