Review: Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield

Title: Friday Brown

Author: Vikki Wakefield

Published: August 2012 by Text Publishing

Blurb:

‘I am Friday Brown. I buried my mother. My grandfather buried a swimming pool. A boy who can’t speak has adopted me. A girl kissed me. I broke and entered. Now I’m fantasising about a guy who’s a victim of crime and I am the criminal. I’m going nowhere and every minute I’m not moving, I’m being tail-gated by a curse that may or may not be real. They call me Friday. It has been foretold that on a Saturday I will drown…’

Friday, 17, flees memories of her mother, grandad, and the family curse. She joins Silence in a street gang led by beautiful charismatic Arden, and escapes to a ghost town in the outback. In Murungal Creek, the town of never leaving, Friday faces the ghosts of her past. Sometimes you have to stay to finish what you started, and before you can find out who you are, you have to become someone you never meant to be

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Review:

How many good books have you read? How many of them actually went through you?

For me, Friday Brown was one of them.

Friday Brown is the touching story of family and love. It follows the journey of 17 year old Liliane Brown, also known as Friday Brown. Her family was cursed so that the females would die from drowning on a Saturday. Hence, came the name Friday.

After her mother died, Friday goes to live with her grandfather, but escapes to a large city. There, she meets a strange mute boy, Silence, who is as invisible as he is quiet. Having nowhere else to go, Silence takes Friday to his home, a squat on the outskirts which houses other street kids.

The leader is Arden, a beautiful, charismatic girl, but dangerous. She holds utmost authority. But since Friday's arrival, Arden's leadership is challenged. In return, she challenges Friday to the limits.

The characters in the novel are exceptionally crafted. They are realistic and fascinating. I fell in love with them. They aren't flat and predictable, they are flawed just like humans. Friday is a strong protagonist. She doesn't give up, although she is struggling within herself. She asks herself, "Who am I, without you?" and this is explored throughout the book. 

"I was the sum of two people, one dead, the other unknown. I’d lived in a hundred small towns and I’d never known another person for my whole life, except for Vivienne [Friday's mother]." - Friday Brown

I liked how the author uses foreshadowing. And if you read it quite carefully, you can pinpoint the fates of the different characters and their inner selves, whether they should be trusted. 

I think that the greatness of this book outshone the faults in it. One part that bothered me though was how the curse seemed to be neglected. It is introduced in the prologue in a interesting manner, making it seem like the central part of the plot. It, however, isn't, and is reminded when Friday tried to drown another person.

At the end of the book, one might have a new understanding of grief, family and love, like Friday Brown. It is a must read.


What did you think about Friday Brown?

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