Shy Creatures

Good narration
Starts off like a usual story re an affair
Took a bit long to get to the true story but ultimately enjoyable

Shy Creatures
Clare Chambers

An audio book is always a very different experience from one that is read, and I have often found that it is preferable to read first and listen later.
That said, I have only listened to the above, and perhaps not always given it my fullest attention. Although based on a true story, it is a dismal book. It feels almost as if the author had a list of social issues that she wanted to pack into one novel. An illegitimate boy (William) bullied at school, suffering irreparable mishaps for which he believes he is responsible, hidden away by his by his eccentric and wayward aunts, who survives his desolation though drawing. An affair between an art therapist and a psychiatrist, an unhappy rebellious teenager and her hurt uptight judgmental mother…… And, as if this were not enough, and it is not, another boy, Francis, William’s once an only friend who offered his once and only experience of a normal middle-class world, is also abused at school by a teacher.
There are too many characters, too many situations to allow for any real depth of understanding or nuance. Chambers therefore falls back on edgy sentimentality, touches of melodrama, cliches, and sometimes almost claustrophobic descriptions. Despite happy endings, or the knowledge of coming well through an experience,
I came away feeling discomforted, and for all the drama, unenlightened.

I’m guessing after Small Pleasures went down so well, Chambers has decided to do another historical drama. It is definitely better than Small Pleasures which I found rather turgid if I’m honest and nothing like her insightful compelling and hilarious earlier books. Shy Creatures is worth a read if you’re at a loose end but I wouldn’t skip others on your reading list for it. Whilst the telling of William’s childhood in reverse is unusual and done excellently, some of the modern stuff revolving around a rather lifeless protagonist of Helen the bland art therapist is less successful. I feel like Helen and Jean from SP are the same character we’ve met before in Chambers’ previous (better) books. She’s good at writing frustrated conformist women but they need a bit more vivacity like Ester in In a Good Light (my favourite!) and some kind of redemption arc like Abigail in Learning to Swim, otherwise whilst they feel very real and relatable, you just can’t invest in them.