Scrap - Kathy Biggs - ★★★★.¼
AUTHOR: Kathy Biggs
GENRE: Literary Fiction plus Magical Realism
RATING: 4.25 stars.
In a Nutshell: A literary fiction with shades of magical realism. Slow but so captivating! Loved the characters and the setting.
Story Synopsis:
Mackie works in a Swansea scrapyard, while also taking care of his irresponsible daughter’s young twins. His best friend Sharon also works at the same scrapyard, while dreaming of becoming a singing sensation on a cruise liner.
One day, a teenaged boy is discovered in one of the scrapped cars. As Mackie is assigned to tag along with him in the ambulance to hospital, his fate is now interlinked to this strange young fellow, who has a mysterious ability of drawing visions from the future.
What does the future hold for Mackie, Sharon, and the kid they found?
The story comes to us from the third person limited perspective mostly of Mackie and the boy.
Bookish Yays:
😍 The characters: realistic and relatable. Each of the main characters had something deeper going on in their life, and this affects their personality as well as decision-making. I loved how intricately the author sketched the characters without making them feel clichéd.
😍 A literary fiction at heart, the book is character-oriented, with the flow of the story entirely dependent on the actions of the characters. However, at no point do the actions seem contrived or pushed in just for the sake of a twist.
😍 I’ve never read a book set in a scrapyard and I enjoyed the dual relevance of the title, with the scrap being the content as well as the characters who view themselves as such. Though the book doesn’t focus much on the actual work at the yard, it is used decently enough in the plot.
😍 The story is set in Swansea, and the writing makes amazing use of the Welsh setting, right from the locations to the scenic descriptions. The author’s being Welsh adds a great genuineness to the portrayal.
😍 I enjoyed the magical realism elements in the story. They are more like garnishing than a central ingredient, but one that changes the tone of the plot. The magical bits are not overwhelming, and at the same time, they aren’t justified nor brushed aside as trivial. The boy is shown as confused about his “powers” but still using them to the best of his abilities. It sounds odd to say that something fantastical felt true to life, but it did!
😍 Through the backstories of the central characters, the book explores several serious themes, including mental health, death, guilt, and grief. In many ways, the novel feels like a coming-of-age story, though most of the characters are adults.
😍 What a treat to have a man and a woman shown as best friends and have not a single scene that hints at or leads towards romantic feelings, said or unsaid? I am so fed up of romance being shoved into every single non-romance book that this point deserves a special Yay.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
😐 I liked the ending but didn’t love it. It doesn’t forcefully tie together all the threads, but leaves most with a ray of hope. However, it felt a bit rushed, and a couple of incidents that I would have liked to read about directly were narrated only through another person’s pov. It wasn’t a bad ending at all, but I wanted more.
😐 While literary fiction is always on the slower side, I felt like the book sometimes forced a deliberate delay into the reveals. I can understand this happening at times in order to sustain the interest of the reader, but if it happens regularly, it can get a tad annoying. That said, the story has plenty of interesting scenes and doesn’t get repetitive. This kept me invested despite the lags.
Bookish Nays:
😟 One thing I really would have liked was to know the characters’ ages. Even after reading the whole book, I am not sure how old Mackie and Sharon were. The kid’s age is mentioned only in the final quarter, though I understand why his personal details were revealed with a delay. But for the rest of the characters, having some clue about their age helps us understand their thinking better.
😟 The start is a bit confusing as there are too many things happening but not enough of a backstory provided. It took me some time to get into the reading groove.
Bookish If Onlys:
😖 I felt so sorry for Mackie’s twin grandchildren. I wish I could write a different ending for their arc. (Nothing triggering happens to them; don’t worry. ‘Different’ is the key word.)
All in all, the issues I have with the story are quite minor. I was engrossed in this work and felt invested in the characters throughout. Though it appears to be a simple ‘found-family’ story, it goes deep into human nature and explores what it feels like to be free, not just of external influences but also of inner chains. I would love to read more by this author.
Definitely recommended to literary fiction lovers looking for an unusual story set in Wales and with underdog characters you will want to root for.
My thanks to Random Things Tours, Honno Press, and author Kathy Biggs for a complimentary copy of “Scrap”, and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
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Blurb:
A quirky contemporary fable set in Swansea. From the author of five-star reviewed The Luck (2022) comes the eagerly awaited a modern fable about the human capacity to overcome the hand life deals us and start afresh.
Life has become stale for best friends Mackie and Sharon, who never imagined they'd end up working in a scrapyard. Sharon has dreams of becoming a cruise ship star, while a browbeaten Mackie cares for his wayward daughter's twins. But fate takes an unexpected turn when a mysterious kid is discovered in the boot of a car. He has a remarkable gift -- he can draw visions of the future, and this opens up new avenues that neither could have foreseen.
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Author Kathy Biggs:
Kathy Biggs is originally from Yorkshire, where she trained to be a nurse. She took a summer job in Mid Wales with her husband in 1985 - and never left. They bought a derelict cottage and lived 'off grid' for 14 years. During this time, she started a family, trained to be a homeopath and took up Samba drumming. She has lived in her current location for the last 23 years: working and raising her family. She is a keen gardener and leads a local samba band.
After being made redundant in 2017, she completed several Creative Writing courses provided by Aberystwyth University and discovered a passion for writing.
Her first novel, 'The Luck', was published in October 2022. 'Scrap' is her second published work, published in June 2023.
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Check out this book:
Buy Link (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1912905841/
Buy Link (USA): https://www.amazon.com/Scrap-Kathy-Biggs-ebook/dp/B0BY42TT1G/
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This has been a stop on the #Scrap blog tour conducted by Random Things Tours. (@RandomTTours on Twitter) Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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