Fifteen-year-old Lucy Shaw is a ghost. She haunts the men's toilets on Carnaby Street and she's been stuck there ever since she was murdered on the way home from a party. Her dull afterlife finally perks up when a lighting engineer called Jeremy happens to walk in - and he can see and hear her! Slowly and with Jeremy's help, Lucy's existence starts to change. She manages to leave the toilets and meet other ghosts, including the super-cute Ryan and the troubled Hep. She also starts to uncover the truth about her death...
My So-Called Afterlife is one of those effortless reads that whips you away from everyday life and transports you into another world as soon as you open the first page. The novel follows the story of Lucy Shaw, a teenage ghost who becomes trapped in public toilets after she’s murdered by a serial killer. At first, she thinks she’s destined to remain there, alone forever, but then Jeremy, a dorky geography teacher starts talking to her. It turns out that he can both see and hear spirits. Despite their differences, they begin to work together to free Lucy from her supernatural shackles.
As the title implies, this book is pretty darn funny. Lucy has a kick-ass attitude and this leads to some great one-liners. She’s able to look after herself and doesn’t suffer fools gladly, especially rubbish ghost hunters! Although the novel is sad and scary in places, Lucy’s dry sense of humour shines through. She’s able to learn too. I found her (platonic) relationship with Jeremy particularly moving as she matures from critical teenager to supportive friend.
I also loved the depiction of the afterlife. I’ve not come across that many ghosts in teen fiction so I really enjoyed finding out about the spirit world and its rules of engagement, some familiar, some brand new. The author describes it in such detail that you completely believe in Lucy’s experiences.
So, all-in-all, a fab debut from Tamsyn Murray with enough action and comedy to satisfy the most reluctant reader. Even better, I’m slightly behind publication with this review, so Tamsyn’s other supernatural novels - My So-Called Haunting and My So-Called Phantom Lovelife - are already lined up and ready to read.
Just by chance, Nicky Schmidt posted a marvellous interview with Tamsyn today. You can find this over at Absolute Vanilla.
Yay! So relieved you liked the book - thanks for this sparkling review :)
ReplyDeleteOh great review! So, so enjoyed reading both My So-Called Afterlife and my So-Called Haunting - as you say, effortless, funny and with depth.
ReplyDeleteI've added a link in the comments section of the blog to your review. Will add one to the post too!